The kinds of life events that may affect cognitive development were explored for 777 students, mostly freshmen, enrolled in introductory social science courses at Western Washington University Bellingham (Washington). Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Measure of Epistemological Reflection (MER) of M. B. Taylor (1983). Students also…

Two aspects of rater accuracy in performance assessment were analyzed: rater stringency/leniency, and rater consistency. Data were obtained from three administrations of an oral certification examination in a health profession. The examination consists of clinical cases in four content areas or subspecialities. A total of 364 candidates were…

This study examined efficacy of different story collection procedures with normally developing (N=10) and language disordered (N=6) preschool children. Factor analyses probed such possible interfering factors as home vs. school environments, familiarity of the story requester, coaxing cues, stimulus structure, and presence of such props as dolls…

A study investigated the validity and reliability of grades and credits earned by students in the five academic departments of biological sciences (33 majors), organic chemistry and biology (106 majors) at a large public university. Validity was assessed by comparing grades assigned by faculty with scores earned on subject-related standardized…

An instrument for to assessing the extent to which postsecondary vocational education programs are competency-based consisted of 159 items grouped into 8 subscales corresponding to 4 standards: (1) identification and validation of competencies; (2) procedures for assessing student competencies; (3) instructional procedures; and (4) administrative…

Because the test information function and its two modified formulas provide useful information, the reliability coefficient of a test is no longer necessary in modern mental test theory. Yet it is interesting to know how to predict the coefficient using the test information function and its modifications, tailored for each separate population of…

A study involving 234 Texas college students was undertaken to develop and test the validity and reliability of an instrument designed to measure college students' attitudes toward alcohol. Special attention was given to the content and construct validity of the instrument. Subjects ranged in age from 18 to 24 years. The mapping sentence served as…

A study investigated the reliability and validity of the partial dictation test, a combination of dictation and cloze procedure, to measure foreign language listening comprehension. Subjects were 78 students of English as a Foreign Language in the second year of high school in Spain. Students listened to a passage from a commercial reader three…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the internal consistency reliability of the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) when the measure is administered to naive subjects as a pretest. The SoCQ was developed by G. E. Hall, A. A. George, and W. L. Rutherford (1979/1986). In the present study, the SoCQ was administered to secondary school…

The validity and reliability of aggregating individuals' perceptions of college organizational characteristics to more macro units of analysis were examined. The focus was the extent to which data collected in a national study met the internal consistency criterion for aggregating perceptual data to the institution level. The study assessed key…

In order to collect the necessary information on various practices and devices used in school climate assessment, 22 of the 39 school improvement projects mentioned in the Miles and Kaufman directory of effective schools programs were selected for a survey. A questionnaire was used to collect the primary data. Each program was asked for copies of…

With increasing reliance being placed on the results of their surveys, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recognized a need for these survey results to be valid and reliable. As part of the work of the Statistical Analysis Group in Education (SAGE), an effort was undertaken to investigate validity and reliability in survey…

The Center for the Study of Evaluation's (CSE) expository and narrative rating scales have been developed to meet the need for instructionally relevant methods for assessing students' writing competence. Research indicates that large numbers of raters can be trained in the use of these scales and that, during training and independent rating, they…

This study examines the general hypothesis that surveys can be used to elicit reliable and valid student ratings of the effectiveness of most aspects of the delivery of the academic programs in which they are enrolled, and reports data on test-retest reliability for upper division majors as well as on the reliability with which ratings…

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), one of the most commonly used tests of cognitive ability, is difficult to administer accurately. The purpose of this study was primarily to assess interrater agreement on the WISC-R Administration Observational Checklist (WAOC), a new observational instrument that can be used by an…