Background: Children with fluent and accurate word reading in the presence of poor text comprehension are impaired on a wide range of reading-related tasks. Aims: This study investigated the consistency of skill impairment in a sample of poor comprehenders to identify any fundamental skill weakness that (i) might be associated with poor text…

The authors conducted a systematic review of studies examining correlations between assessments of function not obtained using self-report and those obtained using performance-based measures for community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Articles for this review were identified using electronic searching in MEDLINE, CINHAL, and AGELINE and…

Validation of a classroom observation measure for use with English Learners (ELs) in grade 1 was the focus of this study. Fourteen teachers were observed during reading and language arts instruction with an instrument used to generate ratings of instructional quality on a number of dimensions. In these classrooms we assessed the reading…

With passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1990, autism was recognized as a distinct special education category. Subsequently, there has been a steady increase in the number of students qualified in the schools to receive special education services under this category. There are a number of questions as to the types of…

The literature on school absences has focused predominantly on the reasons for student truancy, or it has assessed only aggregate student absences in their effect on achievement. However, this study brings forth a new issue: the relationship between types of absences--excused versus unexcused--and school performance. With a quantitative model of…

This study examined the construct validity of the "e-rater"® automated essay scoring engine as an alternative to human scoring in the context of TOEFL® essay writing. Analyses were based on a sample of students who repeated the TOEFL within a short time period. Two "e-rater" scores were investigated in this study, the first…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of DISCOVER, a performance-based assessment, in identifying gifted students in Lebanon. DISCOVER is grounded in Gardner's MI theory and consists of tasks involving problem-solving and creative abilities. The sample consisted of 49 middle-class 5-th graders, with a mean age of 10.2…

Method effects associated with item wording have been explored in a variety of instruments and found that the practice of using positively- and negatively- worded items may introduce systematic measurement errors that disrupt analyses and interpretations of the results. Therefore, the first purpose in the present study was to explore if method…

This study used principles underlying item generation theory to posit competing perspectives about which features of situational judgment tests might enhance or impede consistent measurement across repeat test administrations. This led to 3 alternate-form development approaches (random assignment, incident isomorphism, and item isomorphism). The…

Valid measurement of physical activity is important for studying the risks for morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to examine evidence of construct validity of two similar single-response items assessing physical activity via self-report. Both items are based on the stages of change model. The sample was 687 participants (men =…

This study examined the impact of telling one's story of childhood sexual abuse and its relationship with the survivor's self-capacities and history of other child maltreatment. The baseline data were collected from 134 female CSA survivors who were participating in a large intervention study. Participants were given 10 minutes to describe their…

Youth from single-parent families report lower educational aspirations than those from two-parent families. This study explored the influence of background factors (gender, grade, parental education and SES), parental involvement with education, academic self-concept, and peer influences on educational aspirations. The participants were Canadian…

The current study expands upon body image research to examine how gender, self-esteem, social support, teasing, and family, friend, and media pressures relate to body image and eating-related attitudes and behaviors among male and female adolescents (N = 177). Results indicated that adolescents were dissatisfied with their current bodies: males…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine the construct and predictive ability of a German version of the Learning Transfer Systems Inventory (GLTSI), an instrument designed to assess a constellation of 16 factors known to influence the transfer of training in work settings. Design/methodology/approach: The survey data for this study was…

Purpose--The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of life cycle stage, specifically parenting stage, on work-family conflict among working parents to determine whether discernible differences are evident among those individuals at the early stage of their parenting cycle compared with those with older children.…