The social goals and beliefs involved in adolescent peer relationships were examined for 266 9thgrade students (approximate age = 14 years). Factor analysis of questionnaire responses revealed 6 goals pursued by adolescents in their relationships with their peers: Intimacy, Nurturance, Dominance, Leadership, Popularity, and Avoidance. Six beliefs about behaviors or circumstances that lead to success in peer relationships were also identified: Being Sincere, Having Status, Being Responsible, Pretending to Care, Entertaining Others, and Being Tough. The prediction that there should be meaningful connections between sets of goals and beliefs was supported. Finally, prosocial goals and beliefs were positively associated with satisfaction with peer relationships but not related to peer sociometric nominations.

As large-scale accountability testing becomes more refined, statewide standards are being created so that teachers and students can create learning and assessment targets that are aligned with statewide testing systems. An important hurdle in assisting teachers in their efforts to create standards-aligned classroom assessments is creating feelings of comfort and confidence in the teachers as they learn the relevant skills. Hence, an important component of a professional development program designed to foster these skills in teachers is an instrument that provides measures that provide useful information for planning development activities for the teachers. This article summarizes a validation study of scores from the Teacher Assessment Efficacy Scale. The analyses indicated support for the six dimensions around which the items were developed, that subscales' scores exhibit adequate reliabilities, and that gains are realized in ways that one would expect when teachers engage in professional development activities designed to increase their proficiencies in creating standards-aligned classroom assessments.

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