What is validity? A simple question but apparently one with many answers, as Paul Newton highlights in his review of the history of validity. The current definition of validity, as entertained in the 1999 "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" is indeed a consensus, one between the classical notion of attributes, and measures…

The authors argue that the criticisms of their earlier article on teacher logs ("Educational Researcher," March 2009) by Smagorinsky and Willis do not address, much less undermine, the evidence they presented as part of their validation argument about the teacher logs. Moreover, they argue that their method for studying classrooms is not nearly as…

This article suggests that although student evaluation of instructional quality is important, most commonly used evaluation questionnaires do not truly measure instructional quality. It urges care in the use of these scores in areas affecting the welfare of instructors. (Editor)

Examines problem-based small-group discussions and describes a study conducted in The Netherlands that investigated the thoughts of students, both content-related and non-task related, through a thought sampling method. Highlights include categories of students' thoughts; validity measures; and results of student questionnaires. (LRW)

Discusses the roles played by student evaluations of teacher performance in the instructional design process; reviews issues related to their use; and outlines suggestions for the construction, administration, and analysis of the questionnaire data by the instructional development consultant. (Author/JJD)

A discussion of the usefulness of student questionnaires for evaluating college faculty concludes that student opinion expressed in such surveys tends to be relative and extreme rather than absolute and balanced. An important role for questionnaires is to impose self-policed minimum teaching standards. Results should be handled with care. (MSE)

The percentage of universities using student ratings to evaluate teacher performance is steadily increasing, but this method can be abused if it is the sole criterion of evaluation. Recent surveys of faculty attitudes towards teaching evaluation indicate that most faculty members are in favor of systematic evaluation, prefer student ratings to…

Discusses methodological issues in cross-cultural studies of diverse communities, including language problems, data collection and analysis, sample size, and dissemination of findings. A study of the information-seeking behavior of ethnolinguistic gatekeepers in several communities in California is described. Suggestions are given for public…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on human resource development (HRD) effectiveness and transfer of learning. "Factors Affecting Transfer of Training in Thailand" (Siriporn Yamnill, Gary N. McLean) discusses how the Learning Transfer System Inventory was validated in Thailand by administering it to 1,029 employers and…