[ Regression Analysis Result Summary Tables: Exhibits C-9 and C-10 ]
[ Pretest Scores on the Outcome Measures Used for the Sample Study : Exhibit D-1 ]
Each of the measures used in the Sample Study has demonstrated reasonable content validity. The 32-item Preschool Inventory (PSI), for example, was developed in order to reflect exposure to instruction and assess children?s readiness for schooling. The PSI "exhibits moderate to strong relationships with other measures of cognitive ability," including the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, the Denver Developmental Screening Test, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, and the Wide Range Achievement Test (pp. 32-33, Abt Associates, 1991).
The Preschool Language Scale-3 (PLS-3) was developed to assess young children?s receptive and expressive language, as well as behaviors that may be precursors to language in very young children. The PLS-3 assesses the language skills that previous research has indicated are critical to the development of facility in language (Zimmerman, Steiner, and Pond, 1992). Studies assessing the concurrent validity of the PLS have been conducted using such language-development focused instruments as the Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale, Test of Early Language Development, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, with composite tests that include a language development component (e.g., the Battelle Development Inventory and the Minnesota Child Development Inventory), as well as with instruments designed to assess general cognitive ability, such as the Slosson Intelligence Test, Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). The PLS-3 has strong correlations (generally over .60) with tests of general cognitive ability and with the composite tests and more moderate correlations with the tests of language development (generally between .40 and .80).
The Home Screening Questionnaire (HSQ) was initially developed to assess "factors within a young child?s home environment ... related to the child?s growth and development" (Coons, Gay, Fandal, Ker, and Frankenburg, 1981). It collects information on a sample of aspects of a child?s social, emotional, and cognitive development as reflected in the home environment. The HSQ shows strong correlations with the parent measure, the HOME Inventory.
Both the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) and the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) are used widely in adult education settings, chiefly because they are easy-to-use standardized measures. The CASAS assesses adults? capacity to apply basic skills to functional situations encountered in everyday life. The competencies assessed by test items are reviewed regularly and revised as appropriate. The CASAS has been found appropriate for a wide range of adult learners (Rickard, Stiles, and Martois, 1989). The TABE is an academically oriented test that measures student achievement in areas such as mathematics, reading, spelling and language?areas that are intended to match the curricula commonly covered in most adult education instruction. The TABE is appropriate for higher level learners, and scores have been found to correlate with performance on the GED (CTB/McGraw-Hill, 1987).
-###-
[ Regression Analysis Result Summary Tables: Exhibits C-9 and C-10 ] | |
[ Pretest Scores on the Outcome Measures Used for the Sample Study : Exhibit D-1 ] |