Investigated stability and change in infant affective responses to still-face interaction, impact of maternal depression, and whether infant responses predicted toddler problem behaviors. Found stable individual differences in gazing away and rates of negative affect. Gazing away increased over time. Mothers' current depressive symptoms and…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of Career Discovery I, the first module in a computer-assisted program for career decision-making, on the stability of the choice of college majors. This study sought to determine whether any differences existed in the stability of college majors between students who entered a…

Each January since 1997, "Education Week," the K-12 industry's newspaper of record, has issued its "Quality Counts" report, ranking states by, among other things, the "equity" of their school finances. On the other hand, every fall since 2001, the "Education Trust," a national organization devoted to closing the achievement gap in public schools,…

This article describes standardized instruments designed to measure physical and emotional health outcomes among children for a statewide implementation of community- and school-based family resource centers. It includes descriptive and psychometric information, strengths and weaknesses of two measures of physical well-being, and four measures of…

The early childhood educational field has garnered attention with initiatives to foster skill acquisition in young children prior to kindergarten entry. These initiatives, in conjunction with the rigorous demands of curricular reform and a burgeoning accountability movement, invoke questions regarding the adequacy of the instruments used to assess…

The notion of item context effects implies that psychometric properties of an item or scale are altered by the presentation format, for example, blocked versus randomized. In an experimental study with high school students, the experimental group (n = 407) answered a four-dimensional academic self-concept questionnaire, in which the items were…

Background: To the person who stutters, there are other experiences than the somatic ones of stuttered speech. These are experiences of cognition and affect: in other words, experiences of thought and emotion. For several reasons, it is quite difficult to determine and recommend core measures of cognition and affect for clinicians to consider…

This article reflects on her experiences as a middle school counselor in Kentucky. It relates that counselors have been called upon to address problems of middle school students, including substance abuse. It offers an overview of the advantages of the American School Counselor Association's National Standards, such as its provision of legitimacy…

Gay affirmative practice models provide guidelines for behaviors and beliefs in social work practice with gay and lesbian individuals. The aim of this study was to develop a valid rapid assessment instrument to assess the extent to which social work practitioners engage in principles consistent with gay affirmative practice. The Gay Affirmative…

Teaching difficulties often require creative approaches. Difficulties are often compounded when students in class show anxiety toward the material presented and, in particular, in the case of quantitative methods--"fear of numbers." This case presented itself in an advanced course in health behavior theory, where teaching the concepts of validity…

The factor structure of the Family Emotional Involvement and Criticism Scale (FEICS) is tested in a sample of Irish adolescents. Participants were 661 adolescents with a mean age of 15.9 years (SD = 1.26). Interpretation of both the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the FEICS show support for the two-factor structure of the FEICS…

Student learning is a complex incremental cognitive process; assessment needs to parallel this, reporting the results in similar terms. Application of fuzzy sets and logic to the criterion-referenced assessment of student learning is considered here. The constrained qualitative assessment (CQA) system was designed, and then applied in assessing a…

The authors discuss a method to increase institutional efficiency and financial stability through strategic planning, by gradually reallocating funds raised for annual operations to quasi-endowment over a period of years using a weaning model. The weaning model is offered as a tactic to address issues of financial vulnerability developed in…

We examined how children's, parents', and observers' perceptions of the marital relationship are linked with children's adjustment. Children's perceptions of the marital relationship were assessed using a new measure, the Interparental Relationship Interview for Children (IRIC). In the first phase of the study, 63 preschoolers, 63 mothers, and 56…

We examined the interrater reliability of the "Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths-Mental Health" (CANS-MH) scale among researchers and between researchers and clinicians. All children presenting to a treatment facility for either protective or mental health needs were eligible to be included in the study. As part of standard assessment…