Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

9. Assessment Issues In Families Of Individuals With Disabilities, Marjorie Ann Padula

Family Assessment

Mortality in mothers and infants has been reduced as medical science has advanced. The ability to extend the lives of individuals born with disabilities, or who become injured later in life, has steadily increased with advances in science. As a result, the existing population of individuals with special needs has grown, thereby increasing the numbers of families affected by a disability. In the past, individuals with severe disabilities may have been institutionalized. Now, although institutions still exist, greater numbers of individuals with disabilities are likely to be cared for in the home. What effect does this have on families and …

Preface- Family Assessment, Jane Close Conoley

Family Assessment

Assessing families suggests both interesting measurement issues and significant clinical applications. This volume is a collection of important papers to explore the topic in some depth.

Some of these papers were first given at the Buros-Nebraska Symposium on Testing and Measurement. Others have been written especially for this volume. All are outstanding examples of scholarship in this very thorny area of psychological measurement beyond the individual. We commissioned papers that examined the history of measurement with families and to cover family issues that are of particular interest to both clinicians and researchers.

The book is divided in three sections. Drs. …

Section Two Investigation Of Critical Elements Of Family Dynamics

Family Assessment

This section presents information on the assessment of family constructs that are of interest to most families. Dr. James Bray tackles an area of family issues in which some confusion reigns. Bray addresses the dilemma of the multiple processes and constructs involved with family health with definitions of the most salient features of family functioning. These include communication, conflict, problem solving, emotional bonding, affect, roles, differentiation and individuation, triangulation, intimacy, personal authority in the family system, and family stress. Bray identifies valid and reliable self-report measures available to assess each construct and future research directions for the study of family …

Section Three: Assessment Of Special Challenges Faced By Families

Family Assessment

The previous two sections of the volume described family assessment related to the usual issues faced by families. In this final section, the papers are concerned with assessment approaches with families facing particular challenges. Chapters concerning divorce, aggressive children, and the effects of a child with a disability on family and child functioning comprise the third section.

Dr. Paul Amato notes that empirical investigation into the impact of divorce on children lacks the theoretical base that would provide a solid foundation for future research. Amato suggest that current research includes too many dependent variables which results in weak outcomes. Studies …

I'D Like To Use Essay Tests, But..., Marilla Svinicki

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The "Writing Across the Curriculum" movement of several years ago urged instructors in all departments to help their students learn to write more coherent prose, whether it be in papers or essay tests, not just to improve student writing but to encourage more complex thinking. Having to explain an answer in prose format requires more from the student in the way of deep processing of the material than is usually the case on objectively scorable exam questions.

Many instructors across campus subscribed to these ideas enthusiastically, but were stymied when it came to putting them into practice in their classes. …

Mentorship In The Classroom: Making The Implicit Explicit, Deanna Martin, Robert Blanc, David Arendale

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The "under-prepared student" once something of an oddity on American campuses, now seems omnipresent. And not only in undergraduate institutions, not only in America. The government of Great Britain ordered a 25% increase in university enrollment. Black South Africans will occupy a majority of the places in previously white and apartheid universities. The Association of American Medical College will triple minority representation in medical schools in their 3000 x 2000 campaign, drawing heavily on the urban areas that have been on the receiving end of the wrenching body blows of poverty, unemployment, and despair, the areas that have provided many …

In The Name Of The Student... What Is Fairness In College Teaching?, Rita Rodabaugh

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

If we remember our own college days, most of us can think of at least one professor who was less than ideal. All of us have had professors who fit one or more of the following descriptions: dull, boring lecturer; confusing and hard to follow; too easy and presents no challenge; and so on. Yet if you describe your worst experience as a student, more than likely it was one in which you were treated unfairly.

For the past two years, much of my research has focused on college students' perceptions of fair practices in the classroom. From this research, …

Mistakes And Other Classroom Techniques, Harriet C. Edwards

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

As teachers, we wish to do more than present to our students the established ideas and facts of our fields. We want to give them a sense of how one thinks and creates within the discipline, to impart the tools of scholarship. In my field, mathematics, this concern has led to an increased focus on the teaching and learning of problem solving. Researchers have directed much attention to the executive functions and metacognition involved in problem solving, that is, the solver's awareness of thinking processes and of progress toward a solution (Schoenfeld, 1985). In addition to these procedural matters, attitudes …

Helping First-Year Students Study: Part I, Bette Lasere Erickson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

In preparing to write Teaching College Freshmen, we heard negative sentiments echoed many times. Faculty complained about students' lack of motivation, their neglect of their studies, and their refusal to assume any responsibility for their learning. At the same time, freshmen told us the pace in most courses was far beyond them, it was not humanly possible to do all the work, they frequently felt overwhelmed, and their professors seemed neither to notice nor to care whether or not they learned.

What sense are we to make of these conflicting stories? For starters, freshman descriptions of "humanly impossible" work loads …

What Did I Do Right In One Freshman Seminar? What Did I Do Wrong In Another? What Will I Do Next Time?, Richard L. Schoenwald

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

An essay from a university instructor answering the questions: What did I do right in one freshman seminar? What did I do wrong in another? What will I do next time?

Emerging Trends In College Teaching For The 21st Century, Milton D. Cox

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

After national calls for the reform of undergraduate education were made a decade ago, students, parents, and legislators began to apply pressure to reestablish the importance of student learning. More recently, central administrators have begun to change reward structures. University-wide community is beginning to be built around teaching. New disciplinary journals that publish the scholarship of teaching are being started, and established ones are gaining respect. National teaching conferences and journals that provide a forum for the scholarship of teaching are expanding. With these emerging opportunities, faculty are going public about their interest in teaching and learning. Over the last …

8. Family Assessment In Behavioral Parent Training For Antisocial Behavior, Elaine Buterick Werth

Family Assessment

Family assessment as a means of guiding research and practice in mental health and pathology has been carefully examined in the preceding chapters of this text. Individuals, whether healthy or disturbed, function in a network of social interactions, with the primary system of interaction being that of the family. Children, as part of that family system, are not only influenced by other family members within the system but also influence other members and, simultaneously, the dynamics of the total system. The complex network of social interchanges that comprise human functioning begin with the parent-child relationship (see Lerner & Spanier, 1978, …

7. Issues In Measuring The Effects Of Divorce On Children, Paul R. Amato

Family Assessment

The divorce rate in the United States has been increasing steadily for the last century, from 7% of first marriages in 1880 to over 50% in recent decades (Weed, 1980). Even though the divorce rate leveled off in the 1980s, current estimates indicate that nearly two-thirds (64%) of all first marriages will end in divorce or permanent separation (Martin & Bumpass, 1989). Currently, more than one million children experience parental divorce every year in this country (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1989, p. 92). This increase in the likelihood of marital disruption, and the large number of children involved, has …

2. Families As The Focus Of Assessment: Theoretical And Practical Issues, Cindy I. Carlson

Family Assessment

The role of early and concurrent family relationships in the etiology of individual development and psychopathology has received increased attention in both research and practice within psychology in recent decades. Although the importance of family relationships in shaping personality has always been central in psychology, it was assumed with psychoanalytic theory that these forces were internalized within the individual such that intrapsychic dynamics were the dominant forces controlling behavior. Consistent with the premises of the dynamic model, the individual was the focus of assessment, treatment, and research within the discipline of psychology. Several converging developments in the 1950s led clinicians …

4. Multicultural Family Assessment, Jane Close Conoley, Lorrie E. Bryant

Family Assessment

Assessing individuals who are members of minority or recent immigrant groups creates special and critical challenges for psychologists committed to equitable practices (Dana, 1993). As previous chapters in this volume have shown, the goal of accomplishing valid family assessments is daunting in its own right. Culturally sensitive procedures of family evaluation are, perhaps, even more difficult to conceptualize and administer.

This chapter will examine several issues relevant to expertise in assessing families whose cultural framework differs from the majority of the u.s. population. The topics to be covered include:

1. What is cultural sensitivity?
2. What are the important constructs …

3. Assessing Family Health And Distress: An Intergenerational-Systemic Perspective, James H. Bray

Family Assessment

In the past several decades there has been a proliferation of interest and development of family systems theories. A unique aspect of a systems perspective is that human problems develop in and because of social interactions usually within the family, rather than solely from some internal process within an individual. A second innovation is the view that human behavior always occurs in a context, and that understanding the context is essential for understanding problem development and resolution. The empirical evaluation and validation of these perspectives has lagged behind theoretical and therapeutic developments. Further, research in this area has been hampered …

5. Sibling Relationships, Michelle C. Schicke

Family Assessment

INTRODUCTION

The nature of sibling relationships has been given considerable empirical attention. Research has focused on describing the nature of sibling interaction and roles siblings play in each others' lives, as well as on attempting to support the contention that the sibling relationship can impact children's psychosocial development (Dunn, 1983). The latter purpose has been influenced by two areas: behavior genetics and family systems theory.

Behavior geneticists have proposed that although siblings have roughly half their segregating genes in common, environmental influences operate in a way that makes siblings no more alike than two children chosen at random from the …

6. Assessing Marital Quality In Longitudinal And Life Course Studies, David R. Johnson

Family Assessment

INTRODUCTION

Family researchers have been developing measures to assess the quality of the marital relationship for over six decades (e.g., Hamilton, 1929). Indeed, the quality of the husband-wife relationship has been the focus of more research than any other single topic in the field of family study (Spanier & Lewis, 1980). Embedded in these studies are hundreds of varied scales and measures that were designed to assess some aspect of the quality of a marriage (Touliatos, Perlmutter, & Straus, 1990). Lack of consensus on what constitutes marital quality and the absence of any widely accepted and used instruments have contributed …

Family Assessment- Test Index

Family Assessment

Test Index (4 pages)

A

Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory: 78

B

Becker Adjective Checklist: 117
Behavior Rating Profile: 117
Building Houses: 6

C

California Test of Personality: 117
Child Behavior Checklist: 46-47, 265
Child Behavior Profile: 117
Child Behavior Questionnaire: 148
Child Report of Parent Behavior Inventory: 117
Child-Rearing Practices Report: 6
Children's Attitudes Toward Parental Separation Inventory: 217-218
Children's Emotional Reactions to the Divorce: 218
Child's Attitude toward Mother and Father Scales: 117
color-matching test: 5
Colorado Self-Report Measure of Family Functioning: 76, 77, 78
Conflict Tactics Scale: 76
Couples Interaction Scoring System: 5

...

T

Temperament Assessment Battery: 149 …

Family Assessment- Author Index

Family Assessment

Author Index (12 pages)

A-Z

A

Abbott, D.: 263
Abery, B.: 242
Abidin, R: 81, 265
Abramovitch, R: 134, 135, 136, 137, 139,142,143,144,145,146
Abril, s.: 118
Achenbach, T. M.: 12,47, 118, 223, 265
Acock, A. c.: 206
Adams, G. R: 205
Adams, S. J.: 226
Al-Khayyal, M.: 74
Alexander, J. F.: 75
Allisson, P. D.: 185
Alwin, D. F.: 182,191,194
Amato, P. R: 205- 231, 206, 207, 210, 213,215,216, 219, 221, 222, 224, 227,230 Ammerman, R : 263
Amoloza, T. 0 .: 170, 171,172,176, 179, 187, 188
Anastasi, A.: 265
Anderson, B. J.: 85
Anderson, c.: 117
Anderson, P. P.: …

Section One: Family Assessment: History, Theory, And Applications

Family Assessment

In this section a more unified research effort in family assessment is advocated by Dr. Halverson. He urges the constructs most important in the study of families be identified by shifting from the study of isolated components of the family to a more global view of family functioning. There is a lack of attention to the nomological net of constructs. Multi-trait and multi-method analysis is recommended to produce useful information regarding the family.

Dr. Carlson continues this critique by highlighting the influential role of theory in the development and use of family assessment measures and methods. Carlson traces the development …

Helping First-Year Students Study: Part Ii, Better Lasere Erickson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Few freshmen can keep pace with their courses if they study only an hour between classes and if their only study activities are reading, highlighting, and copying over notes. Faculty expect more, and those who teach freshmen play an important role both in making expectations about college work explicit and in helping freshmen develop their study skills. What, then, might we do to get students to spend more time studying and to study in more productive ways?

Title And Contents- Family Assessment, Jane Close Conoley, Linda L. Murphy, Elaine Buterick Werth

Family Assessment

Family Assessment

Content

Preface

SECTION ONE: Family Assessment: History, Theory, and Applications

Measurement Beyond the Individual
Charles F. Halverson

Families as the Focus of Assessment: Theoretical and Practical Issues
Cindy I. Carlson

SECTION TWO: Investigation of Critical Elements of Family Dynamics

Assessing Family Health and Distress: An Intergenerational-Systemic Perspective
James H. Bray

Multicultural Family Assessment
Jane Close Conoley and Lorrie E. Bryant

Sibling Relationships
Michelle C. Schicke

Assessing Marital Quality in Longitudinal and Life Course Studies
David R. Johnson

SECTION THREE: Assessment of Special Challenges Faced by Families

Issues in Measuring the Effects of Divorce on Children
Paul R. Amato …

Family Assessment- Subject Index

Family Assessment

Subject Index (10 pages)

A-W

A

abandonment: 219-220
ABCX model of family stress: 274
academic ability: 206
achievement: 207, 210, 221,225, 227
acculturation: 107, 114, 123
adjusted mean difference: 228
adolescents: 215-216, 220-221
affect: 20, 31, 40, 69, 71, 75, 77, 82-84
affective responsiveness: 77, 86, 92
African Americans: 105-107,109,113- 114
age: 47,82 aggregation: 9,51,54
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): 262
analysis of covariance: 227
anger toward parents: 219-220
antisocial behavior: 235-255
Asian Americans: 105-109, 111, 113, 120
assessment formative: 246-248,253
global: 247 standardized: 262, 264-277
asymptomatic family functioning: 70
attitude: 244-245,247
autonomy: 215
average family functioning: 70

W

well-being: …

Title And Contents- Licensure Testing: Purposes, Procedures, And Practices, James C. Impara, Linda L. Murphy

Licensure Testing: Purposes, Procedures, and Practices

Licensure Testing: Purposes, Procedures, And Practices

Contents

Dedication

Preface

SECTION ONE: Purposes and Policy Issues

1. What is Licensure?
Kara Schmitt

2. Legal and Professional Bases for Licensure Testing
William A. Mehrens

3. Policy Issues with Psychometric Implications
Michael Rosenfeld, Richard J. Tannenbaum, and Scott Wesley

SECTION TWO: Procedures

Overview of the Licensure Testing Process
James C. Impara

4. Practice Analysis: Building the Foundation for Validity
Joan Knapp and Lenora Knapp

5. Test Development: Systematic Item Writing and Test Construction
Anthony LaDuca, Steven Downing, and Thomas Henzel

6. Developing and Using Clinical Examinations
Jimmie Fortune and Ted Cromack

7. Basic …

1. What Is Licensure, Kara Schmitt

Licensure Testing: Purposes, Procedures, and Practices

When most individuals hear the terms license and licensure, their first reaction is that these are easily understood and relatively simple words. Everyone knows what these terms mean. Or do they?

What is licensure? It is a multifaceted, complex governmental system of regulation with the stated purpose being public protection. According to Webster's dictionary (Guralnik, 1976), a license is defined as "a formal permission to do something: esp., authorization by law to do some specified thing (license to marry, practice medicine, hunt, etc.)." The term Licensure is then defined to mean "the act or practice of granting licenses, …

2. Legal And Professional Bases For Licensure Testing, William A. Mehrens

Licensure Testing: Purposes, Procedures, and Practices

In this chapter the author presents the legal setting for licensure testing, I discusses the role of various professional standards and codes (i.e., the EEOC Uniform Guidelines, 1978, and the AERA/APA/NCME Standards, 1985), presents some of the pertinent rulings from several court decisions, and makes inferences about future changes in professional standards and their potential impact on licensure test development.

There necessarily is some minor overlap with the material in this chapter and some other chapters in this book. There is a brief discussion of the differences between licensure, certification. and employment testing and how those differences relate …

Author Index

Licensure Testing: Purposes, Procedures, and Practices

Authors listed A-Z (8 pages)

A

Ader, H. 1. : 2 10,2 18
Ahluwalia, N. T.: 240, 25 1, 330, 344
Aitkin, M.: 262, 267, 282
AI-Dosary, I. M.: 28 1, 282
AI-Karni , A.: 27 1, 28 1, 282
Albanese, M. A.: 125, 138,324,341
Alexander, R. A.: 225, 250
Algin a, 1.: 256, 283
Allen, D. L.: 158, 164
American Counci l on Education: 167, 185
American Educational Research Association: 33,37,38,39,40, 41 , 42,43,53,55,66, 68,72,84,94, 11 4, 11 8, 122,137, 138, 168, 170, 17 1, 179, 185, 236, 248, 254, 255,26 1,28 1
American Psychological Association: 33, 37, 38,39,40, …

Subject Index

Licensure Testing: Purposes, Procedures, and Practices

Subject Index listed A-Z (8 pages)

A

a parameter: 299-300, 303, 305-306, 314
absolute standard procedure: 329
absolute standards: 222-223
accuracy of the inference: 150
Adaptive Mastery Testing (AMT): 298,305
advisory committee: 100-101 , 103-105,111- 112
AERA/APA/NCME Standards: 33,37-43, 53, 55 , 66, 68, 72, 84, 94, 11 4, 118, 122, 137-138,168, 170- 171,179,185, 236, 248, 254-255, 26 1, 281
all -in-one requirement: 155
alternate-choice: 120
alternate-choice multiple choice: 324
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA): 22-23, 43, 54-55, 60-6 1, 63, 65, 68-70, 297
amplified objective: 129,147
amplified objective method: 129
analysis of variance (ANaYA): 153
anchor items: …

1. Measurement Beyond The Individual, Charles F. Halverson

Family Assessment

This chapter has several goals. First, I will briefly review the history of measurement as it applies to family assessment. This history has been recounted by many and is available in many recent publications, so I shall be fairly brief. Second, I will discuss family measurement in terms of important issues still facing the family measurement field-issues that are not, in my opinion, being well addressed at this time. And finally, I will attempt to weave these various threads into some speculations about the future directions that family measurement might (or maybe needs) to take.

I will confine this …