Given the proliferation of factor analysis applications in the literature, the present article examines the use of factor analysis in current published research across four psychological journals. ...

Use of Exploratory Factor Analysis in Published Research Common Errors and Some Comment on Improved Practice

Test anxiety effects, predictors, and correlates: A 30-year meta-analytic review.

Teachers’ classroom discipline and student misbehavior in Australia, China and Israel

This study explored differences in test anxiety on high-stakes standardized achievement testing and low-stakes testing among elementary school children. This is the first study to directly examine differences in young students’ reported test anxiety between No Child Left Behind (NCLB) achievement testing and classroom testing. Three hundred thirty-five students in Grades 3 through 5 participated in the study. Students completed assessments of test anxiety following NCLB testing and typical classroom testing. Students reported significantly more overall test anxiety in relation to high-stakes testing versus classroom testing on two measures of test anxiety, effect sizes r = −.21 and r = −.10. Students also reported significantly more cognitive (r = −.20) and physiological (r = −.24) symptoms of test anxiety in relation to high-stakes testing. This study adds to the test anxiety literature by demonstrating that students experience heightened anxiety in response to NCLB testing.

Heightened test anxiety among young children: elementary school students’ anxious responses to high-stakes testing

High-stakes tests have played an increasingly important role in how student achievement and school effectiveness are measured. Test anxiety has risen with the use of tests in educational decision making. Students with high test anxiety perform poorly on tests when compared to students with low test anxiety. School psychologists can play an important role as experts both in tests and measurement and mental health in providing consultation and treatment for students with test anxiety. This article describes the results of a systematic literature review of the last 10 years of test-anxiety interventions. Results indicate that there are few studies that have examined test-anxiety interventions with elementary and secondary school students. However, techniques including biofeedback, behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, priming competency, and mixed approaches have demonstrated promising results. Suggestions are made for school psychologists for the delivery of evidenced-based test anxiety interventions.

Test Anxiety Interventions for Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Treatment Studies from 2000–2010

This article presents the development of a measure of test anxiety among adolescents, named the FRIEDBEN Test Anxiety Scale (the FTA). It is a 23-item scale consisting of the following three subscales: (a) Social Derogation (worries of being socially belittled and deprecated by significant others following failure on a test), (b) Cognitive Obstruction (poor concentration, failure to recall, difficulties in effective problem solving, before or during a test), and (c) Tenseness (bodily and emotional discomfort). Replicability analyses-cross-validation and validity generalization-were conducted. Data regarding the construct validity of scores on the measure are reported.

Measuring Perceived Test Anxiety in Adolescents: A Self-Report Scale

A scale to measure teacher sense of work autonomy, Teacher Work-Autonomy (TWA), is presented in this article. Replicability analyses of scores on the TWA —cross validation and validity generalization—were conducted and results reported in two studies. The purpose of the first study was to conceptualize the notion of teacher work autonomy, and the purpose of the second was to provide empirical evidence for the validity of scores on a scale derived from the results of the first study. The first study was based on a sample of 156 Israeli elementary school teachers, and in the second, a total of 650 elementary and secondary school teachers in Israel served as participants. Facet theory analytic techniques and factor analysis were used. Results indicated that four areas of functioning were pertinent to teachers’ sense of autonomy at work: (a) class teaching, (b) school mode of operating, (c) staff development, and (d) curriculum development.

Teacher-Perceived Work Autonomy: The Concept and Its Measurement:

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a measure for school principal-perceived burnout. A total of 821 elementary and secondary school principals in Israel completed a questionnaire containing items relating to their feelings about themselves, their environment, and work. Data were factor analyzed, and three factors, covering 22 items, emerged: (a) exhaustion-feelings of emotional, physical, and cognitive fatigue, direct acknowledgment of being burned out by running the school; (b) aloofness-the principal's expressed desire to disengage from teachers, students, and parents; and (c) deprecation-having negative attitudes toward teachers, students, and parents, belittling their efforts and derogating their abilities.

Measuring School Principal-Experienced Burnout:

This study examined the unique content of the concept of teacher burnout, focusing on its core meaning and exploring the relations between its components. The research was designed based on facet t...

Burnout in Teachers: The Concept and its Unique Core Meaning

This research investigated the patterns of student classroom behavior as perceived by their teachers and validated a scale for measuring such behavior called Pupil Behavior Patterns (PBP). Facet theory analytic techniques and factor analysis were used. It was found that two facets provide the conceptual basis for analyzing student behavior patterns: (a) the adaptability of the student behavior (responsive or unresponsive) and (b) the foci of such behavior (internal: within the peer group; or external: geared toward the teacher or other school authority). The scale for measuring student behaviors (PBP) consists of three subscales: (a) Disrespect (students' respect or lack of respect for both teachers and members of their peer group), (b) Sociability (the informal interpersonal relationships among students and between teachers and students), and (c) Attentiveness (student willingness and receptiveness to learning as well as learning ability).

Isaac A. Friedman

Papers

Measuring Perceived Test Anxiety in Adolescents: A Self-Report Scale

Teacher-Perceived Work Autonomy: The Concept and Its Measurement:

Measuring School Principal-Experienced Burnout:

Burnout in Teachers: The Concept and its Unique Core Meaning

Conceptualizing and Measuring Teacher-Perceived Student Behaviors: Disrespect, Sociability, and Attentiveness: