Changes in the family structure can be very disruptive to adolescents who live in those families. This article examines the impact of the number of family transitions on delinquent and drug-using behavior. Specifically, the effect of family transitions is hypothesized to be mediated by problems within the family, school, and peer settings. A…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether matching navigation mode of a learning environment with learners' preferred navigation mode would facilitate their learning in a web environment. Sixty-eight undergraduate students were randomly assigned to treatments (linear vs. nonlinear navigation mode) and received four criterion tests designed…

Purpose: The paper investigates personal and environmental factors providing for the efficiency of line managers' activity and contributing to their professional and career advancement. The paper studies the prognostic value of the assessment of personal and environmental factors providing for the efficiency of line managers' activity according to…

This paper presents a strategy for measuring cognitive gains in reading during the early school years. It is argued that accurate estimates of gain scores and their appropriate interpretation requires the use of adaptive tests with multiple criterion referenced points that mark learning milestones. It is further argued that two different measures…

The relationships between ratings on the Idaho Alternate Assessment (IAA) for 116 students with significant disabilities and corresponding ratings for the same students on two norm-referenced teacher rating scales were examined to gain evidence about the validity of resulting IAA scores. To contextualize these findings, another group of 54…

This paper describes the confirmatory factor analysis, validity, and reliability data collection stage of the development of a scale to measure mainstream teachers' self-efficacy beliefs for teaching ELL (English Language Learner) students. Data were collected from 708 K through 12 teachers and pre-service teachers with varying degrees of…

By centralizing the issue of test fairness in language proficiency assessments, this study responds to a call by researchers for developing greater social responsibility in the language testing agenda. As inquiries into language attitude and psychology indicate, there is an underlying uncertainty pertaining to the validity of test use and score…

The 169 paper and symposium presentations given during 57 sessions of the conference are provided in these two volumes. The first volume contains the keynote speech, which addressed military entrance processing command and its acquired immune deficiency snydrome testing program. Symposia topics in this volume include: (1) computerized diagnostic…

An illustration of a test for independence was provided with a mixed set of variables. The matrix consisted of 10 tests of interest and four random deviates in which the relationship between sets was demonstrated to be minimal. The result was discussed for a situation in which factoring methods might be considered. (Author)

A longstanding belief has been that a distribution can be assumed symmetric if the mean and median are coincidental. Coincidence of mean and median is a necessary but not sufficient condition for symmetry. Two counter examples proving this point are provided. Plotting of the data and third moment computation are recommended alternatives.…

Ethical perspectives on testing children are explored and suggestions made for reorienting assessment. (RC)

A glossary of terms commonly used in discussing measurement is presented. Terms, arranged in alphabetical order, contain definitions as they pertain to the measurement field. Terms defined are: (1) achievement test; (2) age norms; (3) average; (4) battery; (5) ceiling; (6) criterion-referenced test; (7) diagnostic test; (8) domain-referenced test;…

There are a variety of statistical problems which involve the use of the non-central t-distribution. The development of tables for the non-central t-distribution has been hindered by the number of parameters involved. Several approaches to this task have been made in the literature, characterized by either focusing attention on the subset of…

A seven step strategy is presented for selecting a "good" test in an educational setting. The steps are as follows: (1) make the following preliminary decisions: (a) decide why you need to test, (b) decide what you intend to do with the results, (c) decide what practical decisions will be made based on the testing results, and (d) decide who will…

Article explores four selected strategies of achievement test development, with implications of their application, including the use of information generated by each alternative. (Author)