The development of two new rating scales, a classroom observation schedule and a comparable student self-report questionnaire, is described. Both instruments are designed to measure group self-concept, defined as a social structure exhibiting interactions which indicate values, attitudes, and beliefs that determine the self-perception of a group,…

The Wisconsin Administrative Practice Scale: Special Education (WAPS) is a self-administering survey instrument designed to measure implementation of 162 selected administrative practices and policies used to coordinate diagnostic units for handicapped children. One hundred thirty-five items are grouped into seven subscales each consisting of…

The purpose of the study was to develop a course-evaluation form for the assessment of student-centered courses. The development of the instrument was derived from theoretical views of student-courses which suggested five dimensions. The dimensions included bases of power, positive classroom environment, personal meaningfulness, student…

The approach characterizing this study of bias in tests of educational achievement is stated to be reflective and philosophical rather than experimental and statistical. Its concern is with operationally definable areas of learning and indicators of achievement rather than with the hypothetical latent traits that are presumed by some to influence…

A test battery was developed to measure 18 goals delineated by Phi Delta Kappa with an additional three added on. The purpose of the test was to assist school districts in needs assessment and program evaluation. The battery contained the following tests: Civics, Human Relations, Language/Reasoning, General Knowledge, Self, Careers, Arts and…

A Blind Learning Aptitude Test (BLAT) was developed on the basis of sense of touch rather than on conventional experience, fine sensory discrimination, or verbal competency. From a pool of about 350 items, most of them used in testing intelligence in the sighted, a pool of 94 was selected and embossed after the manner of braille. A residual pool…

The purpose of this project was to develop a non-verbal self-administering values inventory appropriate for children grades one to three. Children from five ethnic groups were administered a 60-item picture inventory designed to measure dimensions of value based on needs. Factor analyses of the resulting item inter-correlations for the total…

The objectives of this study were twofold: first, to develop an improved version of the instruments used to measure Goal IV (Attitude Toward School and School Learning) at the fifth and eleventh grade levels in the public schools of Pennsylvania under a program of "Educational Quality Assessment" mandated by the legislature. Secondly, it was the…

Describes the development of an instrument designed to assess the language competence of second language learners by observing natural interactions in transitional bilingual classrooms. A pilot study that assessed the social language of 24 bilingual fifth-graders in a summer math program provided data for examining the instrument's reliability and…

In a previous study, a conceptual model of wisdom was created (Brown, 2004a) to better understand integrated learning outcomes. The purpose of this study is to develop a scale to measure this wisdom construct. This article discusses salient aspects of the extant professional literature regarding the measurement of wisdom and details the efforts to…

The goal theory of achievement argues that the goals stressed by schools have dramatic consequences for whether children develop a sense of self-efficacy, or whether they avoid challenging tasks, giving up when faced with failure. It is commonly believed that the goals stressed by Western-oriented schools are inappropriate to indigenous minority…

The North Carolina End-of-Course Testing Program is based on the assessment of higher level skills in the context of specific subject-area content. These tests inform students, parents, the community, and educators about the achievement of North Carolina students in given areas. This report describes the development and psychometric properties of…

Development of an instrument to measure baseline levels of applied Total Quality Management (TQM) practices in South Dakota before the introduction and dissemination of TQM theory to the state's educational leaders is described. Using the interpretation of Deming's 14 points that was developed by J. J. Bonstigl, a 115-item initial item pool was…

Procedures are described to determine reliability and validity of the Brockton (Massachusetts) Battery's Tests of Reading Readiness and the Adaptive Behavior Scales, which were developed to assess performance levels of Hispanic, Portuguese, and Cape Verdean normal and high risk children. Among reasons given for development of the instruments are…

Elaborated as a response to a traditional set of secondary school poetry examinations that are called "sterile and outmoded," this report resulted from a series of seminars held in England by literature educators. The report offers extensive guidelines for modernizing the exams, examples of student critical writing about particular poems, and…