Investigates the reliability of the Instructional Activity Questionnaire, Form 3, Revised, in measuring instructional leadership behaviors of special education supervisors, using a sample of 38 supervisors and 133 special education teachers. Using Cronbach's coefficient alpha, acceptable reliability is found for special education supervisors. (SLD)

The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test assesses achievement in students in grades K-12, with subtests in reading, mathematics reasoning, spelling, reading comprehension, numerical operations, listening comprehension, oral expression, and written expression. The test was developed to assist in identification of students with learning…

Dependability of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) was studied using both generalizability and classical test score analyses with a sample of 164 elementary school students. Results suggest that sources of error variance interact to decrease dependability of CDI scores. Depression in children might be better assessed through multiple…

Two studies: evaluated the consistency of toddlers' motor activity level over time and across situations; and examined the relations between several measures of activity level and ratings of problem behavior in toddlers. Found that activity level was stable when measured by the same methods in the same situation but not across methods or across…

The Developmental Activities Screening Inventory II (DASI-II) was administered to a group of 13 toddlers with severe disabilities. Results indicated that interrater reliability was statistically significant across raters for all scores reported by the DASI-II and that test-retest stability was statistically significant across administrations and…

A method is proposed for sequential evaluation of reliability of psychometric instruments. Sample size is unfixed; a test statistic is computed after each person is sampled and a decision is made in each stage of the sampling process. Results from a series of Monte-Carlo experiments establish the method's efficiency. (SLD)

Parent and teacher ratings on the Aberrant Behavior Checklist with an outpatient sample of 110 children, adolescents, and young adults with mental retardation found that the 5-factor structure of both parent and teacher data corresponded very well with the 5 factors originally obtained from staff ratings of mentally retarded inpatients. (Author/DB)

Elementary performance tests and situational or simulation tests may be combined for comprehensive testing of open skills, i.e., a worker's competency in reacting to unpredictable situations. Elementary performance tests capture the professional skills whereas simulation tests retain realism and complexity and allow variation in responses.…

Twenty years of research on the Maze, a classroom-based reading measure for students with learning disabilities, is summarized. Overall, the research is supportive of the Maze. However, the most common version requires revision to obtain minimum construct validity, and additional research is needed on reliability and usefulness of alternate forms.…

Analysis of data from the Behaviour Disorder Scale for 405 adults and adolescents with intellectual disability revealed that subjects exhibited a mean of 14 problem behaviors per person. Factor analysis identified two general syndromes (a conduct syndrome and an emotional syndrome), raising the possibility of dealing with sets of problem behaviors…

To assess cross-observer agreement on personality profiles, an Index of Profile Agreement and an associated coefficient are proposed that take into account both the difference between the ratings and the extremes of their mean. Data from the Revised NEO Personality Inventory for 250 peer ratings/self-reports and 68 spouse ratings/self-reports…

Assessed reliability and validity of Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale (CDMSES). Findings from 233 community college students who completed CDMSES, Career Maturity Inventory, Decision-Making Scale of the Career Development Inventory, and demographic questionnaire generally support reliability and validity of CDMSES as measure of community…

Systematic scale-development procedures, reliability analyses on 2,852 medical students (3 samples), and factor analysis were used to develop and refine a scale reflecting attitudes about pulmonary disease prevention. Development and verification samples included 110 and 2,691 students, respectively. The scale is promising for health education and…

Seventy-two children (ages 23-148 months) referred to an autism center in the Netherlands were administered the Psychoeducational Profile (PEP) and the Handicaps Behaviour and Skills Schedule (HBS). The correlation between the two instruments was higher than expected, and internal consistency of the subscales of the PEP and the HBS was…

A vision screening program established at a facility for 271 individuals with severe or profound mental retardation used the acuity card procedure as its measure. The procedure was found to be a valid and reliable screening tool for this population. A few residents had good visual acuities, whereas the acuities of others were poor. (JDD)