People with intellectual disabilities are exposed to a high number of adverse life events, and evidence supports a link between the experience of adverse life events and trauma. Interventions for trauma have been found to be efficacious if case recognition can be facilitated. However to date there are no psychometrically validated measures of…

Verbal ability comprises receptive (understanding) and active (producing) facets. While the first (e.g. as literacy in PIRLS and PISA) is frequently analyzed in its relationship to further cognitive abilities and parental attributes the latter is rarely investigated. The present study using data from N=280 students aged 9 to 14 years investigated…

In the present study we extended errorless learning to a conditional temporal discrimination. Pigeons' responses to a left-red key after a 2-s sample and to a right-green key after a 10-s sample were reinforced. There were two groups: One learned the discrimination through trial and error and the other through an errorless learning procedure.…

The psychometric properties of a Portuguese version of the Adolescent Psychopathology Scale-Short Form (APS-SF) were studied in a sample of 656 Portuguese adolescents, aged 12 to 19 years, assessed in school context. Also, the aim of the study was to gather data concerning age- and gender-related differences in the expression of psychopathological…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of an audio computer-assisted self-interviewing Web-based software application called the Social Information Processing Application (SIP-AP) that was designed to assess social information processing skills in boys in RD through 5th grades. This study included a racially and…

Traditional psychometric approaches towards assessment tend to focus exclusively on quantitative properties of assessment outcomes. This may limit more meaningful educational approaches towards workplace-based assessment (WBA). Cognition-based models of WBA argue that assessment outcomes are determined by cognitive processes by raters which are…

This paper studies changes of standard errors (SE) of the normal-distribution-based maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) for confirmatory factor models as model parameters vary. Using logical analysis, simplified formulas and numerical verification, monotonic relationships between SEs and factor loadings as well as unique variances are found.…

Diagnostic scores are of increasing interest in educational testing due to their potential remedial and instructional benefit. Naturally, the number of educational tests that report diagnostic scores is on the rise, as are the number of research publications on such scores. This article provides a critical evaluation of diagnostic score reporting…

This paper provides a snapshot of educational measurement professionals--their educational, professional and demographic backgrounds, as well as their workplace settings, job tasks, professional involvement, and compensation practices. Two previous studies have surveyed employers, but this is the first attempt to conduct a comprehensive survey of…

The dot pattern expectancy (DPX) task was created to efficiently assess context-processing deficits in patients with schizophrenia. Three studies investigated the characteristics of the DPX relevant for clinical applications. To answer questions regarding the psychometric properties of the task, performance on this task was studied in 2 healthy…

Research methods teaching in psychology is pivotal in preparing students for the transition from student as learner to independent practitioner. We took an action research approach to re-design, implement and evaluate a module guiding students through a programmatic and pragmatic research cycle. These revisions allow students to experience how…

We report on research carried out to improve teaching and student engagement in the introductory astronomy course at the University of Cape Town. This course is taken by a diverse range of students, including many from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. We describe the development of an instrument, the Introductory Astronomy Questionnaire…

This paper focuses on the psychometric analysis of lecturers' beliefs on teaching function (LBTF) survey using Rasch Model analysis. The sample comprised 34 Community Colleges' lecturers. The Rasch Model is applied to produce specific measurements on the lecturers' beliefs on teaching function in order to generalize results and inferential…

The Authoritative School Climate Survey was designed to provide schools with a brief assessment of 2 key characteristics of school climate--disciplinary structure and student support--that are hypothesized to influence 2 important school climate outcomes--student engagement and prevalence of teasing and bullying in school. The factor structure of…

The purposes of this study were to develop and validate an instrument for assessing elementary students' nature of science (NOS) views and to explain the elementary school students' NOS views, in terms of varying grade levels and gender. The sample included 782 students enrolled in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Exploratory factor analysis…