Offers a practical evaluation and a technical evaluation of a military-generated career exploration program. Concludes that the instrument is a superb example of a multiple-aptitude battery due to its psychometrics, extensive norming data, and excellent materials. Cautions against adoption of instrument for civilian use without further testing.…

In a study of criteria for and reliability of grading of college essays in introductory psychology, 16 essays were marked by 12 faculty and 20 graduate students. Analysis found that two content attributes (facts, examples) accounted for 82% of variance in grading by faculty, while five stylistic measures accounted for the remainder. Both faculty…

Reports on four studies that addressed the development of a career counseling scale. Results show that the instrument had moderate to high internal consistency across the studies and exhibited strong test-retest reliability over a two-week period. Construct validity was also supported. Uses of this test for training are discussed. (RJM)

Seven separate studies over 3.5 years developed the Trauma-Related Guilt Inventory, examined its internal consistency, factor structure, and the questionnaire's convergent and discriminant validity. Results with college students, veterans, and battered women support the conceptualization of trauma-related guilt as a multidimensional construct.…

The example of a medical licensure test is used to demonstrate situations in which complex, integrated content must be balanced at the total test level for validity reasons, but items assigned to reportable subscore categories may be used under a multidimensional item response theory adaptive paradigm to improve subscore reliability. (SLD)

Conducted a meta-evaluation of 11 school-based smoking prevention programs. Criteria included: adequacy of research design; evidence of reliability and validity; appropriate statistical analyses and interpretations; reporting of effect sizes or practical significance; accounting for attrition; and tracking fidelity to the program. Criteria with…

Examined predictability of observed parent-child interaction from preschool to middle childhood among 283 mother-child dyads who were welfare recipients enrolled in a job training program. Found that interaction in middle childhood could be predicted from observed interaction 4 years earlier. Families with greater risk factors tended to show more…

Developed and validated the Acculturation, Habits, and Interests Multicultural Scale for Adolescents (AHIMSA), a survey for use in a smoking prevention curriculum for early adolescents in multicultural, urban settings. Found that three of the subscales correlated with subscales of another acculturation instrument, with English language usage, and…

A series of group-administered curriculum-based measurement (CBM) probes were developed to assist in the identification of kindergarten students exhibiting deficient readiness skills. Acceptable reliability and validity estimates were obtained for three of the probe measures. Proposes the use of kindergarten CBM probes as a potential screening…

An assessment instrument to measure the professional behavior of occupational therapy students (n=317) in clinical placements was validated through factor and item analyses that demonstrated internal consistency, interrater reliability, and discriminant validity. (Contains 22 references.) (JOW)

Two studies evaluated the PDD Behavior Inventory, (PDDBI), a rating scale designed to assess adaptive and maladaptive behaviors of children having a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). It was concluded that the PDDBI is both reliable and valid and is useful in providing information not typically available in most instruments used to assess…

Examined correlates and structure of prosocial behaviors in late adolescents using a newly constructed multidimensional measure. Findings from study 1, which involved 249 college students, were supported by findings from a second study in which 40 college students completed the measure. Results from both studies yielded adequate evidence of…

Tests the validity of the Test of Phoneme Identities (TPI). Finds the TPI to be reliable and comparable to other phoneme awareness measures in predicting decoding ability; and to be more effective than a nursery rhyme and alphabet measures in predicting the number of lessons required for a student to learn to distinguish phonetic cues. (RS)

Documented the development, testing, and application of an organizational assessment tool for measuring employer support for heart health. The Heart Check inventory measured such factors as organizational foundations, administrative supports, stress management, and screening services. Data on diverse worksites throughout New York State indicated…

Examines the question of variation among interviewers of oral language proficiency interviews in the ways that they elicit demonstrations of communicative ability and the impact of this variation on candidate performance and raters' perceptions of candidate ability. A discourse analysis of two interviews involving the same candidate with two…