Awareness of informational text structures is related to reading comprehension and varies according to characteristics of readers and texts. The purpose of this study was to develop and refine a measure of text structure awareness, the Text Structure Identification Test (TSIT), by investigating its internal consistency reliability and construct…

Social isolation of school children is increased when teachers feel unable to respond to children's report of witnessing or experiencing aggression at school. Teachers can find it difficult to respond adequately to children who report aggression when the aggression is deliberately hidden from the teacher by the perpetrator. This study aimed to…

High-quality measurement tools are critical to school improvement efforts. Education researchers frequently employ surveys in order to assess a host of variables associated with school improvement. This article asserts that Rasch modeling techniques enhance the quality of a measurement tool because they comprise elements of both qualitative and…

Background: The importance of valid and reliable instruments for the assessment of factors affecting students' interest in science encouraged the development and validation of a brief Spanish instrument for the measurement of expectancies of success in school science, named SUCCESS. In this study, the psychometric properties of the SUCCESS…

Lack of validated research tools in Spanish-speaking countries has limited the extent to which educational research can expand. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the exploration of affective factors in reading. The need for research on reading and reading motivation in Latin American countries calls for valid, reliable tools to…

Book reading enhances the intellectual world of people. It is very important to know the factors that motivate children to read books as it will help to instill book reading habit in them. As such, the present study aims to develop a "Book Reading Motivation Scale" to determine elementary and secondary school students' reading…

Early detection of loneliness in children, especially children with special needs who are at greater risk for loneliness, is crucial for planning appropriate interventions. A review of studies regarding the assessment of loneliness in children reveals the Children's Loneliness Scale (CLS) is commonly used in other cultures whereas information…

The factor structure of the CORE Phonics Survey was analyzed using a sample of 165 students in upper elementary school with specific learning disabilities. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to identify the hypothesized constructs of the CORE Phonics Survey and predictive validity of the CORE Phonics Survey to predict students' success in word…

The purposes of this study are twofold. First, to investigate the construct or factorial structure of a set of Reading and Mathematics computerized adaptive tests (CAT), "Measures of Academic Progress" (MAP), given in different states at different grades and academic terms. The second purpose is to investigate the invariance of test…

A social surrogate is a person who helps a shy individual deal with the stresses of a social situation. Previous research has only investigated social surrogate use in adults. The purpose of the current study was to develop and evaluate a new self-report measure of social surrogacy in middle childhood and to explore the implications of this…

This study aims to develop a short German version of the Self Description Questionnaire (SDQ I-GS) in order to present a robust economical instrument for measuring German preadolescents' multidimensional self-concept. A full German version of the SDQ I (SDQ I-G) that maintained the original structure and thus length of the English original SDQ I…

This study examined the construct validity of nonverbal social aggression and the relation of nonverbal social aggression to dimensions of children's social status. Peer nominations of verbal social, nonverbal social, direct veral, and physical aggression, as well as social dominance, perceived popularity, and social acceptance, were collected…

The objective of this study was to investigate the substantive aspect of construct validity of the Satisfaction with Life Scale adapted for Children (SWLS-C; Gadermann et al. in Soc Indic Res 96:229-247, "2010"). Specifically, the study examined the cognitive processes of children when responding to the items of the SWLS-C to find out how they…

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…