Changes in health behaviors as well as changes in self-concept are often the primary goals of health education. Both the Piers-Harris and the Parcel-Meyer Health Locus of Control (HLC) scales are reliable measures of the affective impact of a health education program. (CJ)

Even in an educational tests and measurements classroom it is possible to stimulate student creativity and divergent thinking. Examples of projects and test constructions are given to provide food for thought for the creative teacher. (JN)

The Estes Reading Attitude Scale evidences good internal consistency and solid convergent validity. It is a useful global reactive assessment of school-oriented attitude toward reading in intermediate grades. (Author/SB)

The development of the Estimate of Self-Competence Scale is described. The instrument was designed to measure generalized expectancy of task success. Reliability and validity data are provided. (Author/JKS)

Results of the study reported include indications that student evaluations of college instructors tend to be higher when not anonymous and that undergraduate students' evaluations of instructors are lower after course marks are received. Problems associated with the use of student evaluations of instructors are discussed. (JMD)

Results of a follow-up study of the same students used in the Feldman study indicate that individual student evaluations are remarkably stable over time and more reliable than previously assumed. There was systematic information in individual student ratings that internal consistency approaches have ignored or assumed to be nonexistent.…

Examined the extent to which tutor ratings remained stable in the long term by evaluating 291 ratings of 140 tutors at Maastricht University in the Netherlands between 1992 and 1995. The results indicated that, if the aggregated score and overall judgement are used to interpret the precision of individual scores, four and two occasions,…

This study examined the validity and reliability of the Back Saver Sit-and-Reach test for middle school students. Students completed the test during physical education class. Results indicated that the test was moderately related to hamstring flexibility, but its relationship to lower back flexibility was quite low for both sexes. (SM)

Reports on a study of a student self-assessment method in college biology, comparing students' self-evaluation, students' peer evaluation, and the teacher's evaluation criteria. Results illustrate potential problems in making assumptions about student ability to self-evaluate but also support previous findings about the instructional usefulness of…

This study examined the temporal reliability of four quantitative measurements of linguistic behaviors in 20 preschool children observed in a naturalistic setting. Although inadequate reliability was found for the measure which used total number of words, very high reliability coefficients were obtained for the measures which used number of…

Capability is an expert system designed to support the process of compiling portfolios for competence-based assessment, particularly accreditation of prior leaning. The system was designed to provide cost effective management, consistency of rigor, support for tutors in accreditation workshops, and a structured approach to counseling. Outlines…

This study compared psychometric results on the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-II for 187 children and adolescents with mental retardation and 372 intellectually average students. The schedule demonstrated sound psychometric properties for both samples. Mentally retarded subjects scored significantly higher than the comparison sample, and their…

This study evaluated the internal reliability and face validity of a linguistically modified Self-Description Questionnaire and a sign language video presentation of the questionnaire items with 10 deaf students (ages 8 to 13). Results suggest that the modified measure and video presentation are appropriate for use with deaf students without…

Kindergarten children (n=101) were tested on the Bankson Language Test Second Edition and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Revised Screening Test and were given the tests again 7 months later. Results showed that the children scored higher on both tests at the second administration, without intervention from a speech-language…

A brief history of developments in the assessment of the reliability of credentialing examinations is presented, and some new results are outlined that highlight the interactions among scoring, standard setting, and the reliability and validity of pass-fail decisions. Decision consistency is an important concept in evaluating credentialing…