Given that the development of treatment fidelity assessment protocol is an integral but too frequently ignored aspect of clinical trials for psychological treatments, the Intensive Mental Health Program (IMHP) sought to build fidelity activities into training, program evaluation, and clinical recordkeeping from the outset of a 3 year study period.…

Two experiments were conducted in order to examine how different bilateral motor activations of the approach and avoidance motivational systems influenced participants' evaluations of valenced stimuli (figurative expressions and pictures of everyday situations). The first Study (Study 1) showed that participants judged valenced expressions…

Rankings have become a widespread phenomenon in an increasingly competitive world of higher education. They differ with regard to their aims, objectives, target groups, and with regard to their relationship to quality and quality assessment. Generally, rankings are an external assessment of the performance of higher education institutions; they…

The different established screening methodologies and comprehensive assessment techniques used in evaluating adolescents suspected of or known to have substance abuse disorders are discussed. Recommendations and suggestions for establishing standards of training and professional efficiency are also highlighted to treat adolescents with substance…

Three psychiatric conceptual models: addictive, obsessive-compulsive spectrum and mood spectrum disorder have been proposed for pathological gambling. The objectives of this paper are to (1) evaluate the evidence base from the most recent reviews of each model, (2) update the evidence through 2007 and (3) summarize the status of the evidence for…

This commentary reviews the distinctions researchers make in defining metacognition, self-regulation, and self-regulated learning along with the methods used to explore these constructs. Bandura's notion of reciprocal determinism (1977) is revisited in the context of situated learning, whereby interactions between the person, behavior, and…

This article presents a plenary address wherein the author talks about cultural clashes, about what happens when evaluation meets politics. In her address, the author talks about the kinds of clashes that occur on a regular basis between evaluative independence and the political culture it challenges, along with possible ways to predict, parry, or…

The mixed methods approach has emerged as a "third paradigm" for social research. It has developed a platform of ideas and practices that are credible and distinctive and that mark the approach out as a viable alternative to quantitative and qualitative paradigms. However, there are also a number of variations and inconsistencies within the mixed…

M. P. Johnson's (1995) proposal that there are two qualitatively distinct types of intimate partner violence--intimate terrorism and situational couple violence--has been an influential explanation for disparate findings on sex symmetry in domestic violence. This study examines whether this typology increases our ability to explain variations in…

Obtaining an accurate grade of how well students meet learning objectives is a non-negotiable principle of successful differentiation and allows assessment to inform practice at every turn. If the assessment instrument is inaccurate, it should be modified or dropped. In this article, the author contends that alternative assessments are the only…

The problem solving conversations of 92 adolescent romantic couples were analyzed using two innovative techniques for capturing the meaning-making processes in couples' interactions. Couples were coded using the narrative coding system developed by the Family Narrative Consortium [Fiese, B. H. & Sameroff, A. J. (Eds.), (1999). The stories that…

What if scholarly books were peer reviewed by anonymous blog comments rather than by traditional, selected peer reviewers? This is the question posed by an unusual experiment that was started recently by Noah Wardrip-Fruin, an an assistant professor of communication at the University of California at San Diego. His experiment was started after his…

Educational assessment can be a powerful tool in enhancing classroom instruction and student performance. Yet, its effectiveness relies on the beliefs and knowledge of those who apply it on a daily classroom basis. This study explored attitudes, competence, knowledge, and practices of teachers about educational assessment. Participants were 165…

Alternatives to vertical scales are compared for measuring longitudinal academic growth and for producing school-level growth measures. The alternatives examined were empirical cross-grade regression, ordinary least squares and logistic regression, and multilevel models. The student data used for the comparisons were Arabic Grades 4 to 10 in…

In this article I present some findings of an action research study intended to find out to what extent a teacher-student partnership in writing assessment could promote high school students' autonomy. The study was conducted in a U.S. school. Two main action strategies in the assessment process were the use of symbols as the form of feedback…