A study examined the needs of older students (individuals 26 years old and older) enrolled in college. The population of the study included undergraduate adult learners enrolled in the 18 institutions participating in the Higher Education for Adult Mental Health Project. Usable surveys were returned by 852 individuals from 14 of the 18…

This study examines two concepts--the relationship between different types of television viewing as evidence of viewer selectivity, and the structural relationships between television viewing and experiences derived from a subculture and location in the social structure. A review of the way mainstream research has characterized the viewing…

This paper examines the development of the "Comfortability Scale in Special Education." This 44-item self-evaluation instrument measures special education teachers' perceptions of "comfort" (self-confidence) with their ability to use pertinent knowledge and skills. Each item is rated on a seven-point Likert-like scale. Two…

Confirmatory factor analysis (LISREL VI) is the method best suited to the comparison of measurement models when those models are based on a priori assumptions. Traditionally, positive and negative item stems were mixed on affective scales to reduce response set bias since the item pairs were considered to be parallel. Recent studies indicate that…

An attempt was made to develop an objective instrument to assess a teacher's perceived engagement in reflective practice. A Reflective Teaching Instrument (RTI) was developed around three dimensions of reflective practice in teaching: (1) diagnosis (problem setting); (2) testing; and (3) personal causation. Indicators of each of the dimensions…

Reading test data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were scaled using the unidimensional item response theory model. Data were collected for students aged 9, 13, and 17. To determine whether the responses to the reading items were consistent with unidimensionality, four different methods were applied: (1) principal…

Approximately 1200 Danish school children aged 8, 11, and 14 participated in a questionnaire study under the caption, "Why I like to read." Data from Denmark formed part of an international study, in which 12 other countries used the same questionnaire to explore various functions of reading and to compare them over different countries.…

This investigation examined the influence of sample size on different goodness-of-fit indices used in confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The first two data sets were derived from large normative samples of responses to a multidimensional self-concept instrument and to a multidimensional instrument used to assess students' evaluations of teaching…

This report contains accounts of studies, about scales to be used in the "A Study of Schooling" research project, undertaken to derive indices for constructs presumed to be measureable by composites of items. The report is introduced by a discussion on the rationale for selecting the research methodology used and an explanation of the…

Part I summarizes data on the final version of the Student Self-Report, an affective, multiple-chioce questionnaire developed to measure the kinds of behavioral and attitudinal chanqes which elementary counselors most often attempt to produce when providing services to students in Grades 3-6. Part I contains reliability and validity data for the…

This qualitative study sought information about the content, nature, and diversity of teachers' beliefs and principles. Selected studies involving the beliefs of teachers in the areas of curriculum theory and innovation, decision making and thinking, and improving teaching are discussed and analyzed. A discussion of the study's methodology points…

The Tetreau-Trahan Visual Interest Test (TTVIT) was constructed to counteract the influence of verbal and cognitive factors in the measurement of vocational interests. Two forms were developed--a pictorial test based on color slides of various occupations, as well as a verbal form to be used in comparative studies with samples of persons from…

Few efforts have been made to systematically examine the impact of self-perception on the perceptions of others. To explore the extent to which the attributions made by a perceiver about another person are related to the perceiver's self-attributions, 93 white and 71 black college students were asked to engage in a 20-minute conversation with a…

This study on barriers to online staff development for classroom teachers was conducted as part of the planning activities of a delivery models project designed to develop guidelines for implementing large-scale online staff development programs. The study involved engaging 54 general and special educators in several professional roles from nine…

Some evidence supports the hypothesis that formal operational reasoning ability (at least that measured by Piagetian tasks) is a unified process. The purpose of this research was to determine: (1) if conservation tasks, such as conservation of number, liquid amount, weight and volume, are unifactor; and (2) if conservation tasks form a scale of…