Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is an empirically supported intervention associated with decreasing problem behavior and increasing appropriate behavior. To date, few studies have examined multimedia approaches to FBA training. This paper provides the outcomes of a randomized controlled trial across three university sites and evaluates…

Dual language learners, or DLLs, may have greater school readiness needs due to the key role English oral language skills play in the development of emerging literacy skills in English and their overall academic achievement. This especially can be the case if children's capacity to benefit from classroom instruction and interact with teachers and…

This study proposes an extended technology acceptance model to predict acceptance of synchronous e-learning by examining relationships among variables associated with factors influencing the technology acceptance of synchronous e-learning. Learners at an online university participated through an online survey; there were 251 respondents in all.…

Although researchers call for inquiry learning in science, science assessments rarely capture the impact of inquiry instruction. This paper reports on the development and validation of assessments designed to measure middle-school students' progress in gaining integrated understanding of energy while studying an inquiry-oriented curriculum. The…

Opportunities to respond (OTR) and specific praise are two practices that may be particularly beneficial to students learning in secondary inclusive classrooms. Yet, there is relatively little research on effective inclusion practices involving secondary students with learning disabilities (LD) or studies at the secondary level. This study sought…

This technical report provides detailed information regarding the technical, statistical, and measurement attributes of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) for the Grades 3-8 Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics 2015 Operational Tests. This report includes information about test content and test development, item (i.e.,…

Large-scale educational surveys are low-stakes assessments of educational outcomes conducted using nationally representative samples. In these surveys, students do not receive individual scores, and the outcome of the assessment is inconsequential for respondents. The low-stakes nature of these surveys, as well as variations in average performance…

Higher education institutions in South Africa continue variously to experience a range of contestations that are analogous much of the time to "war by other means". However, if we stand back from our divided social lives and the mandate that history visits on our institutions, not to absolve anyone but to yield to what the imperatives…

Pediatric View is an evaluation project that began in 1999 and is located at Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh. The purpose of Pediatric View is to provide developmental and functional vision evaluations to children who have ocular or cortical visual impairments. The evaluations are generally two hours in length, and a detailed report…

The Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) is used to determine the profile and intensity of the supports needed by a person to participate successfully in major life activities. With its publication into 13 languages, a need has arisen to document its reliability and validity across language and cultural groups. Here we explain the adaptation and the…

Purpose: The original version of the Direct Assessment of Functional Status (DAFS), a measure of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), was found to have a ceiling effect in older adults living independently in the community. This suggested that the tasks measured, although relevant, do not require full use of this population's…

As there is a dearth of Spanish-language standardized scales that assess adaptive behavior in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID), the authors adapted one of the most widely used and studied scales of adaptive behavior in the U.S., the ABS-S:2 (Adaptive Behavior Scale-School, 2nd Edition), and validated it for use in…

Psychometric properties of item response theory proficiency estimates are considered in this paper. Proficiency estimators based on summed scores and pattern scores include non-Bayes maximum likelihood and test characteristic curve estimators and Bayesian estimators. The psychometric properties investigated include reliability, conditional…

The evaluation of teaching has sparked much debate for many decades. There are several reasons why the debate about evaluation and ratings continues, but the underlying problems in evaluation are more complex than a simple, valid-invalid or reliable-unreliable dichotomy suggests. The issues are often buried beneath bipolar rhetoric that has been…

The Prudhoe Cognitive Function Test (PCFT) directly measures the cognitive abilities of people with intellectual impairment. This study examined the relationship between this instrument and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) and two shorter versions of the same scale. High correlations between the verbal and performance sections of the…