Using a revised faith-maturity scale, researchers examined young adults in Adventist and public schools, comparing the data with the controversial Valuegenesis sample. Data analysis found the Thayer Mature Faith Scale valid and reliable. Students in Christian education demonstrated significant advancement in faith maturity over students in public…

Results from a performance assessment in which 68 high school students wrote essays support the use of latent variable modeling for estimating reliability, concurrent validity, and generalizability of a scoring rubric. The latent variable modeling approach overcomes the limitations of certain conventional statistical techniques in handling…

Generalizability theory is used to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Listening and Writing Tests developed by American College Testing for its Work Keys program. Results with samples of 50 suggest the desirability of a minimum number of the tests' tape-recorded messages and the use of at least 2 raters. (SLD)

Validity evidence for a new instrument, the Situation-Response Measure of Achievement Motivation for analyzing cross-situational consistency of achievement-related behavior, is presented in a study of 246 college students. Exploratory factor analysis indicates the presence of two factors, striving and apprehensiveness. (SLD)

The effectiveness of alternative procedures to correct for rater leniency/stringency effects was studied when true scores were known. Ordinary least squares, weighted least squares, and imputation of the missing data consistently outperformed averaging the observed ratings; and the imputation technique was superior to the least squares methods.…

Alternatives to multiple-choice tests for teacher licensing examinations are described, and their advantages are cited. Concerns are expressed in the areas of cost and practicality, reliability, corruptibility, and validity. A suggestion for reducing costs using multiple-choice responses calibrated to constructed-response tasks is proposed. (SLD)

Calculating the reliability of a testlet-based test is demonstrated using data from 1,812 males and 2,216 females taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test verbal section and 3,866 examinees taking another reading test. Traditional reliabilities calculated on reading comprehension tests constructed of four testlets provided substantial overestimates.…

Providers' demographic characteristics, training, support networks, business practices, and stability of services were examined relative to their caregiving practices. Results from a schematic model approach suggest correlations between some of these factors and variances in ratings of caregiver practices. (LB)

Practices identified by experts as critical variables in eliciting writing samples were checked against 12 randomly selected studies using holistic ratings to derive descriptions of inferential statistical results for described samples. The studies often lacked precise information about these variables, limiting understanding of writing evaluation…

This study investigated the technical adequacy of 7 objective indexes of writing quality in monitoring the progress of 36 middle school students with mild disabilities over a 6-month period. Three indexes (such as "percent of legible words") were moderately correlated with holistic ratings but were not sufficiently stable over time. (Author/JDD)

Discusses the findings of multicultural research using the Learning Style Inventory and the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey. Differences in learning style among students and young adults of differing ethnic groups, between male and female students, between high achievers and underachievers, and between the gifted and nongifted are…

The manual for the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts-Revised (1986) is reviewed. The test measures a child's knowledge of relational concepts. The revised version, eliminating some imperfections of the original, will continue to be a useful test of verbal concept acquisition. Cautions necessary while using the test are discussed. (SLD)

A series of three related studies provided evaluative information concerning the Madeline Hunter model of the Program for Effective Teaching implementation in South Carolina. Primary results showed that training was well received by the teachers, that follow-up coaching was limited in quantity and not always consistent with Hunters's…

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is evaluated using a unified view of test validity that requires that validity be considered from an approach requiring many sources of corroboration. A review of available literature suggests insufficient evidence to support the tenets and claims about the utility of the MBTI. (SLD)

Psychometric information was obtained on the Longeot test, which measures aspects of formal thinking, from a sample of 884 high school science students in India taking a Hindi version of the test. The test version appears valid for these students and may be used to classify subjects into Piagetian developmental levels. (SLD)