One of the questions with the longest history in educational assessment is whether it is possible to increase the reliability of a test simply by altering the way in which scores on individual test items are combined to make the overall test score. Most usually, the score available on each item is communicated to the candidate within a question…

With increasing diversity in classrooms, the dispositions of teachers are of primary concern with respect to meeting the needs of all students and in particular, the needs of those on the social fringe. Teacher preparation programs must ensure that graduates possess not only the requisite content and pedagogical knowledge, but also the…

The reliability of an assessment is defined as the extent to which candidates' results would remain stable if the entire assessment exercise was repeated. Whilst numerous studies have evaluated the reliability of written examinations, relatively little has been done to quantify the reliability of internal teacher assessment within schools. This is…

The present study developed and assessed reliability and validity of a new instrument, the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES). Based on a review of the literature, 76 items important for intercultural effectiveness were generated. A total of 653 college students rate these items in two separate stages and generate a 20-item final version of…

The purpose of this study was to construct and evaluate an instrument for determining student preparedness in College Algebra. A 73-item instrument covering prerequisite arithmetic and high school Algebra knowledge for College Algebra was constructed. The instrument was pilot-tested on a freshman population of 595 students. Results of reliability…

Described is the development and revision over a 3-year period of the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning (DIAL), a screening test to identify pre-kindergarten children with learning disabilities. The DIAL is said to provide for gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, and communications assessment of large groups of children. Among…

The purpose of this study is to examine an option-weighting method as it affects pass-fail decisions in formative and summative evaluation of student achievement for instructional units, certification, advancement, licensure, admissions, placement, and selection. A database was constructed using high school achievement test data where a…

Texts on measurement theory report many studies on the consistency of intelligence test scores, but the stability of academic achievement over the school years has never been adequately studied. To investigate the stability of achievement test scores from fourth grade to college, a random sample of 100 students was selected from a 1978 graduating…

Two studies were performed with Puerto Rican children and adolescents in Puerto Rico and Connecticut to determine the reliability and predictive validity of the Spanish translation of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, the Escala de Inteligencia Wechsler para Ninos-Revisada (EIWN-R). Results suggest that the EIWN-R is a reliable…

The measurement of personality characteristics via the analysis of verbal communication is of interest due to its unobtrusive, accessible, and objective nature. The Mahl Speech Disturbance Indices, a procedure for assessing anxiety on the basis of speech disturbance patterns, was examined to assess the nature and reliability of the indices and…

In a pilot study of children's drawings of "a house with a tree behind it," Piagetian sequence (scribbling, fortuitous realism, failed realism, intellectual realism, and visual realism) was tentatively supported. Children's strategies in decentering from intellectual to visual realism were noted. The study reported in this paper was…

Examined are the effects of test-taking training given to Hispanic students on the reliability and predictive validity of a mathematics predictor test. The sample consisted of 535 entering Hispanic college students. Of these, 241 completed most of their education in the United States and had prior familiarity with multiple-choice tests, while 294…

This paper examines the discriminative validity of the Learning Efficiency Test II (LET-II; Webster, 1998) in distinguishing among children diagnosed as having ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) only, ADHD and an accompanying learning disability, ADHD-predominantly inactive type, and a control group. Children (N=132) between the ages…

This paper reports the results of using a three-layer backpropagation artificial neural network to predict item difficulty in a reading comprehension test. Two network structures were developed, one with and one without a sigmoid function in the output processing unit. The data set, which consisted of a table of coded test items and corresponding…

This study, conducted at six southern universities, analyzed the validity and reliability of a researcher developed instrument designed to evaluate educational software in secondary mathematics. The instrument called the Instrument for Software Evaluation for Educators uses measurement scales, presents a summary section of the evaluation, and…