Summarizes a study surveying 153 K-8 teachers to determine their attitudes about standardized achievement tests, tests' usefulness, perceptions of how others view them, and perceptions of how best to prepare students for them. Results indicate that teachers felt negatively about the tests, and many engaged in practices that threatened the tests'…

This paper reviews the psychometric properties, treatment utility, and conceptual basis of instruments used to identify the functions of aberrant behaviors in people with developmental disabilities. Instruments include the Motivational Assessment Scale, Motivation Analysis Rating Scale, Functional Analysis Interview Form, and Functional Analysis…

This study describes the development of the Active Treatment Client Rights checklist (ATCR), which was designed to facilitate the assessment, monitoring, and implementation of readily observable client active treatment services for adults with developmental disabilities. The ATCR was found to be highly reliable, valid, and useful in enhancing…

This study used the Scales of Independent Behavior (SIB) and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) to examine the relationship between ratings of adaptive behavior and social competence with 208 students in kindergarten through third grade with a variety of disabilities. The study provided evidence for the concurrent criterion-related validity of…

Comments on the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA), a new component of the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). Examines the AWA's historical significance and addresses questions regarding the relevance of the writing test for management education. Finds that the AWA is of limited value as a writing assessment and will meet only some of…

The development of the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics is described, and the results from several validity analyses performed with 1,203 college students are presented. Additional validity evidence was obtained through correlation with the Attitudes Toward Statistics Scale of S. L. Wise for a subsample of 221 students. (SLD)

Interviewed Israeli students to assess the Adult Attachment Interview's test-retest reliability and effects of the interviewers on the interview itself. Information about subjects' memory and intellectual abilities was obtained from external sources. Found a high degree of interrater and test-retest reliabilities, irrespective of interviewers.…

This study, involving 47 deaf and hard-of-hearing school-age children, found that the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition Performance scale was highly related to the WISC-Revised Performance scale and moderately related to the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised subscales. Performance IQs of students who communicated orally or…

Tested one-, two-, three-, and four-factor models within normal and psychiatric adolescent inpatient groups to confirm the factor structure for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). For both samples, the Kaufman three-factor solution had the best overall fit of the WISC-R subtest covariance structure. Other models were…

Discusses the advantages of using multiple choice questions, highlighting the flexibility of using different variations of questions. Item writing guidelines include information on content, sensitivity, difficulty, irrelevant sources of difficulty, order, misleads, avoidance of clues, and exercises in the application of guidelines. (JKP)

Addresses the effectiveness of the oral proficiency interview in assessing foreign language skills, responding to arguments regarding the logic of the interview method, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines and levels of proficiency, and the relationship between linguistic knowledge and the bases of…

This study compared DSM-III-R (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III, Revised), Childhood Autism Rating Scale, and clinical diagnoses of 138 admissions to a program for diagnosis and treatment of autistic and related communication-handicapped individuals. Results indicated generally high agreement on the diagnosis of autism, with DSM-III-R…

This paper assesses to what extent the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) criteria differ from other diagnostic systems for Asperger syndrome. The paper concludes that the variety of criteria in use makes interpretation of research findings difficult and that the ICD-10 criteria are the most stringent and closest to Hans Asperger's…

Data from the Family Needs Survey, provided by 53 mothers of young children with disabilities, were subject to both classical test theory analyses and factor analysis. Results suggest that the Family Needs Survey yields reasonably valid data regarding family needs. (Author/JDD)

Effects of random responding and malingering on Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2) validity scales were studied with 173 graduate and undergraduate University of Kentucky (Lexington) students. Inconsistent responding and malingering produced significant elevations on the validity scales, with the dissimulation scale appearing…