This paper discusses recent developments in language testing. It begins with a review of the traditional criteria that are applied to all measurement and outlines recent emphases that derive from the expanding range of stakeholders. Drawing on Alderson's seminal work, criteria are presented for evaluating communicative language tests. Developments…

This study investigated whether a self-efficacy course would raise English-as-a-Second-Language learners' English ability by raising their self-efficacy. It also examined the reliability and validity of a self-efficacy questionnaire and English test. Participants were 293 Japanese college freshmen. Researchers developed two versions of an English…

The New York City Board of Education has implemented a school quality review system called Performance Assessment in Schools Systemwide: Essential Elements of Exemplary Schools (PASS). The PASS process provides a set of standards of exemplary educational practice and a model for assessing schools in relation to these standards. The process is…

This document contains two papers devoted to human resource development (HRD), the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD), and certification. The first paper, "Certification of HRD Professionals, Products, and Academic Programs--The Role of AHRD" (Michael Leimbach), is intended to facilitate dialogue on the AHRD's role in…

Past research has shown that adults can report their own skill level on four dimensions of emotional intelligence, using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS). This study assessed children's ability to self-report on the emotional attention, emotional clarity, and emotional repair dimensions of emotional intelligence, using a modification of the above…

This study was conducted to confirm the validity and reliability of the 64-item Measure of School Capacity for Improvement (MSCI). The MSCI was designed to assess the degree to which schools possess the potential to become high performing learning communities, and was developed in response to a paucity of definition, operationalization, and…

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of concept map assessments in freshman level general chemistry courses. Two strategies were employed in this study. The first strategy involved the creation of a web based concept mapping program capable of scoring concept maps drawn by students. The second strategy involved comparing different…

Reviewed are the Balthazar Scales of Adaptive Behavior, Section 1: The Scales of Functional Independence, which deal with adaptive functioning of profoundly and severly mentally retarded persons in areas of eating, dressing, and toileting. (MC)

Investigates a reversed cloze procedure in which high information words are deleted from a passage. Concludes that this procedure is both reliable and unique. (VJ)

Native and nonnative speakers' approaches to evaluating student errors are compared, and it is argued that the teacher's assessment is likely to be influenced by such factors as his/her own language competence, familiarity with the learners, teaching priorities, and syllabus as well as frequency and degree of linguistic deviance. (MSE)

Describes research leading to the development of SEEQ (Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality), a program which collects college students' evaluations of teacher effectiveness. Three tables, a 29-item reference list, and appendices outlining the information contained in the SEEQ survey and in the SEEQ summary report are included. (JL)

Two brief scales were proposed to assess effectiveness of teaching in laboratory and seminar/discussion group classes. (Author)

The various costs of Type I and Type II errors of inference from data are discussed. Six methods for minimizing each error type are presented, which may be employed even after data collection for Type I and which minimizes Type II errors by a study design and analytical means combination. (Author/CM)

School psychologist estimates of language arts grades through clinical inspection of Rotter protocols and the grammatical errors found on the test were correlated with actual semester grades earned in language arts. Most types of errors correlated significantly with semester grades, but clinical inspection yielded the highest correlation (.54)…

Empirical results from two studies--a simulation study and an experimental one--indicated that, in achievement data of the problem-solving type where a specific subject matter area is being tested, the greater the variety of the algorithms used, the higher the dimensionality of the test data. (Author/PN)