The present study aimed to evaluate the evidence of internal structure and scores reliability of the Social Skills Inventory for adolescents - brief version (IHSA-Del-Prette). The following analyses were performed: (1) Exploratory Factor Analysis - EFA; (2) Confirmatory Factor Analysis - CFA; (3) Reliability; (4) Multigroup Analysis (invariance). The participants were 2,291 students of the Middle and High Schools, both sexes aged 12 to 17 years old divided into two sample groups: 1,172 participants in sample group 1 (collected 2006–2007) and 1,119 in sample group 2 (collected 2011–2012). The results of the EFA (group 1) support the four subscales structure (Self-control, Affective Approach, Empathy and Assertiveness) for 16 items (loadings > .30). The structure was confirmed by the CFA performed on the second group (CFI = .96, TLI = .95, RMSEA = .05, 90% CI [.04, .05], loadings > .50); and showed scalar invariance (samples 1 and 2) due to group and age, as well as partial scalar invariance due to gender (ΔCFI < .01; ΔNCI < .02). It was concluded the brief version of IHSA-Del-Prette presents psychometric properties for use in the Brazilian context.

This paper examines the responses of two samples of prospective teachers (New Zealand, n = 324; and Spain, n = 672) to the Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment inventory (English and Spanish respectively). The inventory captures four major intentions for assessment (i.e., improvement, irrelevance, school and student accountability). The conceptions of prospective teachers about the nature and purpose of assessment are relevant, given that (a) much educational assessment is carried out in classrooms; and (b) prospective teachers enter the teacher education programs with significant prior school experience of assessment as pupils. Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the original model was inadmissible and that the best-fitting revised model was only configurally invariant between the two samples. It would appear that lack of teaching experience results in different responses for prospective teachers to those of practicing teachers. Moreover, differences in societal and cultural priorities for assessment use most likely explain the lack of invariance between samples.