The author reviews the evidence for the beneficial effects of the Self-Directed Search (SDS), indicates that Hanson and Prediger have misinterpreted the theory, that their evidence is misleading, and that other evidence indicates that males and females of the same type are similar. The virtues of raw scores are summarized. (Author)

This study examined the degree to which certain religious/spiritual constructs simply reflect personality variables and to what extent they describe unique components of individual differences. It assessed the incremental validity of several recent or widely used religious measures over personality dimensions in predicting quality of life, racism,…

Michigan is designing a new accountability system that combines high standards and statewide testing within a school accreditation framework. Sound assessment techniques are critical if the accountability system is to provide relevant information to schools and policymakers. One important component of a sound assessment system is measurement of…

This study examined second-term and second-year retention of freshmen (n=6,054) and nonfreshman transfer students (n=2,733) from DePaul University, a large, urban, private institution. The predictor variables included both achievement and noncognitive measures collected at DePaul and on the ACT Assessment. Two questions formed the basis for this…

Possible relationships between five test examiner characteristics (gender, race, tenure, experience as a test administrator, and experience as a test developer or scorer) and six student achievement scores (reading, writing, language usage, mathematics, science, and social studies) were studied at the school level in a statewide assessment. The…

Senator Edward Kennedy, from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, submitted this report in accompaniment to United States Senate Bill 2969 (S. 2969), which was introduced by Senator Kennedy and Senator Gregg on September 19, 2002. S. 2969 provides for an office within the Department of Education to conduct high quality research…

The quality of reading comprehension and mathematics instruction was explored in five urban middle schools using the Instructional Quality Assessment (IQA) toolkit (N = 34 teachers). The IQA is comprised of protocols for rating observed instruction and the quality of teachers' assignments with student work. The purpose of this research was to…

As part of an effort to monitor the transformation of classrooms within Limpopo Province, South Africa, an instrument was developed to assess students perceptions of their learning environments. The developed questionnaire, the Outcomes-Based Learning Environment Questionnaire (OBLEQ), was designed to measure the impact of the Curriculum 2005…

Academic institutions are becoming increasingly interested in the collection and presentation of data to support strategic planning, accreditation, and accountability needs. With an increased emphasis on campus-wide involvement and centralized data collection at some institutions, the integrity, accessibility, and interpretation of data become key…

Recently NWEA completed a project to connect the scale of the WKCE with NWEA's RIT scale. Six Wisconsin school systems participated in the study, using test information from a group of over 1,500 students enrolled in fourth, eighth, and tenth grade who took both the WKCE and NWEA tests in the fall of 2003. Information from these tests was used in…

This document is an outline of a conference presentation on developing and implementing authentic oral assessment instruments. Among the topics covered are the following: alternative, authentic, direct, descriptive, portfolio, and performance assessments. A detailed comparison and contrasting is undertaken of alternative and performance…

The Rating Ethical Content System (RECS) was developed for adults, but the question remains whether children can recognize moral themes in media with the same competency as adults. The current study aims to test a modified version of the existing scale (RECS-K) for use by children in order to determine whether children can recognize ethical…

Student-centered approach of scoring the concept maps consisted of three elements namely symbol system, individual portfolio and scoring scheme. We scored student-constructed concept maps based on 5 concept map criteria: validity of concepts, adequacy of propositions, significance of cross-links, relevancy of examples, and interconnectedness. With…

The Neglect Scale was designed as a measure of neglect of children's basic needs by caretakers. It measures neglect of physical, emotional, supervisory, and cognitive needs. The version of the Neglect Scale described in this report can be used in interview or questionnaire format with adolescents to describe their current situations or with adults…

This paper describes the General Educational Development (GED) Testing Service's Spanish Test Adaptation Project. The GED Tests are designed to give those who have not graduated from high school the opportunity to earn a diploma that is recognized by institutions of higher education and employers. The purpose of this project is to develop, based…