Standardized measures are often used as an index of students' reading comprehension and scores have important implications, particularly for students who perform below expectations. This study examined secondary-level students' patterns of responding and the prevalence and impact of non-attempted items on a timed, group-administered,…

A new multidimensional measure of test anxiety, the Test Anxiety Measure for Adolescents (TAMA), specifically designed for U.S. adolescents in Grades 6 to 12 was developed and its psychometric properties were examined. The TAMA consists of five scales (Cognitive Interference, Physiological Hyperarousal, Social Concerns, Task Irrelevant Behavior,…

This article assessed the measurement in variance of the Adolescent Student Burnout Inventory (ASBI) across gender and educational track, and investigated the main and interaction effects of gender and educational track on the facets of student burnout with a sample consisting of 2,216 adolescent students from China. Multigroup confirmatory factor…

Universal screening is a promising approach for identifying students at risk for behavioral and emotional problems. Due to the frequent adolescent onset of behavioral and emotional problems, middle school is an important time for early identification. This study explored the ability of the Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS) to…

Emotional intelligence (EI) theory provides a framework to study the role of emotion skills in social, personal, and academic functioning. Reporting data validating the importance of EI among youth have been limited due to a dearth of measurement instruments. In two studies, the authors examined the reliability and validity of the…

The Student Orientation to School Questionnaire (SOS-Q) is a multidimensional student-centered assessment tool for measuring psychosocial facilitators of student engagement. The SOS-Q is based in research on the self-system models of motivation and direct student input on perceived supports and barriers for high school completion. The current…

Maze and reading comprehension rate measures are calculated by using measures of reading speed and measures of accuracy (i.e., correctly selected words or answers). In sixth- and seventh-grade samples, we found that the measures of reading speed embedded within our Maze measures accounted for 50% and 39% of broad reading score (BRS) variance,…

The purpose of this study was to establish the reliability and validity of the scores on a brief strengths-based assessment, the 22-item Personal Strengths Inventory (PSI). In Study 1, findings from exploratory factor analysis of 410 adolescents provided evidence for a five-factor solution--social competence (four items), emotional awareness (five…

This study examines the reliability and validity of a Chinese-translated version of the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) and explores the effect of gender and age on each of the subscales. The sensitivity of SURPS in differentiating substance users and nonusers using the SURPS is also investigated. Data were collected from a convenience…

This study's purpose is to examine the existing school climate literature in an attempt to constitute its definition from a historical context and to create a valid and reliable student-reported school climate instrument. Five historically common school climate domains and five measurement tools were identified, combined, and previewed by the…

This study examined the structure, internal consistency, and construct validity of the ClassMaps Survey, a measure of classroom characteristics that are related to students' resilience and classroom success. Participants were 1,019 fifth- through eighth-grade science students who completed the ClassMaps Survey, a survey describing their classroom…

Learning strategies have been increasingly recognized as a useful tool to promote effective learning. In response to the lack of available learning strategies measures for middle school students, this study evaluated an instrument assessing cognitive, behavioral, and metacognitive strategy use among middle school students. The instrument, called…

Proponents of positive psychology have argued for more comprehensive assessments incorporating positive measures (e.g., student strengths) as well as negative measures (e.g., psychological symptoms). However, few variable-centered studies have addressed the incremental validity of positive assessment data. The authors investigated the incremental…

Test accommodations such as extended time are presumed to reduce the impact of a disability, while not affecting test scores of the general population. This study examined the effects of an extended time (time and one-half) accommodation on the mathematics performance of fifth- to seventh-grade students with and without attention deficit…

This study reports on the replication of the four-factor structure and the internal consistency of the Learning Behaviors Scale (LBS) with an independent sample of 241 students in Grades 1 through 7. Internal consistency estimates were as high or higher than those obtained with the standardization sample. Substantial replication of the four LBS…