Using 65 items from a mental health screening questionnaire, the History Opinion Inventory-Revised (HOI-R), the present study compared three strategies of scale construction--(1) internal (based on factor analysis), (2) external (based on empirical performance) and (3) intuitive (based on clinicians' opinion)--to predict whether 203,595 U.S. Air…

A core assumption of response to instruction or intervention (RTI) models is the importance of measuring growth in achievement over time in response to effective instruction or intervention. Many RTI models actively monitor growth for identifying individuals who need different levels of intervention. A large-scale (N = 23,438), two-year…

Two scales, Perceived Work Demand (PWD) and Perceived Family Demand (PFD), are developed and their scores validated using three diverse samples. The scales are of particular interest in the work-family conflict (WFC) area and provide needed clarification in predicting WFC. Scale development procedures were followed, and dimensionality, internal…

This study uses a regression model to determine if a significant difference exists between the actual budget allocation that an academic department received and the model's predicted budget allocation for that same department. Budget data from a Southeastern Master's/Comprehensive state university were used as the dependent variable, and the…

Presented at the national conference for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2009. This discussed the development and implementation of the new SAT writing section.

In the first predictive validity study of a diagnostic and prescriptive instrument for averting adverse academic status events (AASE) among multiple populations of diverse health science professions students, entering matriculates' personal background and preparation survey (PBPS) scores consistently significantly predicted 1st- or 2nd-year AASE.…

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the kindergarten Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI; Texas Education Agency and the University of Texas System, 2004-2006) Mid-Year screeners with a sample of 180 students. The TPRI screeners were designed to determine which students are not at risk for later reading failure. Results…

Three studies examine the validity of the Preschool Form of the Cognitive Abilities Scale--Second Edition (CAS-2). Significant high concurrent criterion-related validity correlations, corrected for restricted range, are found between the CAS-2 and the Detroit Test of Learning Ability--Primary: Third Edition for 26 three-year-olds (r[subscript c] =…

This study examined concurrent and longitudinal relations for the "Get Ready to Read!" (GRTR) emergent literacy screener. This measure, within a battery of oral language, letter knowledge, decoding, and phonological awareness tests, was administered to 204 preschool children (mean age = 53.6, SD = 5.78; 55% male) from diverse…

Effective talent-identification procedures minimize the proportion of students whose subsequent performance indicates that they were mistakenly included in or excluded from the program. Classification errors occur when students who were predicted to excel subsequently do not excel or when students who were not predicted to excel do. Using a…

This study investigated the relationship between commonly used admission criteria, found in a one-year, post Bachelor's degree, initial, teacher education program, and the preparedness of teacher candidates in mathematics for independent teaching. The admission criteria used in this study were grade point average (GPA) and a written profile. The…

This dissertation follows an oral language assessment tool from initial design and implementation to validity analysis. The specialized variables of this study are the population: international teaching assistants and the purpose: spoken assessment as a hiring prerequisite. However, the process can easily be applied to other populations and…

This study analyzes the Arizona policy of utilizing a single assessment of English proficiency to determine if students should be exited from the ELL program, which is ostensibly designed to make it possible for them to succeed in the mainstream classroom without any further language support. The study examines the predictive validity of this…

Presented at the national conference for the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2010. This presentation describes an alternative way of presenting the unique information provided by the SAT over HSGPA, namely examining students with discrepant SAT-HSGPA performance.

Accurate teacher evaluations of student performance are crucial for effective teaching. This study examined whether students' immigration and language background affect teachers' evaluations. Multilevel analyses tested whether teachers overestimate the performance of immigrant relative to that of non-immigrant students. As part of the German PISA…