Describes a conversation measure for evaluation communicative competence of deaf adolescents and adults in light of: 1) the rationale behind its development; 2) its independence of the subjects' language variety; and 3)its use in a study of 40 deaf adolescents. The interview protocal is give in the Appendix. (Author/LMO)

Questions the validity and reliability of the Reading/Everyday Activities in Life (R/EAL) test, which is intended as a self-administered, self-directed, and self-paced test of basic literacy for minority populations and others traditionally singled out by the bias of standardized reading achievement tests. (SRT)

Masculinity and femininity were related to multiple dimensions of self-concept in responses from 962 high school students. It was found that masculinity and femininity each contributed positively and uniquely to the prediction of well-differentiated facets of self-concept. (Author/LMO)

Explains the use of the Dolch List in the lower elementary grades. (FL)

Analyzes the uses and abuses of the Gesell School Readiness Screening Tests and similar tests. First, discusses developmental screening and readiness tests, then focuses on the Gesell tests, specifically addressing their validity and questioning their current uses. Discusses implications of using readiness tests for assigning children to…

The retention and attrition after the freshman year among economically and academically disadvantaged students admitted through a special program to an urban, primarily non-residential university is investigated. This paper tests the predictive validity of major constructs in Tinto's explanatory model of college student withdrawal. (Author/BS)

Describes three "continuum categories" of language tests and the place of communicative tests in each of the three continuums. The question of what communication involves is discussed and five different approaches to communicative language testing are presented. (SED)

Three rating scales--with all positive or all negative wording, or a mixture of both--were administered to 522 children in grades four through six. The results indicated that it was difficult for students to indicate agreement by disagreeing with a negative statement. This affected test validity. Author/GDC)

Before using the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) for teacher certification, states are required to conduct a state-wide validity study. This paper describes approaches used in 35 studies for 18 states to establish (NTE) content validity through curriculum and job relatedness and to establish minimum performance standards. (BS)

This article studies the convergent-divergent validity and reliability estimates for clinical interview and self-report measures of ego identity. The findings suggest that the two measures may be: (1) assessing relatively distinct forms of ego identity; or (2) that the ego-identity construct as measured by the process and outcome dimensions needs…

A university economics department tested the commonly held opinion that college teachers can predict their students' eventual level of educational attainment from their personal observations of the student. A larger-than-anticipated margin of prediction error was revealed. (MSE)

The Resident Evaluation Form (REF) was developed to assess resident physicians' clinical performance. This research sought to empirically evaluate the intuitively derived REF scales representing areas of clinical performance: interpersonal ability, cognitive ability, clinical skills, and professional attributes. Analysis yielded cognitive…

Examined the concurrent validity of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) in a sample of 101 students aged 6 to 16, referred for learning, mental or emotional disabilities. Results showed significant correlations between the PPVT-R and the WISC-R overall sample. (JAC)

This study investigated how classroom teaching behavior mediates the relationship between personality and college teaching effectiveness. Instructional effectiveness was measured by end-of-term student ratings. Path analysis revealed that approximately half of the relationship between personality and teaching effectiveness was mediated by…

The Self Description Questionnaire II (SDQII) results from 901 Australian secondary school students were factor analyzed and the factors correlated to identify the relationship of self-concept factors to age, sex, and academic achievement. Findings supported the multidimensionality of self-concept and support the construct validity of the SDQII.…