This paper offers a method for evaluating protective factors in young children at risk for emotional and/or behavioral disorders. It reviews the development, standardization, validation, and use of a new, nationally standardized measure of within child protective factors, the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA). The DECA evaluates the…

This manual documents the technical aspects of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). In May 1999, Massachusetts public school students in grades 4, 8, and 10 participated in the second annual administration of the MCAS tests in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science & Technology. This report provides information…

Reviews research concerning assessment of Black children and proposes a strategy to encourage fair and appropriate psychological/educational decisions. The five phases of the model include observation, testing, data analysis, and evaluation. Culture-specific tests should be used in addition to traditional measures to provide equal opportunities…

Urban and rural Aboriginal- and Anglo-Australian children were tested for reading and math achievement, for nonverbal psychometric test intelligence, and for three cognitive styles. Psychometric intelligence was clearly a more powerful predictor of the effects of culture and location on school achievement than was cognitive style. (Author/CMG)

Discusses the importance of accurate cognitive assessment and its relationship to effective instructional programing. A disparity between competence and performance can occur across a variety of populations due to task and situational demands and motivational and personality factors. Recent approaches aimed at lessening the gap are discussed.…

Addresses the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically different children in special education classes. Proposes a three-tiered response model relating to the individual practitioner, the educational process, and a larger scaled systematic response to the issues. Effective practical suggestions are offered. (Author/JAC)

Despite the increasing popularity of systematic risk assessment models by child protective services agencies, relatively few are empirically based. Reviews the empirical literature on 10 risk assessment models and concludes that although each model contains generally sound psychometric properties, there is still a need for further model…

Fifty education majors in two sections responded to an Attitudes toward Mathematics and Its Teaching (ATMAT) scale. Results with two psychometric models, classical true-score theory and the one-parameter Rasch model, supported the ATMAT's reliability, content and construct validity, and invariance over three time points. (SLD)

Emerging areas and critical problems related to computer-based testing are identified. Topics covered include adaptive testing; calibration; item selection; multidimensional items; uses of information processing theory; relation to cognitive psychology; and tests of short-term and spatial memory, perceptual speed and accuracy, and movement…

Potential methods are explored for removing or otherwise controlling random measurement error, assessment artifacts, irrelevant variation in outcome measures, and confounding sources of covariation in a structural equations model. Using examples with measures of quality of life and functioning, the authors consider these methods for field…

The Test of Reactions and Adaptation in College (TRAC), a measure of students' personal dispositions toward learning, is presented. Results from 2 different samples of college students (n=1,081) indicate acceptable psychometric characteristics for the TRAC. The TRAC predicted college success better than high school weighted academic average did.…

Highlights the application of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) in college counseling, couples counseling, medical problem assessment, military applications, personnel screening programs, and other areas. Provides a general description of the MMPI-2, discusses continuity of MMPI and MMPI-2 scales, and describes new scales…

This paper offers a rationale for and a description of the creation of the Developmentally Delayed Children's Behaviour Checklist, which is completed by caregivers or teachers and uses a taxonometric model to describe the child's (ages 4-20) disturbed emotions and behaviors. Results of clinical validation studies are cited. (Author/JDD)

A test battery that corresponded to the Gesell Developmental Assessment (GDA) was given to 400 4-6 year olds. A truncated version of the GDA had moderate reliability and predictive power. Experienced judges sometimes differed in their assessments of a child's developmental level and recommendations for grade placement. (GLR)

Federal law requires that individuals with handicapping conditions be administered assessments in ways that accommodate their disabilities without penalizing them. Validation studies are needed to evaluate the meaning of scores resulting from nonstandard test administrations. The limited number of these studies to date is reviewed. (SLD)