This article presents 2 studies aimed at validating a measure of stress experienced by children and parents around the issue of homework, applying Benson's program of validation (Benson, 1998). Study 1 provides external validity of the measure by supporting hypothesized relations between stress around homework and students' and parents' positive…

This study compared the underlying factors measured by a state standards-based grade 4 English-Language Arts (ELA) assessment given to several groups of students. The focus of the research was to gather evidence regarding whether or not the tests measured the same construct or constructs for students without disabilities who took the test under…

The purpose of this is study is to analyze the level of conscious consumerism of primary school students. For that purpose, a 19-item scale consisting of three sub-dimensions was developed. In order to test conduct validity and reliability, the scale was administered on 113 students studying in Sakarya. In accordance with the data obtained, an…

Elementary school age children engage in levels of physical activity that are well below recommended guidelines. It has been suggested that classroom teachers can assist in remedying the problem by providing physical activity breaks and physical activity embedded in instruction. This study utilized the instrument, Physical Activity in the…

With the recent addition of engineering to most K-12 testable state standards, efficient and comprehensive instruments are needed to assess changes in student knowledge and perceptions of engineering. In this study, I developed the Students' Awareness and Perceptions of Learning Engineering (STAPLE) instrument to quantitatively measure fourth…

Objectives. This study tested the quality of data collected with the online Elementary School Success Profile (ESSP) for Children from a diverse sample of 1,172 third through fifth graders. Methods. Mplus confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) procedures for ordinal and clustered data were used. Results. Of 80 original items, 61 loaded on 13…

The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test was the major source of data for the Texas educational accountability system from 1994 through 2002. Contrary to critics who claim that TAAS data are invalid and unreliable measures of student performance, structural equation analyses of TAAS reading data based on the 1994 Texas third grade…

This paper aims at analysing the structural relationships among some latent and observed variables related to the assessment of written language performance in 139 fourth grade students of Elementary School selected from nine public schools of the northwest of Mexico. Questionnaires were also applied to the children's parents and teachers. The…

The technical characteristics of scores on the Reading Essential Skills Screener-Upper Elementary Version (B. T. Erford, G. Vitali, R. Hass. & R. R. Boykin, 1995) were studied using 4 independent samples of boys and girls in Grades 4-6. Decision efficiency, principal axis factor analysis, internal consistency, 30-day test-retest reliability,…

In this technical report, data are presented on the practical utility, reliability, and validity of the easyCBM[R] mathematics (2009-2010 version) measures for students in grades 3-8 within four districts in two states. Analyses include: minimum acceptable within-year growth; minimum acceptable year-end benchmark performance; internal and…

American educators and researchers have spent decades attempting to determine the most effective middle level school configuration. Although various models have been conceptualized in order to resolve one of our most extensive educational reform movements, a recent nationwide increase in K-8 schools suggest interested parties have accepted the K-8…

The purposes of this study were to see if the items from the Piers Harris Self Concept Scale and the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory had construct and predictive validity. Items used in this study were 50 items from the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and 80 items from the Piers Harris Self-Concept Scale. Construct measures were obtained using…

Investigations of reading have focused largely on two component processes, phonological processing and orthographic processing. However, a number of unresolved issues have hampered progress in the investigation of these abilities. Three such issues that formed the focus of the present study were (1) the extent to which tasks used to operationalize…

This paper reports on three studies of shy behavior in Mainland Chinese children. In Study 1 (N = 107, M age = 10.05), a Chinese Shyness Scale (CSS) was developed based on Chinese teachers' open-ended descriptions of children's shy behavior. In Study 2 (N = 388, M age = 10.80) and Study 3 (N = 198, M age = 10.20), the construct validity of the two…

Purpose: This study asked if children's performance on language tests reflects different dimensions of language and if this dimensionality changes with development. Method: Children were given standardized language batteries at kindergarten and at second, fourth, and eighth grades. A revised modified parallel analysis was used to determine the…