A 13-item Student Description of Instruction Questionnaire developed at Bronx Community College (New York) was subjected to a series of reliability, stability, and validity studies based on data collected over a period of four semesters. Indices suggested moderate to good reliability and stability, depending on department. (JG)

The School Improvement Model launched by the Iowa State University College of Education in 1964 uses a total-system approach to measure and report teacher performance. SIM focuses on student achievement and emphasizes validity, reliability, discrimination, and 360-degree feedback from principals, other teachers, parents, and students. A Wyoming…

High school students (N=26) with learning disabilities, their parents, and their special education teachers rated the students' skills in 21 specific areas such as general ability, oral language, reading, written language, and social skills. Parents' ratings were consistent with teachers' in 16 areas and lower in 5 areas. Students' ratings were…

This study investigated the interrater reliability of proficiency-level judgments of graduate student trainee raters on oral proficiency interviews (OPIs). Trainees' ratings were compared with the judgments of a certified American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) tester for 150 interviews. (Author/JL)

Assesses techniques used by researchers to collect and analyze data on how people with visual impairments or blindness learn, understand, and think about geographic space. Recommendations are made for increasing the validity of studies, including the use of multiple, mutually supportive tests; larger samples; and real-world environments.…

Final-year Ontario medical students (n=88) took a 4-station objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) using standardized patients and involving decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatment. Performance was scored on a checklist of behaviors unique to each case. Results indicated that because of low reliability, the OSCE is not a feasible…

A study examined the psychometric properties of the Social Anxiety Scale for Children--Revised (SASC-R) in a sample of 159 predominantly Dominican and Puerto Rican fifth- and sixth-grade students from New York City. Findings provided initial support for SASC-R reliability and validity in Hispanic children. Convergent validity was supported by…

Describes a study that developed and field-tested the Classroom Community Scale, which measures the sense of community in a learning environment, and to determine its validity and reliability for use with university students taking distance courses via the Internet. Considers gender and ethnic groups, and a copy of the scale is appended.…

This article describes development of the Profile of Multiple Language Proficiencies (PMLP), a measure of both English and American Sign Language skills in deaf children. The PMLP showed reasonable initial reliability and appears to be an easy-to-use measure. Discussion addresses issues that influence the reliability and validity in evaluating…

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…

A study explored the construct of mental restlessness in 20 college students with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using the Internal Restlessness Scale (IRS). Students with ADHD reported significantly higher ratings of internal restlessness. The IRS appears to have adequate test-retest reliability and a four-factor…

Through the standard error, rather than a reliability coefficient, generalizability theory provides an indicator of the uncertainty attached to school and individual scores on performance assessments. Recommendations are made to apply generalizability theory to current performance assessments, emphasizing practices that differ from usual…

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…

In this longitudinal study, 60 mothers rated their toddler's personality traits concerning social relations and exploration of the physical and social world. Data showed that mothers of toddlers from older cohorts were more likely to have stable and consistent, but not more negative, perceptions of their child's personality over six months than…