This report is intended to assist those agencies considering using California's Probation Officer Examination as a tool for selecting personnel. It is intended to provide agencies with guidance in setting test cutoff scores rather than an exhaustive discussion of all of the factors that must be considered before setting cutoff scores for actual…

A total of 1,071 rating sheets were completed by individual reviewers evaluating abstracts submitted to Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for the International Research Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland. Only 972 sheets contained usable data. Reviewers indicated a total of 12 ratings with possible comments for each abstract on machine…

A "modified essay examination" was used to help teach and to assess clinical problem-solving skills with 11 first trimester doctoral students. This examination provided a paper-and-pencil simulation of problems encountered in case management. Students were required to generate hypotheses, formulate questions, discuss issues, and make…

This paper is limited in scope to the preliminary questions that must be asked about a single instrument before one can use students' impressions of their teachers as part of any diagnostic or evaluation process. The described analysis is intended as illustrative of the kinds of questions that should be obtained to demonstrate the reliability and…

Noting that instructor and course evaluations represent important, ongoing concerns to students, faculty, and administrators in speech communication, this paper uses the experimental approach to consider the purposes of evaluations, explores major evaluation issues, reviews the literature concerning specific variables possibly related to these…

Extended caution indices (ECI) specify the degree of confidence that can be placed in an individual's test score by analyzing patterns of item response. Among the most promising of such indices are the standardized ECIs. Contrary to the literature, several instances were found, in a previous study, of nonnormal distributions of ECIs with samples…

The development of a Spanish computerized adaptive placement test at Brigham Young University (Utah) is described. The test is based on an approach that locates an examinee's ability along a continuum of latent ability rather than determining the degree to which an individual's ability differs from the abilities of others taking the test, as in…

A study evaluated a composition grading scale used in the University of California at Los Angeles' program of English as a second language (ESL). It looked at (1) the comparative difficulty of the subscale categories; (2) the interrelationships of the subscale categories; (3) the incremental arrangement of the subscale categories and performance…

This study examined the objectivity, trainability, and reliability of the SRI observational system (developed at the Stanford Research Institute) as it was modified for use in the "A Study of Schooling" research project. Four instruments in the observation system were tested. The physical environment inventory recorded the architectural…

These studies in test adequacy focus on two problems: procedures for estimating reliability, and techniques for identifying ineffective distractors. Fourteen papers are presented on recent advances in measuring achievement (a response to Molenaar); "an extension of the Dirichlet-multinomial model that allows true score and guessing to be…

A study measured student awareness of a variety of reading and study skill elements: author attitude and bias, signal words, vocabulary, organizing to read, notetaking, mental imagery, and reading flexibility. It also established a reliability coefficient for the Survey of Study-Reading Habits instrument, a 15-item, 4-point Likert type scale…

The Methodology Inventory is a 76-item 4-point measure divided into eight scales designed to determine what behaviors a teacher engages in while teaching. The eight scales are stimuli for writing, prewriting, writing, revising/editing, evaluation, language development, varieties of discourse, and publication of written work. The instrument was…

A comparison of multisite educational research projects involving qualitative research methods is reported. In phase 1 of the project, telephone interviews with key staff members of 25 projects determined ways in which each project handled important qualitative design and implementation choices. Phase 2 consisted of a more intensive study of 5…

Thirty specific standards developed as guiding principles to maintain the utility, feasibility, propriety and accuracy of evaluations in educational programs, projects and materials are presented. Utility Standards include Audience Identification, Evaluator Credibility, Information Scope and Selection, Valuational Interpretation, Report Clarity,…

This manuscript is a report of the third revision of the Maryland Preschool Self-Concept of Scale originally developed by Smith (1977). Two samples of 4-, 5-, and 6-year old children (N = 54 and N = 78) were administered the Maryland Preschool Self-Concept Scale - Revised (MPSS-R). In the first study, the measure was given twice, 3 to 5 weeks…