In this study, I examined how 34 Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) used their linguistic resources (English and Spanish) and language modes (oral and written language) to demonstrate their knowledge of proportional reasoning in a dual language mathematics assessment task. The assessment allows students to see the item in both…

The National Assessment Governing Board has a legislatively mandated responsibility to develop National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) achievement levels. The Board Policy Statement on Developing Student Achievement Levels for the National Assessment of Educational Progress provides policy definitions of "NAEP Basic,"…

The purpose of this study is to develop an achievement test which includes the basic concepts about the subject of sound and its properties in middle school science lessons and which at the same time aims to reveal the alternative concepts that the students already have. During the process of the development of the test, studies in the field and…

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to develop an instrument that has scores that are valid and reliable for measuring students' attitudes toward fitness testing. Method: The method involved the following steps: (a) an elicitation study, (b) item development, (c) a pilot study, and (d) a validation study. The pilot study included 427…

This paper reports a feasibility study on developing computer model-based assessments of chemical reasoning at the high school level. Computer models are flash and NetLogo environments to make simultaneously available three domains in chemistry: macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic. Students interact with computer models to answer assessment…

For educational achievement tests that employ multiple-choice (MC) items and aim to reliably classify students into performance categories, it is critical to design MC items that are capable of discriminating student performance according to the stated achievement levels. This is accomplished, in part, by clearly understanding how item design…

"Gift of Tongues: Passing the Ohio Mathematics Graduation Test" examines the Ohio Graduation Mathematics Tests of 2004, 2005, and 2006 in the context of bilingual test takers at one of Cleveland's high schools and reports findings from a promising, bilingual pilot project in 2007 that may point to a new strategy for passing the…

Guiding deaf and hard of hearing students in making important decisions about their adult careers can be a difficult task. Twenty years after its inception, the TCB, as adapted for deaf and hard of hearing students, may help. The TCB is a unique assessment tool designed to measure the transition skills of deaf high school adolescents and young…