This report on interstate child support cases focuses on child support enforcement problems that occur when absent parents live in states other than those in which their children reside. Findings indicate that Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) and state caseload and collection data are of questionable reliability and provide limited…

Efforts to expand the generic language proficiency guidelines of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) began when developers realized that the ACTFL guidelines were too Eurocentric; the guidelines included grammatical categories specific to Western European languages and…

This research brief summarizes the available reliability and validity data available in, but spread throughout, a number of General Educational Development (GED) Testing Service publications. A section on reliability discusses how to determine reliability of a test's scores and two ways of assessing the reliability of a test--internal consistency…

Research on student evaluation of college teachers' performance is briefly summarized. Lawrence M. Aleamoni offers four arguments in favor of student ratings: (1) students are the main source of information about the educational environment; (2) students are the most logical evaluators of student satisfaction and effectiveness of course elements;…

Stability of K-ABC (Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children) performance of 33 nonhandicapped and 53 at-risk preschool children was examined over a 9- to 12-month period. A high level of stability for global scale scores as well as subtest scores was indicated for both groups of children. (PCB)

The problem of this study was to develop, validate, and establish the reliability of a computer simulation which would: (1) distinguish between concrete and formal thinking patterns related to control of variables; (2) be easily administered to a class of secondary school age subjects; (3) preserve the interactive aspects of the Piagetian task;…

Two types of classification error are possible in competency tests: erroneous classification of an individual as a "master" of the subject (Type II error), and erroneous classification of a master as a "nonmaster" of the subject (Type I). If steps are taken to minimize Type II errors, an artificially high number of true masters…

The influence of atmospheric conditions and the day of the week on school children's behavior was investigated by undergraduates. The college students were told either that their participation in the research was compulsory and would be graded, or that their participation was voluntary and ungraded. Fifty teachers observed their pupils' behavior…

Measurement terms used in Title I evaluation are contained in this glossary. Several types of measurement techniques are identified and defined. Other measurement terms which are defined include those relating to validity, reliability, statistical analysis, test interpretation, and program effectiveness. (DWH)

Data from the Scholastic Aptitude Test-Verbal (SAT-V), SAT Mathematics (SAT-M), and Achievement Tests in Biology, American History, and Social Studies were used for this study. The temporal stability of item parameter estimates obtained for the same set of items calibrated for different examinees at different times was analyzed. It was believed…

The Certificate in Computer Programming (CCP) Examination is conducted by the Institute for Certification of Computer Professionals (ICCP) to identify qualified computer professionals in various spheres of computer technology. The CCP Examinations are focused on programming skills and are designed for recognition of competent senior-level…

The stability of the Adaptive Behavior Inventory for children (ABIC) over a 4-year period was investigated. The sample was composed of 44 children, distributed approximately equally within racial and ethnic groups (Anglo-American, Black, Mexican-American), socioeconomic group (middle and lower), and gender. Three types of stability were…

This study and previously published data from small, local samples indicate that the reliability and validity of the OAS are sufficient for research on high school youth of both sexes and from both higher and lower SES levels. (Author)

The correspondence between the Minnesota MMPI and the Mini-Mult in terms of similar clinical decisions has been examined in several recent reports. The purpose of the present study was to extend the comparative data between the Mini-Mult and the standard MMPI to include two samples of alcoholics. (Author)