There are many available screeners for reading and other education or social-emotional outcomes. This brief outlines important things to consider when choosing and using a screener.

These guidelines describe considerations relevant to the assessment of test takers in or across countries or regions that are linguistically or culturally diverse. The guidelines were developed by a committee of experts to help inform test developers, psychometricians, test users, and test administrators about fairness issues in support of the…

This guide is designed to assist States, agencies, and/or facilities who work with youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at-risk (N or D). The information in the guide will benefit those who are (a) interested in implementing pre-posttests, (b) in the process of identifying an appropriate pre-posttest, or (c) ready to evaluate current testing…

Purpose: To continue the development of a quantified, standard method to differentiate individuals with stroke and dysphagia from individuals without dysphagia. Method: Videofluoroscopic swallowing studies (VFSS) were completed on a group of participants with acute stroke (n = 42) and healthy age-matched individuals (n = 25). Calibrated liquid…

This report describes the purposes of benchmark assessments and provides recommendations for selecting and using benchmark assessments--addressing validity, alignment, reliability, fairness and bias and accessibility, instructional sensitivity, utility, and reporting issues. We also present recommendations on building capacity to support schools'…

Early identification of social-emotional behavioral problems in infants and preschoolers is critical. Nine parent-report and caregiver/teacher-report instruments measuring preschool social-emotional behavioral problems and strengths are reviewed. Advantages to the use of parent-report and caregiver/teacher-report instruments are that they are easy…

This article describes the findings of studies conducted on a large-scale, classroom-based performance assessment of literacy for the early grades designed to provide information that is useful for reporting, as well as teaching. Technical studies found the assessment to be a promising instrument that is reliable and valid. Follow-up studies of…

The speech intelligibility of 21 hearing-impaired adolescents was measured by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) rating scale, the Speech Intelligibility Evaluation, and the Speech Intelligibility Test for Deaf Children. The practical advantages and disadvantages of each procedure are discussed and recommendations made for their…

The underlying structure of the Postconcussion Syndrome Questionnaire (PCS) was evaluated in a large sample of 1,116 medical and psychiatric patients. Balancing internal consistency, confirmatory factor analysis, and parsimony results in endorsement of the four-factor solution for the PCS for this sample. (SLD)

This article presents arguments that the correlation measure "r" of halo is not conceptually more appropriate than the standard deviation (SD) measure. It also describes conditions under which halo effects occur and when the SD and r measures can be used. Neither measure is uniformly superior to the other. (SLD)

Technical questions regarding the reliability and validity of large-scale portfolio assessment were studied which focused on: (1) whether raters can score collections of writing reliably with rubrics designed for single samples; (2) whether ratings derived from different frameworks differ in their capacities to support technically sound…

Recognizes the attraction of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), a technique that uses a scale to measure client's achievement, but suggests that there are concerns about the calculation of its standard scores. Examples show how GAS may be used in service development, whether or not numerical values are attached. (Author/CR)

The relevance of assessing attention or concentration skills for personnel selection is discussed, and how a person's interpersonal characteristics are influenced by and influence attentional skills is explored. Scales in the Theory Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) inventory developed by Robert Nideffer are described. The interaction of…

The standards outlined in this book have been developed to provide criteria for the evaluation of tests, testing practices, and the effects of test use. The "Standards" provides a frame of reference to ensure that relevant issues are addressed. The first part of the book, "Test Construction, Evaluation, and Documentation,"…

The study examined psychometric properties of the Comprehensive Early Evaluation and Programming System (CEEPS), a criterion-referenced instrument designed for handicapped children birth to 3 years old. The instrument was intended to provide specific information to develop program objectives across a range of developmental areas and to assess…