Recent reports of high levels of achievement on the Regents examinations in New York state and relatively poor showing on the eighth grade examinations have led many to speculate that the eighth grade examinations lack good predictive properties with respect to the Regents examinations. There are many problems with arriving at such a conclusion,…

Teacher beliefs are instrumental in defining teacher pedagogical and content tasks and for processing information relevant to those tasks. In this study, a Likert-type instrument, Mathematics Beliefs Scales (E. Fennema, T. Carpenter, and M. Loef, 1990), was used to measure the mathematical beliefs of teachers. This instrument was designed with…

This study used Project Essay Grade (PEG) to evaluate essays both holistically and with the rating of traits (content, organization, style, mechanics, and creativity) for Web-based student essays that serve as placement tests at a large Midwestern university. In addition, the use of a TopicScore, or measure of topic content for each assignment,…

In 3 studies involving a total of 305 undergraduates, the Antisocial Practices (ASP) scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) exhibited convergent and discriminant validity with other measures of personality. The ASP and the Psychopathic Deviant scale appear to measure different facets of psychopathy. (SLD)

Analyzed Francophone university students' (N=182) performance on eight English-As-a-Second-Language cloze tests (in terms of cloze-taking ability, language knowledge, content domain, and knowledge of contextual constraints). Results revealed that cloze performance was dependent on language factors and nonlinguistic-specific knowledge related to…

Factor analyses were performed on the masculine, feminine, and neutral items of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) for gender-schematic and gender-aschematic individuals separately. Results support the BSRI as a valid measure for distinguishing gender-schematic from gender-aschematic individuals. (FMW)

The usefulness and validity of the 3 versions (Infant-Toddler, Early Childhood, and Middle Childhood) of the HOME Inventory were studied with 261 children with cognitive, hearing, vision, or orthopedic handicaps. The Inventory in its original form and a modified form was subjected to analysis of reliability, construct validity, and criterion…

Method effects as a source of construct invalidity were evaluated for parent, teacher, and child ratings of problem behaviors among 489 children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances. Multitrait multimethod analysis indicated large method effects for each rater. Such effects may be measurement artifact, situational differences, or…

Examines possible relationships between self-efficacy for avoiding marijuana use and theoretically related measures in a sample of 161 men and 51 women who sought marijuana cessation treatments. Predictive validity was stronger for frequency of posttreatment use than for abstinence status. Discusses the need for better assessment of the efficacy…

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provide evidence for the construct validity of the five subscales of a parallel Portuguese language version of the Dimensions of Self-Concept scale Form H. Subjects were 159 female and 236 male Brazilian college students. (SLD)

The validity of the Five Dimensional Life Satisfaction Index was evaluated with 48 adults with moderate mental retardation. Results showed reliability of alternate forms and internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, and construct validity. (Author/DB)

An instrument developed to measure high school students' resistance to schooling was administered to 646 metropolitan high school students. Factor analysis and instrument modification supported construct validity and resulted in a 25-item instrument for measuring resistance to schooling. (SLD)

Examined the relationship between the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) and scores on the Adventure scale of the Strong Interest Inventory (SII) among female college students (n=55). Women scoring high on the SSS scales also scored high on the Adventure scale, thereby supporting the construct validity of the SII Adventure scale. (RJM)

Results from a pilot group of 22 parents of preschoolers and 96 parents of toddlers suggest that 3 developed measures of the supportive relationship between parents and child caregivers--the Caregiver Support Appraisal Scale-V, the Caregiver Support Appraisal Scale-P, and the Caregiver Supportive Behavior Scale--are valid and reliable measures.…

Finds that the two-factor solution of the Argumentativeness Scale and the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale was a reasonable overall fit to samples of both U.S. and Japanese college students; orthogonality of the two constructs (argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness) held for both samples; and the two scales had satisfactory construct validity for…