Many seem to believe that researcher-made tests are unnecessary, if not inappropriate, for evaluating reading comprehension interventions. We suggest that this view reflects a zeitgeist in which researcher-made (proximal) tests that align with the researchers' interventions are closely scrutinized and often devalued, whereas commercially developed…

The present study analyzed concurrent and predictive validity of single-item scales for assessing principal stress and coping. We examined concurrent and prospective relations among stress and coping single-items with principal job satisfaction, overall health, perceptions of school safety, and principal leadership self-efficacy. We also compared…

This paper presents social validity findings from a mixed-methods study of educators who used a recently adapted online version of the research-based Double Check culturally-response practices and student engagement program. Results from 41 participants indicated that the program was easy to use, prompted them to reflect on their own culture, and…

We developed assessment tasks aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that require students to use argumentation and explanation practices along with disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts to make sense of energy-related phenomena. Scoring rubrics were created to evaluate students' ability to make accurate claims, cite…

To better understand the impact of using e-books on students' reading outcomes, we conducted a meta-analysis of 14 studies with students in grades K-12 published between 2007 and 2018. Findings revealed an average effect size across all studies and reading outcomes of 0.9 that did not differ significantly from zero. There was also no statistically…

As the standards movement continues into its third decade, there remains a need for alignment methodologies that can be broadly applied to study instruction and policy. This article reports on a series of development efforts meant to revise the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) surveys and methods to study the implementation of new college- and…

Reading motivation is a critical contributor to reading achievement and has the potential to influence its development. Educators, researchers, and evaluators need to select the best reading motivation scales for their research and classroom. The goals of this review were to identify a set of reading motivation student self-report scales used in…

The construct of reading comprehension has changed significantly in the 21st century, however, some test designs have not evolved sufficiently to capture these changes. Specifically, the nature of literacy sources and skills required has changed (wrought primarily by widespread use of digital technologies). Modern theories of comprehension and…

Background: The importance of reading motivation has led to the development of a large number of self-report reading motivation measures; however, there is still a need for a usable measure of adolescent reading motivation that captures a large number of theoretically and empirically distinct constructs. Methods: The current paper details the…

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…

Energy is a critically important topic in the K-12 science curriculum, with many applications in the earth, physical, and life sciences and in engineering and technology. To meet the challenges associated with teaching energy, new tools and assessment instruments are needed. In this work we describe the development of a three-tier assessment…

Ratings are present in many areas of assessment including peer review of research proposals and journal articles, teacher observations, university admissions and selection of new hires. One feature present in any rating process with multiple raters is that different raters often assign different scores to the same assessee, with the potential for…

English learners (ELs), students from a home where a language other than English is spoken and who are in the process of developing English proficiency themselves, represent over 10% of the US student population. Oftentimes education policies and practices create barriers for ELs to achieve access and outcomes that are equitable to those of their…

The authors conducted a qualitative meta-analysis of the research on assessment accommodations for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. There were 16 identified studies that analyzed the impact of factors related to student performance on academic assessments across different educational settings, content areas, and types of assessment…

The article describes an application of the Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire (OCDQ) in the author's dissertation. He explored the possible relationships among [Fred] Fiedler's assessment of psychological distance of the leader (the principal) and the organizational climate of schools as assessed by the then recently developed OCDQ…