The critique of the Massachusetts Teacher Tests by W. Haney and others points out some flaws in the tests but ignores the fact that the tests provide some useful information to guide teacher selection decisions. Calls for additional study of these teacher evaluation instruments. (SLD)

Business undergraduates (n=261) participating in an assessment center simulation were evaluated by graduate students and faculty. Assessor-peer and assessor-self ratings lacked convergent and divergent validity, but self-peer ratings had both. (SK)

A 1929 University of Washington initiative to have students evaluate their classes and instructors is described in detail and analyzed, looking at the construction of the survey, criteria used to assess instruction, use made of the survey's results, and assessment of improvements found in the next semester. (Originally published in 1932) (MSE)

Shows how schools can help students navigate the Internet's complex, often disorganized information landscape and decide about important issues affecting their lives and times. Students must become "infotectives" adept at framing essential questions, planning a cyberspace voyage, collecting pertinent information, changing course, exploiting…

Despite Commissioner Pascal Forgione's claims (in the June 1998 "Kappan"), the final-year Third International Mathematics and Science Study obviates comparison of achievement across nations. Comparers are engaging in a political exercise. There are problems with age, cultural, and enrollment-rate differences; definition of the U.S.…

The leadership characteristics of 163 gifted Chinese secondary students in Hong Kong were assessed with the use of the Roets Rating Scale for Leadership (RRSL). Higher self-ratings were found for characteristics related to aspiring to leadership and achievement, openness to novel experiences and different perspectives, and high energy level than…

Describes advantages and disadvantages of time-line interviewing and inductive content analysis for studying information users' cognitive behaviors. Uses examples from a study of users' criteria for their relevance judgments in a multimedia information environment and discusses reliability, validity, and future directions. (Author/LRW)

Examined persistence of sensory memory by studying developmental differences in recall of attended and ignored lists of digits for second-graders, fifth-graders, and adults. Found developmental increase in the persistence of memory only for the final item in an ignored list, which is the item for which sensory memory is thought to be the most…

Explores the pedagogical role of perceived teacher confirmation in the college classroom. Finds: (1) support for confirmation as a crucial communication variable; (2) a need for further research to clarify the issue of defining "disconfirmation"; (3) support for earlier research establishing confirmation as a receiver-based variable; and…

Evaluated the Early Coping Inventory (ECI) as a measure of coping skills in low-risk nursery school children. Findings pointed to significant associations between observers' ratings and teachers' ratings on the Evaluation of Adaptive Behavior in Nursery School. Findings suggest that the ECI may be valuable in early identification of children with…

Seeks to resolve certain questions pertaining to the relationship between gender and second-language vocabulary knowledge. One particular question examined was whether female and male English-as-a-Second-Language students at the University of California at Irvine differ significantly in their knowledge of academic vocabulary in English as measured…

Administered a modified version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to 448 high school students, as well as to psychiatric patients and juvenile offenders. Results suggest that students' responses were comparable to normal and clinical groups. The MMPI was effective in appraising the emotional problems of troubled…

Using a recruitment test for Korean teachers, the use of the Rasch measurement model to control the effects of judge variable on the grading of essay-type items is examined. Ways of minimizing the variation of grading due to judge severity and reducing the number of judges without threatening objectivity of ability measurements are presented.…

A study involving 49 Canadian individuals with spinal cord disorders investigated using the LIFE-H, a measurement designed to assess the life habits of individuals with disabilities. The LIFE-H assessment was found to be reliable, covered most of a person's life habits, and could determine the appearance of disability situations. (Author/CR)

Reports on the psychometric properties of a new semistructured interview, the Structured Interview for the Five-Factor Model of Personality (T. Trull and T. Widiger, 1997). Data from clinical and nonclinical samples (187 undergraduates and 46 mental health outpatients) support the reliability and validity of the measure's scores. (SLD)