Arithmetic fluency is regarded as a foundational math skill, typically measured as a single construct with pencil-and-paper-based timed assessments. We introduce a tablet-based assessment of single-digit fluency that captures individual trial response times across several embedded experimental contrasts of interest. A large (n = 824) cohort of…

Computer-based testing is becoming dominant for assessments in education. In New York, students take state assessments, which are now administered digitally. While this transition in technology offers advantages, there are also challenges, including insufficient digital literacy for students to adequately meet the technological demands of the…

Star Math (SM) is a popular computer adaptive test (CAT) schools use to screen students for academic risk. Despite its popularity, few independent investigations of its diagnostic accuracy have been conducted. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of SM based upon vendor provided cut-scores (25th and 40th percentiles nationally) in predicting…

This study collected teacher perspectives on the impact of mandated high-stakes online testing to identify current needs for teachers and students regarding the development of student technology skills for such assessments. Participants included 41 teachers who instruct students in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade in any capacity from ten school districts…

This study explored the validity of growth on two computer adaptive tests, Star Reading and Star Math, in explaining performance on an end-of-year achievement test for a sample of students in Grades 3 through 6. Results from quantile regression analyses indicate that growth on Star Reading explained a statistically significant amount of variance…

The purpose of this study was to compare the classification accuracy of data produced by the previous year's end-of-year New York state assessment, a computer-adaptive diagnostic assessment ("i-Ready"), and the gating combination of both assessments to predict the rate of students passing the following year's end-of-year state assessment…

We used multivariate generalizability theory to examine the reliability of hand-scoring and automated essay scoring (AES) and to identify how these scoring methods could be used in conjunction to optimize writing assessment. Students (n = 113) included subsamples of struggling writers and non-struggling writers in Grades 3-5 drawn from a larger…

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2020 Grades 3-8 Mathematics Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2020 Grades 3-5…

This paper presents results of a score interpretation study for a computer adaptive mathematics assessment. The study purpose was to test the efficacy of item developers' alignment of items to Range Achievement-Level Descriptors (RALDs; Egan et al.) against the empirical achievement-level alignment of items to investigate the use of RALDs as the…

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2019 Grades 3-8 English Language Arts Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2019…

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the impact of i-Ready Personalized Instruction on reading achievement, as measured by SBA scores. We compared students in schools using i-Ready Personalized Instruction school-wide (Treatment students) to students who only received i-Ready Diagnostic assessments and who were in schools only partially…

The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the impact of i-Ready Personalized Instruction on math achievement, as measured by SBA scores. We compared "striving learner" students who were assigned to use i-Ready Personalized Instruction (Treatment students) and "striving learner" students assigned to only receive i-Ready…

The current study examined the criterion validity of a computer adaptive universal screener with an end-of-year state mathematics assessment using extant data provided by a local education agency. Participants included 1,195 third through eighth graders. Correlational analyses were used to report predictive and concurrent validity coefficients for…

Students with autism may struggle to develop the academic skills necessary for success in school and beyond. Understanding and improving academic skills performance requires appropriate measurement approaches. One such option that has been minimally studied with students with autism is curriculum-based measurement (CBM). Coinciding with the need…

When student achievement is assessed, we seek to elicit a student's maximum performance -- a goal requiring the assumption that the student is fully engaged. Otherwise, to the extent that disengagement occurs, test performance is likely to suffer. Effectively managing test-taking disengagement requires an understanding of the testing conditions…