Giving tests and assigning grades are stated to be important aspects of teachers' responsibility for facilitating student learning. Opposition to testing is discussed, objections are criticized, and beneficial consequences of evaluation are listed. It is maintained that tests do not cause cheating, or excessive discouragement, competition, or…

Examined the validity and reliability of the Strengths and Stressors Tracking Device (SSTD), a rapid assessment measure of family well-being to help guide case planning and evaluate treatment effectiveness. Found high internal consistency in all domains measured: environmental conditions, social support, caregiver skills, and child well-being.…

Tested links between early adolescent older sibling (OS) and younger sibling (YS) competence in rural African American families. Found that OS competence was stable across time and related to improvements in mothers' psychological functioning from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Mothers' Wave-2 psychological functioning related to Wave-3 involved-supportive…

Outlines steps in adapting tests for cross-cultural use: selection of an appropriate instrument for adaptation; translation of the source instrument; selecting an experimental design; determining administration parameters; pilot testing; and assessing psychometric equivalence. Focuses on potential problems during the adaptation process and on…

A panel of 24 public school teachers and 37 college/university faculty members provided recommendations on minimal standards for the essay portion of the National Teacher Examinations Communication Skills Test. Public school judges' recommendations were significantly more variable than were those of college/university judges. (TJH)

Discusses the development and uses of various aptitude tests in higher education from the 1920s through the early 1960s. Although seen as a gateway to educational attainment for returning World War II veterans, intelligence testing faced criticism in the early 1960s as a restrictive practice. (MJP)

Innovative or adaptive behavior of 86 eighth-grade students was rated by themselves, parents, and teachers using the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory. The inventory was found to be reliable, stable, and valid. No significant differences between male and female students' scores were exhibited. Correlation with scores on the Comprehensive Test…

A study found that the admission interview scores for 62 Dartmouth Medical School (New Hampshire) applicants correlated positively with dean's letter ratings given 4 years later and that interview scores were better predictors of ratings than were total Medical College Admission Test scores or science grade point averages. (Author/MSE)

Faculty opinions of an evaluation program for medical school clinical tutors were obtained through a survey of 24 undergraduate clinical tutors. Although students had been using the evaluation instrument to rate teachers for five years, faculty expressed many reservations about its reliability and validity. (SLD)

Describes a method for assessing the quality of translations based on item response theory (IRT). Results from the IRT technique with French and Chinese versions of a scale measuring individualism-collectivism for samples of 250 U.S., 357 French, and 290 Chinese undergraduates show how several biased items are detected. (SLD)

Among concepts that seem to be the guardian angels of school reform, coherence is a rebel angel, advancing human learning, but escaping control. Coherence must not be confused with consistency. It allows for change and imagination but remains true to concepts and experiences that construct coherence without fabricating consistency. (SLD)

Describes a study of the validity and reliability of a writing skills assessment test taken by 4,284 2-year college students in 1986-87. Assesses interrater reliability, influences of nonperformance factors (e.g., gender, native language, and form of test), predictive validity of test for future performance, and implications of findings. (DMM)

The assumption that reliability is a necessary but insufficient condition for validity in assessment is challenged by exploring a dialectic between psychometric and hermeneutic approaches to drawing and warranting interpretations of human products of performance. Hermeneutic alternatives for epistemological and ethical purposes expand the range of…

This paper investigates the psychometric properties of the African Self-Consciousness (ASC) Scale in a noncollege heterogeneous population of 147 African Americans to determine the reliability and validity of the ASC Scale. Based on analysis of the scale's reliability, factor structure, and construct validity, the study shows the ASC Scale to be a…

Constructed School Social Behavior Scales (SSBS) to include teacher-related and peer-related forms of social competence and antisocial behavior. Standardized SSBS using teacher ratings on 1,858 kindergarten through grade 12 students across United States Evidence presented from several related studies in present investigation indicated that SSBS…