Peer relationships play a critical role in the development of social skills and personal feelings essential for personal growth. The Teenage Inventory of Social Skills is a self-report designed exclusively to reflect behaviors functionally related to peer acceptance in adolescence. The aim of the present work was to determine the reliability and…

Describes development and testing of maze-like semantic maps for assessing reading comprehension of content-area information. Results involving 144 students (38 with learning disabilities) showed that maps could be produced and scored with high reliability. Criterion-related validity based on a standardized test was weak, but moderate-to-strong…

A French study of 136 children (ages 20-139 months) with developmental disabilities investigated the reliability and validity of the Revised Behavior Summarized Evaluation Scale (BSE-R) in evaluating autistic behavior in children with developmental delays. The BSE-R was found to be useful for progressive recording of the evolution of patients…

Argues that a study which assessed a white racial identity measure failed to account for other possible variables, such as failing to correct appropriately for artifacts in the data sets. Discusses tentative theory-relevant implications of the study for the construct validity of the racial identity measure. (RJM)

Argues that an earlier assessment of a racial identity scale was appropriate. Claims that "possible failures" of the analysis were addressed in the study and confirms that the complex patterns expected from the racial identity measure do not exist in the data. Other results, along with implications for counseling research, are discussed.…

This study of 54 individuals with head injuries compares a commonly used measure of physical disability, the Barthel Index, with three measures designed to assess intellectual functioning, communication, behavior, and mobility. The results indicate support for using scales other than the Barthel Index when describing disability following traumatic…

Four posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) scales were compared in a community sample of 330 former prisoners of war and World War II combat veterans. The Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2, and the Impact of Event Scale demonstrated moderate relationships with PTSD. (SLD)

Criterion validity of the Sexual and Physical Abuse Questionnaire was investigated in 134 psychiatric patients using the Structured Trauma Interview. The measures of agreement and the predictive measures of the questionnaire were satisfactory, particularly with sexual abuse. Positive answering increased odds for sexual abuse by a factor of…

Used the Child Behavior Checklists to develop a classification system to categorize behavior problems of foster children and initiated its validation with 91 foster children in The Netherlands. Identified four groups: normal, aggressive- delinquent-social problems, attention-social problems, and withdrawn-social problems. Found that these taxa…

Presents the design and validation of an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) test for a commercial publisher. (Author/VWL)

Investigates the psychometric properties of a Spanish and English version of the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS) when employed with Spanish- and English-speaking teachers and students. The independent emergence of comparable Spanish and English PIPPS factor structures provides initial support for use of this measure in research with…

Describes the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Advanced Placement in International English Language (APIEL) and evaluates both tests on three basic types of validity criteria: content, construct, and criterion-related. Concludes that the TOEFL has serious limitations, and that the APIEL may be more useful. (EV)

Examines what teachers learn about the role of assessments in instruction through designing and using their own curriculum- embedded assessment, noting how the development of teachers' understanding of assessment for instructional purposes supports and conflicts with use of assessment data for reporting and accountability purposes. The paper…

Validated a parent-based assessment of cognitive abilities of 3-year-olds, the Parent Report of Children's Abilities for 3s (PARCA3), against a standard tester-administered measure, the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities, and a vocabulary checklist. Found that PARCA3 parent report and parent-administered components significantly related to…

A study examined the validity of the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS) with 119 children (ages 3-10) with strict DSM-IV (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV) diagnoses of autism. The GARS consistently underestimated the likelihood that children would be classified as having autism. Limitations of ratings scales and of the GARS…