Awareness of informational text structures is related to reading comprehension and varies according to characteristics of readers and texts. The purpose of this study was to develop and refine a measure of text structure awareness, the Text Structure Identification Test (TSIT), by investigating its internal consistency reliability and construct…

Background: The Alouette-R (2005) by Lefavrais is one of the most widely used tools to assess reading skills in French. However, this instrument does not have normative data specific to the French-speaking population of Quebec, Canada. Aims: The validity of an assessment being strongly compromised when using inappropriate norms, the first…

Linking score scales across different tests is considered speculative and fraught, even at the aggregate level. We introduce and illustrate validation methods for aggregate linkages, using the challenge of linking U.S. school district average test scores across states as a motivating example. We show that aggregate linkages can be validated both…

There is growing interest in improving and assessing teachers' use of culturally responsive practices (CRP) in the classroom, yet relatively few research-based approaches exist to address these measurement gaps. This article presents findings on the psychometric properties of a newly developed classroom observation measure of CRP, called the CARES…

This simulation study examines the measurement precision, item exposure rates, and the depth of the MAP® Growth™ item pools under various grade-level restrictions. Unlike most summative assessments, MAP Growth allows examinees to see items from any grade level, regardless of the examinee's actual grade level. It does not limit the test to items…

This study investigated an adaptation of the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) measure of the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills into a European context for the Norwegian language, which has a more transparent orthography than English. Second-order latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the longitudinal measurement invariance of…

Given the importance of large-scale assessments to educational policy conversations, it is critical that subpopulation achievement is estimated reliably and with sufficient precision. Despite this importance, biased subpopulation estimates have been found to occur when variables in the conditioning model side of a latent regression model contain…

This paper describes a statistical linking between the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Grade 4 reading and the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) in Grade 4 reading. The primary purpose of the linking study is to obtain a statistical comparison between NAEP (a national assessment) and PIRLS (an…

Although federal regulations require testing students with severe cognitive disabilities, there is little guidance regarding how technical quality should be established. It is known that challenges exist with documentation of the reliability of scores for alternate assessments. Typical measures of reliability do little in modeling multiple sources…

The impact of uncertainty about item parameters on test information functions is investigated. The information function of a test is one of the most important tools in item response theory (IRT). Inaccuracy in the estimation of test information can have substantial consequences on data analyses based on IRT. In this article, the major part (called…

Augmentation procedures are designed to provide better estimates for a given test or subtest through the use of collateral information. The main purpose of this dissertation was to use Haberman's and Wainer's augmentation procedures on a large-scale, standardized achievement test to understand the relationship between reliability and…

This study examined the applicability of the Arabic version of the Curriculum Based Measurement Maze (CBM Maze) for Jordanian students. A sample of 150 students was recruited from two public primary schools in Jordan. The students were ranked into high, moderate, and low achievers in terms of their performance in the Arabic course. Then all of…

This study investigated slope bias on student background variables for both Curriculum Based Measurement of Oral Reading (CBM-R) and Curriculum Based Measurement Maze Reading (Maze). Benchmark scores from 1,738 students in Grades 3 through 8 were used to examine potential slope bias in CBM-R and Maze. Latent growth modeling was used to both…

There are relatively few studies that evaluate the quality of progress monitoring estimates derived from curriculum-based measurement of reading. Those studies that are published provide initial evidence for relatively large magnitudes of standard error relative to the expected magnitude of weekly growth. A major contributor to the observed…

Recently, educational researchers and practitioners have turned to value-added models to evaluate teacher performance. Although value-added estimates depend on the assessment used to measure student achievement, the importance of outcome selection has received scant attention in the literature. Using data from a large, urban school district, I…