All animals must make choices regarding what foods to eat, where to eat, and how much time to spend feeding. Optimal foraging theory explains these behaviors in terms of costs and benefits. This laboratory exercise focuses on optimal foraging theory by investigating the winter feeding behavior of birds on the goldenrod gall fly by comparing…

This study examined the efficacy, social validity, and durability of a positive behavior support (PBS) approach with the family of a girl with autism and severe problem behavior. The study was conducted across a 10-year period beginning when the child was 5 years old. A multiple baseline across family routines design evaluated the functional…

Introduction: Heightened concerns about industry influence on continuing medical education (CME) have prompted tighter controls on the management of commercial funding and conflict of interest. As a result, CME providers must closely monitor their activities and intervene if bias or noncompliance with accreditation standards is likely. Potential…

The Early Development Index (EDI) is a teacher-completed checklist, intended to be a population-level tool to measure children's readiness for school and to alert communities to potential developmental problems in children. In response to the increasing popularity of the EDI, this paper provides a critical and timely evaluation and identifies the…

Web-based education and training provides a new paradigm for imparting knowledge; students can access the learning material anytime by operating remotely from any location. Web3D open standards, such as X3D and VRML, support Web-based delivery of Educational Virtual Environments (EVEs). EVEs have a great potential for learning and training…

A research project was initiated by the San Antonio Accreditation program to compare results of overlapping validations made with three instruments: San Antonio's Family Day Care Rating Scale (FDCRS), Dallas Child Care Partnership's Family Day Care Observation Instrument (FDCOI), and the National Association for Family Day Care's (NAFDC)…

The purpose of this report, presented in five sections, is to provide readers with a general orientation to the Massachusetts Title I Validation Process. Section I responds to some of the most frequently asked questions about validation. Section II describes how and why the validation process originated, outlines other established validation…

The extent to which evaluation research and psychology share some common objectives, methods and aims for validity is examined. The conventional dichotomy drawn between the two disciplines is seen as spurious and misleading to scholars and practitioners in each area. To demonstrate the proposed synergy between the two disciplines, an integrative…

A comprehensive conceptual framework for the validation of educational programs has been proposed. The conceptual framework includes the concept of an educational program as a system of curricular and instructional claims and methods of evaluation which entail a wide range of judgments of both logical validity and factual validity. Judgments of…

A four-phase project to validate a graduate psychology training program in delopmental disabilities included development of a questionnaire, a survey of 94 professionals who rated competency areas, validation of subskills within each area, and revision of the final 15 competency areas. (CL)

Focusing on issues related to the training of industrial workers in Brazil, this article reports the findings of a study which evaluated the effectiveness of vocational training offered by the National Industrial Apprenticeship Service. (LRA)

A step-by-step method can determine whether training programs match the training needs as expressed by rated objectives. Trainers calculate the time devoted to each objective while the program users rate the importance of each objective. The match between importance and time is a measure of program efficiency. (LRA)

The validity of a screening device used for primary prevention strategies in college mental health services is examined. (JD)

Aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) studies that used handicapped students as subjects were reviewed to determine the validity of the ATI concept. Since only four of the studies resulted in significant disordinal aptitude-treatment interactions, it was concluded that the ATI concept is nonvalidated. Areas for further research are discussed.…

The authors discuss legislation and rulings on nonprofit organizations' tax liability for unrelated business profits. They emphasize the effects on continuing higher education and the need to tie continuing education programs to the institutional mission. Suggestions regarding continuing education administration are provided. (CH)