Disengaged responding poses a severe threat to the validity of educational large-scale assessments, because item responses from unmotivated test-takers do not reflect their actual ability. Existing identification approaches rely primarily on item response times, which bears the risk of misclassifying fast engaged or slow disengaged responses.…

This study examined a theoretical model hypothesizing that reading strategies mediate the effects of intrinsic reading motivation, reading fluency, and vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension. Using path analytic methods, we tested the direct and indirect effects specified in the hypothesized model in a sample of 1105 fifth-graders. In…

This study addressed the role of reading motivation as a potential determinant of losses or gains in reading competence over six weeks of summer vacation (SV). Based on a sample of 223 third-grade elementary students, structural equation analyses showed that intrinsic reading motivation before SV contributed positively to both word and sentence…

Background: Numerous studies have investigated the relationships between various student, home and contextual factors and reading achievement. However, the relationship between such factors and reading attitudes has been investigated far less, despite the fact that theoretical frameworks of large-scale assessments and school effectiveness research…

Background: Large-scale cross-national studies designed to measure student achievement use different social, cultural, economic and other background variables to explain observed differences in that achievement. Prior to their inclusion into a prediction model, these variables are commonly scaled into latent background indices. To allow…

Data from competence tests usually show a number of missing responses on test items due to both omitted and not-reached items. Different approaches for dealing with missing responses exist, and there are no clear guidelines on which of those to use. While classical approaches rely on an ignorable missing data mechanism, the most recently developed…

Studies investigating the effects of emotional exhaustion among teachers have primarily focused on its relations with teacher-related outcome variables but little research has been done for examining its relations with student outcomes. Therefore, this study examines the relations between teachers' emotional exhaustion and educational outcomes…

Reading strategy interventions relying upon peer tutoring are a common way to foster poor readers' comprehension skills. Those interventions are based on the assumption that tutees benefit from the (higher) reading skills of their tutors. However, this interpersonal effect has not yet been tested explicitly because the effectiveness of peer…

The article compares three different methods to estimate effects of task characteristics and to use these estimates for model-based proficiency scaling: prediction of item difficulties from the Rasch model, the linear logistic test model (LLTM), and an LLTM including random item effects (LLTM+e). The methods are applied to empirical data from a…

Academic self-concept has been conceptualized as a multidimensional and hierarchical construct. Previous research has mostly focused on its multidimensionality, distinguishing between verbal and mathematical self-concept domains, and only a few studies have examined the factorial structure within specific self-concept domains. The present study…

In a cross-sectional study, we examined the relationship between the quality of lexical representations and text comprehension skill in German primary school children (Grades 1-4). We measured the efficiency and accuracy of orthographical, phonological, and meaning representations by means of computerized tests. Text comprehension skill was…

Student misbehavior is a pervasive problem and may seriously affect academic achievement. Previous research hints at different effects depending on whether achievement tests or achievement judgments are used as academic outcomes. Previous research also indicates that low achievement can conversely contribute to problem behavior and that low…