Thirty children (under 24 months of age) referred to an early intervention program were administered 3 developmental assessments. Although the Griffiths' Mental Development Scales correlated well with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development and the Battelle Developmental Inventory, the Griffiths' age equivalents were considerably higher than the…

Critiques Walker's article in this issue. Argues that Walker's data do not meet technical standards regarding individual placement tests for normative comparisons, interjudge reliability, or predictive validity, and therefore do not justify the use of the Gesell test to place children in developmental kindergarten or transitional first grade. (GLR)

This study found that three oral discourse genres (script, picture description, and replica play narration) were able to characterize development in discourse abilities in 6 children (ages 5-7) with brain injury and 43 nondisabled children. Brain-injured children produced shorter discourse performances with more off-task talk but showed…

The factorial validity and reliability of the newly developed Teacher Effectiveness Survey was examined in a sample of 390 principals. Results indicate that the instrument consists of three subscales (Instruction, Leadership, and Interpersonal/Professional), each measuring a different facet of a teacher's abilities. (SLD)

The Quality of Life Inventory, a measure of life satisfaction for psychological assessment and treatment planning, was evaluated with 54 inpatients, 54 recovering alcoholics, 18 private alcohol- and drug-treatment patients, 127 college counseling recipients, 272 undergraduates, and 19 criminal offenders. Results support the measures' psychometric…

Children (n=118) were administered a preschool screening battery 6 months before kindergarten entry and then 19 and 24 months later. Measures of phonological awareness, serial naming speed, and orthographic processing were found to make a strong contribution to prediction of first-grade reading. (Author/JDD)

It is argued that establishing assessment criteria in teacher evaluation is not synonymous with demonstrating content validity. Validity and standards-related issues in developing teacher performance assessment criteria are discussed, with reference to the Praxis Series of professional assessments for beginning teachers. (SLD)

The paper outlines the development of a scale describing the progression of literacy skills, based on similar scales used in second-language acquisition. The scale is shown to have high reliability and appropriate criterion validity. Use of the scale to analyze student reading development is illustrated. Appended are descriptions of the scale's…

Autism Behavior Checklists were completed for 52 autistic individuals (ages 2-31) and 62 nonautistic individuals, and data were analyzed using signal detection methodology. A single item (looks "through" people) combined with one of five other items discriminated as well as the sum scores, and further combinations did not improve…

Research on the standardization, reliability, validity, factor structure, and subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) (1945) and its revised version (1987) is reviewed. Much research relating to the WMS appears to be relevant to the revised version. Use of the instrument in Australia is discussed. (SLD)

The theoretical background, organization, performance subtests (object assembly, geometric design, block design, mazes, picture completion, and animal pegs), verbal subtests (information, comprehension, arithmetic, vocabulary, similarities, and sentences), reliability, validity (factor analysis), interpretation, advantages, and limitations of the…

The Basic Achievement Skills Individual Screener is described as a quick screening tool for assessing basic skills of students functioning at grade 1-8 levels. The tool uses norm-referenced and criterion-referenced measures to assess achievement in reading, mathematics, spelling, and writing. This paper discusses test administration, scoring,…

The Cognitive Levels Test, for use with ages 5-21, is designed as a quick cognitive assessment instrument with 4 subdomains: verbal reasoning, abstract reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and memory. This paper describes the test's administration, summation of data, standardization, reliability, and validity. (JDD)

The Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale measures four areas of cognitive abilities (verbal reasoning, abstract/visual reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and short-term memory), providing a continuous scale for appraising cognitive development from age two to adult. This paper describes the test's administration, standardization, reliability, and…

The study compared human figure drawings (using the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test and Koppitz' Emotional Indicators) of 26 hearing-impaired and 26 normal-hearing children and adolescents. No significant differences were found between groups but the Emotional Indicators did not perform as predicted in determining emotional disturbance. (Author/DB)