This article presents a test development project for classroom speaking assessment. With the aim of enhancing and specifically easing the process of test preparation and administration and generating positive washback effects on learning, we developed a semi-direct speaking test called the Story Retelling Speaking Test (SRST). Although a story…

The Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) is a parent-completed measure designed to identify subtle motor problems in children of 8 to 14.6 years of age. The purpose of this study was to extend the lower age range to children aged 5 to 7 years, revise items to ensure clarity, develop new scoring, and evaluate validity of the…

The purpose of this study was to construct and validate a rating scale for collegiate wind jazz improvisation performance. The 14-item Wind Jazz Improvisation Evaluation Scale (WJIES) was constructed and refined through a facet-rational approach to scale development. Five wind jazz students and one professional jazz educator were asked to record…

Whereas some scales exist for assessing aggression in typically developing children, they do not give a detailed analysis, and none is available for populations with developmental disabilities (DD). Parents of 365 children with DD completed the Children's Scale of Hostility and Aggression: Reactive/Proactive (C-SHARP), which surveys the severity…

Although it is lengthy, the Family Background Questionnaire (FBQ) provides reliable behaviorally specific family history information. Results from reliability and validity analyses suggest that a brief version of this instrument that assesses parental responsiveness, child maltreatment, and parental substance abuse would provide a useful screening…

It is widely accepted that assessment has a great influence on the quality of learning. Assessment can be a powerful tool for improving students' learning and motivation. It also helps in developing a positive and supportive learning environment. The present paper briefly outlines the original assessment arrangements for a cross-department…

"Rising to the Challenge: Meaningful Assessment of Student Learning" was envisioned in response to a 2007 request for proposals from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE). FIPSE called for national, consortial contributions to improving the knowledge and abilities to assess student…

Background: There is a need for assessments of psychological difference and disorder in people who have more severe intellectual disability (ID). Hyperactivity and impulsivity are two behavioural domains of importance as they are correlated with self-injury and aggression and this alludes to a shared cognitive correlate of compromised behavioural…

"Linking" is a term given to a general class of procedures by which one represents scores X on one test or measure in terms of scores Y on another test or measure. A recent taxonomy by Holland and Dorans (2006; Holland, 2007) organizes the various types of links into three broad categories: prediction, scale aligning, and equating. In…

The main requisite for a functional computerized adaptive testing system is the need of a calibrated item bank. This text presents the tasks carried out during the calibration of an item bank for assessing knowledge of Basque language. It has been done in terms of the 3-parameter logistic model provided by the item response theory. Besides, this…

This study focused on defining and delineating core skills and tasks needed for successful CTE student educational growth and success through a curriculum and assessment alignment process. The context for this project lies within Automotive Service Technology (AST), which must additionally meet the National Institute of Automotive Service…

Creating surveys is a common task in evaluation research; however, designing a survey instrument to gather average group response data that can be interpreted in a meaningful way over time can be challenging. When surveying groups of people for the purpose of longitudinal analysis, the reliability of the result is often determined by the response…

The paper compares the nature of the textual construction of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) science test items and the Greek school science textbooks. This nature is determined by the interplay of the notions of classification (content specialization) and formality (code specialization) modulated by both the linguistic…

There is a lack of validated autism-specific outcome measures for large-scale evaluation of the effectiveness of psycho-educational programmes. To fill this gap the Environment Rating Scale (ERS) was adapted from an interview version to a staff-completed questionnaire version (ERS-Q). The ERS-Q was tested regarding data quality, validity,…

The Merlino-Perkins Father-Daughter Relationship Inventory, a self-report instrument, assesses women's childhood interactions with supportive, doting, distant, controlling, tyrannical, physically abusive, absent, and seductive fathers. Item and scale development, psychometric findings drawn from factor analyses, reliability assessments, and…