The formative/summative evaluation dichotomy suggested by M. Scriven is challenged, and a conceptual typology is presented that crosses improvement and assessment evaluation functions with process and outcome program stages for four basic types of evaluation. This framework accommodates mixed types of evaluations. (SLD)

Comparison of 24 elementary school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 20 children with attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity (ADD/noH) on a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment found math achievement test scores for students with ADD/noH were significantly lower than those for students with…

A national sample of 820 academically talented children took the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. Cluster analyses of scores found a three-cluster solution. Further analyses indicated that these clusters were: nonperfectionistic (32.%), healthy perfectionistic (41.7%), and dysfunctional perfectionistic (25.5%). The construct of perfectionism…

Three studies examined the developmental relationship between early linguistic and cognitive achievements. Findings showed that children's ability to classify objects in a spatial or temporal order was independent of advances in productive vocabulary growth, suggesting that developments in categorization and naming depend on abilities in addition…

The construct validity of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) was studied. The IIP was used to categorize 104 patients reporting interpersonal distress into 4 problem quadrants. Results offer broad support for the convergent validity of the IIP and offer knowledge about interpersonal problems and the psychotherapy context. (SLD)

A review of the literature examines definitional issues in child abuse. The review is organized into sections on theory and ideology, historical broadening of concept, comparative studies, dimensions of definitions, operational definitions, and breadth of systems. The importance of definitional issues in construction of a unifying framework for…

Drawing on the notion of the domain-specificity of recognition, reviews evidence on the effect of language in classification of and reasoning about categories from different domains. Looks at anthropological infant classification, and preschool categorization literature. Suggests the causal nature and indicative power of animal categories seem to…

Discusses the role of librarians in knowledge management in terms of designing information systems, creating classification systems and taxonomies, and implementing and operating the systems. Suggests the need for librarians to be involved in user education and training, including database searching, using current awareness services, and using…

Examines data on prize-winning books during the 1990s from the American Historical Association, American Musicological Society, the College Art Association, and the Modern Language Association. Suggests that studying awards from the leading humanities scholarly associations can tell much about the disciplines, publishing industry, and library…

Used the Activity Apperception Story Procedure to elicit perceptions of play, work, and learning from 3- to 6-year-olds. Found that children could distinguish play/work and learning/not learning using photographs. While children attended to anticipated cues for justifying their classification of photos, the justification data suggested that the…

Points out that today's taxonomy is very different than what many biology teachers learned when they were in school. Traces the history of some of the changes and describes the current taxonomy. (DDR)

Describes how an electronic greeting card Web site, Egreetings, redesigned the site to improve the number of greetings sent by users. Goals included reorganizing the card collection, including taxonomy and controlled vocabulary; improving navigation and searching; placing ads and promotions; developing a music greeting collection; and improving…

Attempts to place the issues associated with computer-automated scoring within the context of current validity theory and presents a taxonomy of automated scoring procedures as a framework for discussing threats to validity that may take on increased importance for specific approaches to automated scoring. (SLD)

Used empirical data from a certification test to study methods from statistical process control that have been proposed to classify an item score pattern as fitting or misfitting the underlying item response theory model in computerized adaptive testing. Results for 1,392 examinees show that different types of misfit can be distinguished. (SLD)

Validated a taxonomy of 31 multiple-choice item-writing guidelines through a logical process that included reviewing 27 textbooks on educational testing and the results of 27 studies and reviews published since 1990. Presents the taxonomy, which is intended for classroom assessment. (SLD)