A study was conducted to assess the reliability of the College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) for the major ethnic groups in Florida; and to develop a standard error of measurement for the critical group that fell close to the cut score on each test. The October 1983 and March 1984 administrations of the CLAST were analyzed to determine…

This paper reports on the development of three self-efficacy questionnaires for use in studying the interaction effect among students, teachers, and principals within an educational situation. The Student Self-Efficacy Instrument was designed from a widely used questionnaire administered to children, the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility…

The Learning Strategies Questionnaire (LSQ) was developed to assess students' declarative knowledge of strategy utility. Goals were to develop a reliable survey that: (1) could be administered for fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders in a group setting; (2) would provide a profile of children's declarative knowledge of strategies for classroom…

The needs-press model, as operationalized by the Stern Activities Index (AI) and the Organizational Climate Index (OCI), was examined for its usefulness in evaluating and measuring organizational climate in a school setting. According to the model, needs represents personality and press represents the environment. This research was designed to…

Five papers on the assessment of writing ability presented at the Division D meeting are critiqued. It is suggested that it is not possible to conclude--as has Larson in his study of grades 4, 6, and 8--that National Assessment of Educational Progress results do not give evidence of growth in writing ability. Dovell and Buhr, examining approaches…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes the official unemployment rate on the first Friday of each month based on a sample survey of 59,500 households called the Current Population Survey. Unemployment data for states and local areas are published monthly by the BLS in cooperation with the state employment security agencies. The primary…

This paper examines the development of the "Comfortability Scale in Special Education." This 44-item self-evaluation instrument measures special education teachers' perceptions of "comfort" (self-confidence) with their ability to use pertinent knowledge and skills. Each item is rated on a seven-point Likert-like scale. Two…

Theoretical framework, instrument development, and psychometric qualities are reviewed for some measures of learning style currently in use with adults. Instruments reviewed include: (1) Kolb's Learning Style Inventory I; (2) Kolb's Learning Style Inventory II; (3) the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; (4) the Productivity Environmental Preferences…

An attempt was made to develop an objective instrument to assess a teacher's perceived engagement in reflective practice. A Reflective Teaching Instrument (RTI) was developed around three dimensions of reflective practice in teaching: (1) diagnosis (problem setting); (2) testing; and (3) personal causation. Indicators of each of the dimensions…

The methods used by the General Educational Development Testing Service (GEDTS) to establish and maintain score stability and reading reliability on its direct assessment of writing are described. Using the 1988 site certification and monitoring results of several scoring sites, the focus is on describing how the score scale was established and…

The objective of this project was to develop a valid and reliable multiple choice test of six basic science process skills for students in grades 4 to 8 (ages 8 to 14 years). Seven criteria were outlined for the test: an emphasis on the six most widely used science process skills (observation, inference, prediction, measurement, communication, and…

Instructional leadership studies are plentiful but have many shortcomings, including lack of definition of key variables, problems of causality, overrepresentation of exemplary schools, and lack of validity and reliability in research design and implementation. Definitions of "leadership" and "instruction" are needed. There is…

This report presents two experiments that compared the performance of map experts to that of novices. Subjects (from the areas of geography, educational psychology, and sociology) were 13 university faculty members in experiment one and 12 undergraduate students in experiment two. Following a practice trial, the learning of a logical map and a…

Eighty Singapore teachers voluntarily participated in the evaluation of three new scales: (1) the Responsibility Scale, which measures the teacher's sense of responsibility, willingness to take on additional new duties, and perception of being assigned duties; (2) the Change Scale which measures the teacher's acceptance of changes in life as…

A review of literature serves as the basis for a discussion of various aspects of criterion-referenced tests. The aspects discussed are: teaching and evaluation objectives, criterion- and norm-referenced measurement, stages in construction of criterion-referenced tests, construction and selection of items, test validity, and test reliability.…