Stable individual differences on developmental tasks in young yellow-crowned parakeets,<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cyanoramphus auriceps</Emphasis>

We report on stable individual differences in young yellow-crowned parakeets across 38 tasks of cognitive development on three scales involving object permanence, means-end relations, and spatial relations. Stable performance ranks on blocks of tasks emerged after 13 weeks in two groups of sibling parakeets, one hand-reared and the other parent-reared. Examination of subject characteristics, such as hatch order, sex, general activity level, avoidances, latencies, social status, and errors, showed no significant correlations with these performance ranks. Characteristic individual approaches to unstructured play activities (from a fourth scale) were consistent with individual behavioral differences seen on the structured cognitive tasks.     

An NCME Instructional Module: Guidelines for the Development of Item Banks

Use of item banking technology can provide much relief for the chores associated with preparing assessments; it may also enhance the quality of the items and improue the quality of the assessments. Item banking programs provide for item entry and storage, item retrieval and test creation, and maintenance of the item history. Some programs also provide companion programs for scoring, analysis, and reporting. There are many item banking programs that may be purchased or leased, and there are banks of items auailable for purchase. This module is designed to help those who develop assessments of any kind to understand the process of item banking, to analyze their needs, and to find or develop programs and materials that meet those needs. It should be useful to teachers at all leuels of education and to school-district test directors who are responsible for developing district-wide tests. It may also provide some useful information for those who are responsible for large-scale assessment programs of all types.