Lord's, Millman's and Saupe's methods of approximating the standard error of measurement are reviewed. Through an empirical demonstration involving 200 university classroom tests, all three approximations are shown to be biased. (Author/JKS)

This article describes the development and validation of an instrument to assess adults' orientations toward control versus autonomy in their interactions with children. The responses from 68 teachers had a good range and were internally consistent and temporally stable. Further, the measure was shown to be externally valid. (Author/BW)

A survey devised to measure students' perceptions of their medical school was completed by undergraduates at two schools with radically different approaches to medical education. The survey was reliable in terms of its internal consistency, and exhibited strong validity for a construct of school learning environment. (Author/AL)

Answer-until-correct (AUC) is a procedure for providing feedback during a multiple-choice test, giving an increased range of scores. The performance of secondary students on a verbal ability test using AUC procedures was compared with a group using conventional instructions. AUC scores considerably enhanced reliability but not validity.…

Reports on the development and validation of a standardized test, entitled Competency Inventory on Vocational Education for the Handicapped, which was designed to measure the knowledge vocational education teachers possess about teaching handicapped students in regular vocational education programs. (CT)

Procedures for computing content validity and consistency reliability coefficients and determining the statistical significance of these coefficients are described. Procedures employing the multinomial probability distribution for small samples and normal curve probability estimates for large samples, can be used where judgments are made on…

In an attempt to assess a person's orientation toward death, a self-administered form of the Threat Index (TI) was introduced and compared to the original interview form along dimensions of validity, reliability, internal consistency, and independence from social desirability response sets. Results supported theoretical and psychometric soundness…

Investigated the stabilities and construct validities of the Career Salience Questionnaire (CS) and the Central Life Interests Questionnaire (CLI) after minor modifications. Results indicated the modified CS and CLI are reliable for experimental use and that the CS and CLI tap different aspects of an "importance of work" construct. (RC)

In this naturalistic study of essay marking, 15 university lecturers graded an examination paper and completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. A significant positive correlation was found between the marks given and the grader's lie score, indicating possible effects of staff-student interactions or social desirability on biases in grading.…

Four journalism teachers provide information on the use of tape recordings and written transcripts to illustrate the importance of factual accuracy, voluntary participation in a special advertising class, a method of teaching the history of public relations, and the importance of drill work to improve journalists' spelling abilities. (RL)

Problems in improving the reliability of essay marks are examined in this Australian study that considers the markings of 338 essays, each marked by one of 13 graders. It is concluded that improvement is needed but the changes necessary for the improvement are not feasible. (LC)

Children identified for specific reading retardation were tested at initial contact and after two years on a variety of measures including seat activity, and cognitive and motor steadiness tasks. Speed of response and motor steadiness showed moderate to very high consistency over the two years. (Author/SJL)

Although the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) involves modifications and a complete restandardization, the literature suggests that it remains very similar in nature to its predecessor, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). Individuals perform on the WISC-R largely the same as they do on the WISC. (Author)

With an understanding of the rules of scoring and an appreciation of the need for correctness, the scoring of the Adaptive Behavior Scale, Public School Version, will result in fewer errors. Lacking adequate preparation in scoring, the practitioner should be aware of the potential unreliability of results. (Author)

Fifty mildly handicapped students (learning disabled or emotionally disturbed) mainstreamed in secondary classrooms were Ss of a study to investigate conditions for acquiring textbook content through listening and reading utilizing simulated classroom assignments. (Author/PHR)