This study sought to establish the benefits of an analytic scoring procedure for assessing student performance in doing geometry proofs. Using the cognitive behavior theories of B. Bloom and the theories of J. G. Greeno about geometric knowledge, five criteria were established for assessing performance in proof. After a training session, 3 judges…

The reliability of A. Bandura's Multidimensional Scales of Perceived Self-Efficacy (MSPSE) was studied using the Cronbach alpha measure of internal consistency. The divergent validity of the MSPSE was also examined using subscale correlations, and the construct validity of the measure was studied through application of principal axes factor…

The Pupil Control Ideology Form (PCI) is one of the major instruments used by researchers interested in the study of school climate. Pupil control is a central feature of the organizational life of schools, and each school appears to have a prevailing ideology of pupil control. The PCI is a self-report instrument used to measure an educator's…

Recently, there has been a significant expansion in the use of performance assessment in large scale testing programs. Although there has been significant support from curriculum and policy stakeholders, the technical feasibility of large scale performance assessments has remained a question. This report is intended to contribute to the debate by…

To generalize test results beyond the particular test administration, an examinee's ability estimate must be independent of the particular items attempted, and the item difficulty calibrations must be independent of the particular sample of people attempting the items. This stability is a key concept of the Rasch model, a latent trait model of…

This study examined the concept of quality in child day care and how this can be measured by the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). Swedish day care centers in three communities were administered a version of the ECERS, which was translated from the original scale to accommodate conceptual differences between Sweden and the United…

This report presents the results of a working meeting to provide guidance to staff at the National Center for Education Statistics on: (1) establishing guidelines for inclusion of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), field tests, research, and development; (2) modifications in the…

Year after year, students, teachers, administrators, politicians, and parents are faced with the dilemma of reading assessment. Sheila Valencia (1990) feels that reading assessment has become a hot topic because the outcome tends to differ from school to school. Evaluations should be authentic and trustworthy. Roger Farr (1992) has noted that the…

The use of constructed response items in large scale standardized testing has been hampered by the costs and difficulties associated with obtaining reliable scores. The advent of expert systems may signal the eventual removal of this impediment. This study investigated the accuracy with which expert systems could score a new, non-multiple choice…

Data from performance measures that were part of two foreign language teacher certification examinations were used in a generalizability study of the quality of their performance ratings. A total of 775 examinees from the Spanish K-12 and 192 examinees from the French K-12 subject area tests of the Florida Teacher Certification Examinations were…

This paper attempts to summarize the conclusions of the major reviews of the literature on student ratings of teaching. It is an update of a paper by the same name published as IDEA Paper No. 20 from the Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development in 1988. Viewing student ratings as data rather than evaluations may help to put them in proper…

Assessment has always played an important role in counseling. This book provides information about the various psychological assessment procedures that are relevant for practicing counselors. The text deals with the use of tests that are most often employed by counselors and it includes case studies. Its purpose is to help counselors become better…

The implementation of the Dallas (Texas) Public Schools 1995-96 Title I PK-2 reading and language arts portfolio entailed monitoring and data collection to determine the student outcomes and the technical quality of the instrument. A total of 2,001 portfolios were reviewed for prekindergarten through grade 2. The components were generally in place…

The predictive power of the Split-Half version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised (WISC-R) Object Assembly (OA) subtest was compared to that of the full administration of the OA subtest. A cohort of 218 male and 49 female adolescent offenders detained in a Texas juvenile detention facility between 1990 and 1992 was used. The…

Most training programs in education and psychology focus on classical test theory techniques for assessing score dependability. This paper discusses generalizability theory and explores its concepts using a small heuristic data set. Generalizability theory subsumes and extends classical test score theory. It is able to estimate the magnitude of…