Using portfolios in assessing literacy is explored, considering student portfolios and the teacher's class portfolio. Portfolio assessment is a valuable complement to externally mandated tests, but technical issues must be addressed if the portfolio movement is to survive. Portfolios must be linked to the broader task of instructional improvement.…

A study investigated the use of teaching portfolios and student evaluations in evaluating 97 college faculty members for contract renewal. Two faculty peers and a dean evaluated the portfolio of each teacher. Student evaluations correlated reasonably well with portfolio evaluations by the deans and one of the peers. (Author/MSE)

Data from the Second International Mathematics Study for 3,724 eighth graders are used to demonstrate the potential of multilevel factor analysis (MFA) methodology. Issues related to between-class and within-class decomposition of achievement variance and the change in this decomposition over the course of the eighth grade are revealed through…

New academic self-concept measures were used to assess self-concepts for 234 boys in grades 5 and 6 (13 subjects) and 524 boys in grades 7 through 10 (16 subjects) at a Catholic boys school in Sydney (Australia) and to test the Marsh/Shavelson model. Academic self-concept is remarkably subject specific. (SLD)

A survey of respondents and nonrespondents to the Vocational Education Data System's follow-up survey of Massachusetts community college graduates was designed to measure response bias. The survey investigated employment patterns, wages, and degree of job relatedness. Results suggest original data was biased, if at all, toward underestimation, not…

Discusses attributes of library leaders that are based on a study of library leaders from academic, public, and school libraries; library school deans; and national library association executives. Four recurring characteristics are highlighted: intensity; communication and listening skills; consistency and the ability to develop trust; and…

A hypothetical construct of interest is proposed and tested in the mathematics classroom with 350 high school students. Results indicate that it is useful to distinguish between personal and situational interest. In addition, the structure of situational interest appears multifaceted, with five subfacets found in the high school mathematics…

This article describes the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, an assessment of intelligence for individuals ages 4 to 90. The test is designed for those circumstances in which a brief measure of intelligence will suffice and trained professionals may be unavailable for the assessments. Its administration, reliability, and validity are discussed.…

Reiterates the criticism that the Maitland Graves Design Judgment Test is inadequate in measuring aesthetic judgment as defined by Graves, especially in a cross-cultural setting. United States students consistently scored highest. Nonetheless, all students responded favorably to three factors: symmetry, three-dimensionality, and complex design.…

This research applied evolving conceptions of learning to examine how to represent and evaluate students' and experts' cognitive structures. High school history students completed several tasks. Direct comparisons of the quality of student maps with expert maps showed that experts' concept maps could be used to score students' concept maps…

Reports on a study of Web-based learning environments in Singapore that focuses on the cross-validation of the Geography Classroom Environment Inventory (GCEI) which assesses undergraduate students' perceptions of psychosocial aspects of their Web-based instruction. Examines gender equity, instructional innovation, internal consistency…

This article reports the development and psychometric properties of the Feminist Supervision Scale (FSS), a new scale designed to assess feminist supervision practices in clinical supervision. This 32-item measure was developed using a rational/theoretical approach of test construction and includes four subscales: (a) collaborative relationships,…

"VIEW: An Assessment of Problem Solving Style" (Selby, Treffinger, & Isaksen, 2002) is a new instrument for assessing problem-solving style, for use with individuals from ages 12 through adult. It measures three dimensions of style relating to creative problem solving and change management. In this article, we discuss the…

This study reports cross-validation results for an Indonesian-language version of a modified form of the What Is Happening In this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire and its use in investigating the nature of science classroom learning environments in Indonesian lower secondary schools. Following administration of the WIHIC to approximately 1400…

This report examines the "Performance Indicators in Primary Schools" (PIPS) test as a reliable and cohesive instrument to assess early literacy and numeracy skills among Indigenous children. The process includes the examination of the reliability of the PIPS test using the Cronbach Alpha and the Split-half method with Pearson's r…