Objectives: Increasing numbers of young children referred for a differential diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) necessitates better understanding of the early syndrome expression and the utility of the existing state-of-the art diagnostic methods in this population. Method: Out of 31 infants under the age of 2 years referred for a…

In a small-scale study of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-rich primary school, interactive whiteboards (IWBs) were found to be the predominant ICT tools used by teachers. The study sought to identify how the teachers used features of ICT to enhance learning, based on a list of ICT's functions published for teacher education…

This study examines a collaborative reading of John Keats's poem, "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be," by two high school seniors with attentional difficulties in a mainstream British Literature class, with a focus on one of the students, Rita. The data consist of a retrospective verbal protocol during which the students recounted their…

Background: Attaining a developmentally sensitive nosology for preschool disruptive behavior requires characterization of the features that distinguish it from the normative misbehavior of this developmental period. We hypothesize that "quality of behavior and its pervasiveness across contexts" are critical dimensions for clinical discrimination…

This study examined the relationship between three variables, compassion fatigue (CF), compassion satisfaction (CS), and burnout, and provider and setting characteristics in a sample of 1,121 mental health providers in a rural southern state. Respondents completed the Professional Quality of Life Scale as part of a larger survey of provider…

Alberta Education provides programming support and funding to school authorities to develop and implement special education programming for ECS children and students in grades 1 to 12. "Special Education Coding Criteria 2009/2010" outlines criteria within specific categories to help school authorities identify those children and students…

In British Columbia, Canada, two population-based databases have been linked at the level of the individual child: the "Early Development Instrument", a Kindergarten school readiness measure; and the "Foundation Skills Assessment", a Grade Four academic assessment. Utilising these linked data, we explored the early school…

Discriminant analysis (DA) is a multivariate technique concerned with either prediction/classification (predictive discriminant analysis) or distinguishing among groups (descriptive discriminant analysis). DA has many potential applications in gifted education research, including investigation of identification procedures in order to obtain…

This paper describes a study, now in progress, of new methods for representing the sampling variability of Mantel-Haenszel differential item functioning (DIF) results, based on the system for categorizing the severity of DIF that is now in place at the Educational Testing Service. The methods, which involve a Bayesian elaboration of procedures…

Studies evaluating hypotheses about sources of differential item functioning (DIF) are classified into two categories: observational studies evaluating operational items and randomized DIF studies evaluating specially constructed items. For observational studies, advice is given for item classification, sample selection, the matching criterion,…

The stability of bias estimates from J. Schueneman's chi-square method, the transformed Delta method, Rasch's one-parameter residual analysis, and the Mantel-Haenszel procedure, were compared across small and large samples for a data set of 30,000 cases. Bias values for 30 samples were estimated for each method, and means and variances of item…

Traditionally, item difficulty has been defined in terms of the performance of examinees. For test development purposes, a more useful concept would be some kind of intrinsic item difficulty, defined in terms of the item's content, context, or characteristics and the task demands set by the item. In this investigation, the measurement literature…

A framework for categorizing constructed-response items was developed in which items were ordered on a continuum from multiple-choice to presentation/performance according to the degree of constraint placed on the examinee's response. Two investigations were carried out to evaluate the validity of this framework. In the first investigation, 27…

This document contains biology labs, demonstrations, and activities that use low budget materials. The goal is to get students involved in the learning process by experiencing biology. Each lab has a teacher preparation section which outlines the purpose of the lab, some basic information, a list of materials , and how to prepare the different…

The aim of this study was to develop a procedure that could be used to appraise the cognitive features of subject (achievement) tests. Cognitive taxonomies and an accompanying coding scheme were developed and applied to the Graduate Record Examinations subject tests in Psychology and Literature in English. The taxonomies were based on the manifest…