This paper continues an exchange between its author and Andrew Davis. Part I addresses the attribution and ontological status of mental constructs and argues that philosophical work on these topics does not undermine high stakes testing. Part II examines the significance for testing of the connectedness of meaningful learning. Part III addresses…

Dependable parent reports of infant gross motor milestones would be useful for many purposes. This paper reports on the development of a parent checklist related to sitting, crawling, and walking. Ninety-five mothers of infants completed the checklists daily and returned them monthly. Assessors visited the infants (2.5 to 15.7 months of age) at…

The current study compares the use of two alternative methodologies for using the Five-Factor Model (FFM) to assess personality disorders (PDs). Across two clinical samples, a technique using the simple sum of selected FFM facets is compared with a previously used prototype matching technique. The results demonstrate that the more easily…

A significant relationship exists between principals' quality at certain grade levels and student achievement on the Virginia Standards of Learning tests. A statewide study finds principals rated higher on school leadership as measured by an Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards rubric. These schools have higher…

The selection of a programming language for introductory courses has long been an informal process involving faculty evaluation, discussion, and consensus. As the number of faculty, students, and language options grows, this process becomes increasingly unwieldy. As it stands, the process currently lacks structure and replicability. Establishing a…

Within the field of psychological assessment, the Wechsler scales continue to be the most widely used intelligence batteries. The concepts, methods, and procedures inherent in the design of the Wechsler scales have been so influential that they have guided most of the test development and research in the field for more than a half century. This…

In the project described in this article, students work together to model real-life phenomena. They also think about the modeling process as they develop rubrics for evaluating their peers' work.

This article explores the problem of assigning grades to students engaged in nontraditional activities, especially scientific inquiry. We suggest using scoring rubrics to guide students in their work and to assist teachers with grading. We present the steps involved in the construction of rubrics, and we show sample rubrics. (Contains 5 figures.)

This study presents an investigation of information literacy as defined by the ETS iSkills™ assessment and by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Information Literacy Scale (ILS). As two related but distinct measures, both iSkills and the ILS were used with undergraduate students at NJIT during the spring 2006 semester. Undergraduate…

Over the past 20 years, the amount of information available to students via the Internet has increased dramatically. Access for students to technological resources used to locate information on the Internet has likewise increased. As a result, teachers are now being asked to teach students important 21st Century Skills, including the ability to…

This handbook is intended to help high school and college counselors effectively use and interpret ACT results. It contains four main sections: Section 1, "Components of the ACT," which contains general information about the ACT tests, probably will be of interest both to high school counselors and to college advisors and other staff. …

Judge-mediated examinations are defined as those for which expert evaluation (using rubrics) is required to determine correctness, completeness, and reasonability of test-taker responses. The use of multifaceted Rasch modeling has led to improvements in the reliability of scoring such examinations. The establishment of criterion-referenced…

Featuring a new spiral binding, the FCCERS-R is a thorough revision of the widely used program quality assessment instrument, "The Family Day Care Rating Scale." Designed for use in family child care programs, it is suitable for programs serving children from infancy through school-age. Following extensive input from users of the…

Formative assessment has been receiving increasing attention in education. But from a classroom teacher's perspective, changing assessment practices is not always an easy, straightforward process. This article describes the experiences of five middle schools science teachers who met together weekly to exchange ideas about integrating formative…

The current study compared the effects of video-based reflection versus a memory-based reflection (i.e., no video) on scores for written reflections of preservice teachers who were completing a special education method course. The results of a counterbalanced design show that the use of a videotape was associated with slightly higher mean scores…