The Instruments

TerraNova 3 from Data Recognition Corporation includes a range of assessment products that measure math knowledge and skills, including online formats and brief test forms. The testing system was developed to be aligned to NCTM standards. TerraNova is available in Spanish as SUPERA.

TerraNova 3 reading assessments are designed to measure important higher order thinking skills as well as basic and applied skills. These assessments include norm-referenced achievement scores, criterion-referenced objective mastery scores, and performance-level information.

The TERA-4 is an individually administered assessment of early reading mastery.

The TOMA-3 is an assessment designed to identify, describe, and quantify mathematical deficits in school-age children. In addition to the math assessment, there are also measures of attitudes toward math available.

The TORC-4 assesses students' silent reading comprehension. It can be used to identify students in need of targeted reading intervention, monitor student progress, and serve as a research tool. The assessment measures word identification and contextual meaning across five subtests for students in grades 1-12. 

The TOSCRF-2 is an assessment of reading comprehension and general reading ability.

The TOSREC is a test of silent reading efficiency and comprehension designed for screening and progress monitoring.

The TOSWRF-2 is an assessment designed to measure the ability to recognize printed words accurately and efficiently.

TPRI was created to assesses student progress in critical reading domains, including phonemic awareness, graphophonemic knowledge, word reading, comprehension, accuracy, and fluency.

The Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2.0 (TSIA2) was introduced in 2021, replacing the previous version utilized since 2013. As per the Texas State Legislature mandate, all students entering Texas public higher education institutions must undergo TSIA2 or qualify for one of its exemptions. The TSIA2 evaluates students' readiness for college-level coursework by testing them in English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) and Mathematics. 

The Abbreviated School Climate Survey (ASCS), an abbreviated version of the 100-item School Climate survey developed by the Developmental Studies Center (now known as the Center for the Collaborative Classroom), is a 34-item assessment of school climate that includes 7 of the 11 subscales from the original assessment. The subscales include: positive behavior, negative behavior, classroom and school supportiveness, autonomy and influence, safety at schools, enjoyment of school, and school norms and rules).

The Echelle de Motivation en Education (EME) is based on the tenets of self-determination theory and is composed of 28 items subdivided into 7 subscales assessing three types of intrinsic motivation (intrinsic motivation to know, to accomplish things, and to experience stimulation), three types of extrinsic motivation (external, introjected, and identified regulation), and amotivation. The EME was translated into English and named the Academic Motivation Scale. The English version, the AMS, showed satisfactory levels of internal consistency temporal stability over a one-month period.

The Bridge-Positive Youth Development measure is an open-source, 40-item Likert survey initially validated using responses from 7-18-year-old  children in a community-based after school program in Denver, CO. It uses a resilience-based framework incorporating the 5 Cs: Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, and Caring/Compassion. 

The brief resilience scale (BRS) was created to assess the ability to bounce back or recover from stress. The BRS is comprised of 6 items. Items 1, 3, and 5 are positively worded while items 2, 4, and 6 are negatively worded. The BRS is scored by reverse coding items 2, 4, and 6, and finding the mean of the 6 items. The Likert Scale for the BRS is as follows: 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=neutral, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree. 

The Cleminshaw-Guidubaldi Parent Satisfaction Scale is a 50-item self-reporting instrument that measures satisfaction with child-rearing skills. The instrument, which is designed for parents with children birth-18 years of age, contains five subscales: spouse support, child-parent relationship, parent performance, family discipline and control, and general satisfaction subscales.

The Cornell Cooperative Extension Parent Education Data Collection System is a tool used for Cornell Cooperative Extension parenting education classes. Items on the pre- and post- surveys are taken from national surveys such as the Three Cities Study and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to ensure validity and reliability. The instrument has been utilized to evaluate Home Visitation Programs, Incredible Years Program, Magic Years Program, and the Strengthening Families Program in New York state.

The ERQ (Gross & John, 2003) comprises 10 items assessing the ER strategies of CR (6 items) and ES (4 items). Items are rated on a 7-point Likert-type response scale. Higher scores on each scale indicate greater use of the corresponding ER strategy.

A revised version of the ERQ, the ERQ-CA is meant to be used in non-adult samples. Revision of the ERQ visible in the ERQ-CA include simplification of item wording and a switch from a 7-point Likert scale to a 5-point Likert scale.

The Flourishing Children Project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, has constructed 20 scales based on a nationally representative sample to measure different dimensions of personal flourishing. The scales are open access, and many offer versions for both adolescents (ages 12-18) and parents. The scales fall into 5 categories: Personal Flourishing, Flourishing in School and Work, Flourishing in Relationships, Relationship Skills, and Environmental Stewardship.

The full 78-item Hemingway includes 15 ecological subscales measuring three domains of adolescent connectedness - connectedness to self, connectedness to others, and connectedness to society. 

The Home Observation Measurement of the Environment-Short Form (HOME-SF) is an observation instrument commonly used to measure the home environment of children ages birth to 15 years old. The HOME-SF is an abridged version of the HOME inventory, which is twice the length, and contains mother-reported items. The HOME-SF provides cognitive stimulation and emotional support subscores along with the total score.

Created along the Motivation and Engagement Wheel, the Motivation and Engagement Scale consists of eleven motivation and engagement subscales congruent with the eleven first-order factors in the Wheel (i.e., self-efficacy, valuing, mastery orientation, planning, task management, persistence, anxiety, failure avoidance, uncertain control, self-handicapping, and disengagement).

Created along the Motivation and Engagement Wheel, the Motivation and Engagement Scale consists of eleven motivation and engagement subscales congruent with the eleven first-order factors in the Wheel (i.e., self-efficacy, valuing, mastery orientation, planning, task management, persistence, anxiety, failure avoidance, uncertain control, self-handicapping, and disengagement).

The PSI assesses an individual's awareness and evaluation of his or her problem-solving abilities or style, thus provides a global of that individual as a problem solver.The PSI is a self-reported measure . The PSI consists of 35 six-point Likert items (with 3 filler questions), which constitute 3 factors: Problem-Solving Confidence, Approach-Avoidance Style, and Personal Control. The questions were constructed by the authors as face valid measures of each of the five problem-solving stages, based on a revision of an earlier problem-solving inventory.

The Scale for Teachers’ Assessment of Routines Engagement (STARE) documents teachers’ perspectives of a child’s engagement in classroom activities. Suitable for both typically developing children and children with disabilities, STARE focuses on how much time the child was engaged with adults, peers, and materials (toys, art supplies, environment in general). In addition, STARE explores how complex the engagement was. STARE is completed after a specific classroom activity and takes about 20 seconds. The STARE can be completed as frequently as necessary. 

The SSP, available in both English and Spanish, is an online survey questionnaire with 195 multiple-choice items. These items address students’ beliefs about their social environment—neighborhoods, schools, friends, and families—and about their own physical and psychological health and school performance (individual adaptation). The survey is divided into six modules: About You (6 items), Neighborhood (26 items), School (54 items), Friends (25 items), Family (45 items), and Health and Well-Being (39 items).

The Science Management Observation Protocol (SMOP) is used to conduct structured observations of science classroom practice. SMOP identifies specific teacher behaviors and classroom characteristics which influence an inquiry-based classroom. Teachers and administrators can use the protocol to support the development of quality inquiry-based practices.

The Self-Construal scale is a 30 items scale used to measure how people view themselves in relation to others. 2 subscales; interdependent self-construal and independent self-construal, comprise this scale. Each item is answered using a 7-point rating scale (1=strongly disagree, 4=neither agree or disagree, and 7=strongly agree). 15 items measure how much the repondent sees their self as separate, unique, and indepedentfrom others, while 15 items measure how much the respondent sees their self as connected, similar, and interdependent with others.

The Sense of Control Scale 14 has 12 items that measure a person’s sense of mastery over their outcomes (e.g., “Whether or not I am able to get what I want is in my own hands”) and perceptions of constraints on their behavior (e.g., “Other people determine most of what I can and cannot do”).

The Social Connectedness Scale includes 8 items and measures students' sense of connectedness, affiliation, and companionship to provide a broad picture of belongingness. The authors have an accompanying Social Assurance scale (which measures students' sense of companionship and affiliation) often administered in tandem with the Social Connectedness Scale.