Large-scale learning assessments can be used to generate performance and contextual data on student learning outcomes. They can be national, regional, or international; school based or household based. The UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO) has conducted a qualitative study to explore both how and why learning…

Great things happen when students are able to focus on their learning instead of their scores. However, assessment reform, including standards-based grading, remains a hotly debated issue in education. "Going Gradeless" shows that it is possible to teach and assess without the stress of traditional grading practices. Sharing their…

We compared students' performance on a paper-based test (PBT) and three computer-based tests (CBTs). The three computer-based tests used different test navigation and answer selection features, allowing us to examine how these features affect student performance. The study sample consisted of 9,698 fourth through twelfth grade students from across…

This study presents the development process and initial validation of the NyTid test, a process-oriented movement assessment tool for compulsory school pupils. A sample of 1,260 (627 girls and 633 boys; mean age of 14.39) Swedish school children participated in the study. In the first step, exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were performed in…

In this report, we examine the feasibility of characterizing writing performance using process features derived from a keystroke log. Using data derived from a set of "CBAL"™ writing assessments, we examine the following research questions: (a) How stable are the keystroke timing and process features across testing occasions?; (b) How…

Interest in 21st century skills has brought concomitant interest in ways to teach and measure them. Games hold promise in these areas, but much of their potential has yet to be proven, and there are few examples of how to use the rich data from games to make inferences about players' knowledge, skills, and attributes. This article builds an…

Noncognitive characteristics are gaining importance in addressing the persistent challenges facing youth in diverse settings. Measurement invariance of two youth developmental assets, Support and Positive Identity, is evaluated across grade levels and English language learner (ELL) subgroups of Latino students in 6th through 12th grade.…

Helping students develop a sound understanding of scientific concepts can be a major challenge. Lately, learning progressions have received increasing attention as a means to support students in developing understanding of core scientific concepts. At the center of a learning progression is a sequence of developmental levels reflecting an…

To meet the constantly changing needs of schools and diverse learners, educators must frequently monitor student learning, revise curricula, and improve instruction. Consequently, it is critical that careful analyses of student performance data are ongoing components of curriculum decision-making processes. The primary purpose of this study is to…

This paper discusses issues arising in the design of questions to use in an on-line computer-based formative assessment system, focussing on how best to identify the stages of a learning hierarchy for reporting to teachers. Data from several hundred students is used to illustrate how design decisions have been made for a test on interpreting line…

In accordance with the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law of 2001, 100% of students were expected to become proficient on state assessments of reading and mathematics by the end of 2013-2014 academic year. Schools that consistently failed to meet the NCLB's Adequate Yearly Progress requirements were subject to penalties. In 2011, the U.S.…

5-HTTLPR, episodic stressors, depressive and anxious symptoms were assessed prospectively (child and parent report) every 3 months over 1 year (5 waves of data) among community youth ages 9 to 15 (n = 220). Lagged hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed 5-HTTLPR interacted with idiographic stressors (increases relative to the child's own…

Research on factors that may promote engagement is hampered by the absence of a measure of classroom-level engagement. Literature has suggested that engagement may have 3 dimensions--affective, behavioral, and cognitive. No existing engagement scales measure all 3 dimensions at the classroom level. The Classroom Engagement Inventory (CEI) was…

This study examined the academic performance and preference of students with disabilities for two types of test administration conditions, computer-based testing (CBT) and pencil-and-paper testing (PPT). Data from a large-scale assessment program were used to examine differences between CBT and PPT academic performance for third to eleventh grade…

Predictive relationships among perceived family processes, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, incremental beliefs about intelligence, confidence in intelligence, and creative problem-solving practices in mathematics and science were examined. Participants were 733 scientifically talented Korean students in fourth through twelfth grades as well as…