Positive associations between measures of school or academic connectedness and behavioral and academic outcomes suggest that connectedness is an important protective factor for adolescents in the United States. However, little is known about the meaning or measurement of academic connectedness, outside the United States, and especially in South…

This study is aimed to detect differential item functioning (DIF) items across gender groups, analyze item content for the possible sources of DIF, and eventually investigate the effect of DIF items on the criterion-related validity of the test scores in the quantitative section of the university entrance examination (UEE) in Turkey. The reason…

There is a paucity of information surrounding maths anxiety levels in the British undergraduate student population, and, due to terminological issues, existing measures of maths anxiety may not be appropriate measures to use with this population. The current study, therefore, reports on the development and validation of a new maths anxiety scale.…

This article reviews Test of Nonverbal Intelligence-Fourth Edition (TONI-4), an individually administered instrument created to assess intelligence. The distinguishing characteristic of the TONI-4 is the nonverbal, motor-reduced format that assesses common elements of intelligence without the confounding effects of motor or linguistic skills. The…

The author reviews Childhood Autism Rating Scale-Second Edition (CARS2), a useful tool for supporting the diagnostic process and for forming intervention recommendations once a diagnosis has been made. CARS2 consists of three rating forms designed to identify symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Published in 2010, the CARS2…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to compare the cognitive performance of 11-to 14-year-old children with reading disabilities as a function of high (greater than 85 reading standard score) and low (less than 85 reading standard score) response to intervention. Students were divided into high responders, low responders, and…

The 2009 "Forest Grove School District v. T.A." United States Supreme Court case could have significant implications for school psychology practice. The Court ruled that the parents of a student with a disability were entitled to private school tuition reimbursement even though T.A. had not been identified with a disability or previously…

There is a clinical need for measurement of noncredible self-reporting of symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults presenting for ADHD evaluation. The present study describes the development of initial validity data for an Infrequency Index for the Conner's Adult Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Rating Scale (CII).…

The Flynn effect, a secular rise in IQ seen throughout the world, was examined on the WISC-R and WISC-III subtests in a longitudinal sample of more than 2,500 school children who were tested between 1974 and 2002. Multivariate analysis of variance and multiple regression analyses revealed that all the subtests experienced significant decreases in…

The author reviews "Scales for Assessing Emotional Disturbance-Second Edition" (SAED-2; Epstein & Cullinan, 2010), an assessment system primarily designed to assist in determining eligibility for special education services under the category of emotional disturbance (ED), as defined by the "Individuals with Disabilities…

This article reports the development and validation studies of the Widener Emotional Learning Scale (WELS), a self-report measure, for assessing students' social and emotional competence in higher education. Conceptual specifications, item development, psychometric properties, and factor structure of the instrument are reported in the article. The…

The psychometric properties of a Portuguese version of the Adolescent Psychopathology Scale-Short Form (APS-SF) were studied in a sample of 656 Portuguese adolescents, aged 12 to 19 years, assessed in school context. Also, the aim of the study was to gather data concerning age- and gender-related differences in the expression of psychopathological…

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…

The final regulations of the "No Child Left Behind" Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2007a, 2007b) indicate that a small group of students with disabilities can be counted as proficient through an alternate assessment based on modified academic achievement standards. This new policy gives individualized education program teams the…

Two studies describe the development of the Audiovisual Test of Emotional Intelligence (AVEI), aimed at candidate selection in educational settings. Study I depicts the construction of the test and the preliminary examination of its psychometric properties in a sample of 92 college students. Item analysis allowed the modification of problem items,…