In the current study, two pools of 250 essays, all written as a response to the same prompt, were rated by two groups of raters (14 or 15 raters per group), thereby providing an approximation to the essay's true score. An automated essay scoring (AES) system was trained on the datasets and then scored the essays using a cross-validation scheme. By…

Several studies have tested the validity of the simple view of reading model by examining various degrees of orthographic depth. This study aims to validate this model in both transparent and deep versions of Arabic. In addition, the contribution of the basic components of decoding and listening comprehension to reading comprehension in the…

Objective: To describe the quantitative validation of a unique questionnaire to measure moral distress among social workers in long-term care facilities in Israel. Method: Overall, 216 long-term care facilities' social workers took part in the pilot study that included psychometric evaluation and construct validation. Moral distress was examined…

This study addresses the development and evaluation of the Physics Problem-Solving Taxonomy (PPST), comprising five levels: retrieval, diagnosis, strategy, conceptual, and creative thinking. The taxonomy draws on Bloom's revised taxonomy in the cognitive domain, the Types of Knowledge Taxonomy, and the Problem-Solving Taxonomy in engineering. The…

The present study describes the development and field testing of a simple apparatus-based diagnostic instrument (SABDI) that examines undergraduate students' understanding of the underlying physics principles that explain how simple acoustic apparatuses work. SABDI comprises 13 items. Based on previous research studies and the history of science,…

To promote our theoretical understanding regarding the exploration process during adulthood, the current study focusses on this process as it relates to work and family life roles and the relations between them, during the transition to motherhood. Two instruments assessing vocational and maternal exploration, relating to self and environment…

We present the PreferenSort, a career counseling instrument that derives counselees' vocational interests from their preferences among occupational titles. The PreferenSort allows for a holistic decision process, while taking into account the full complexity of occupations and encouraging deliberation about one's preferences and acceptable…

The goal of this study was to explore the mediating role of 'absenteeism acceptance' between different leadership styles and school ethical climate (SEC) on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) and voluntary absence among Israeli teachers. 304 teachers were randomly selected from 304 different mainstream and special-education schools. The…

Background: Many tools have been developed to measure the ability of workers to innovate. However, all of them are based on self-reporting questionnaires, which raises questions about their validity Purpose: The aim was to develop and validate a tool, called Ideas Generation Implementation (IGI), to objectively measure the style and potential of…

This article describes the development and validation of the new CATSS (Computer Adaptive Test of Size and Strength), which measures vocabulary knowledge in four modalities -- productive recall, receptive recall, productive recognition, and receptive recognition. In the first part of the paper we present the assumptions that underlie the test --…

In order to facilitate policy-driven reforms in science education, it is important to understand how teaching innovations diffuse among teachers and how that adoption process can be catalysed. Little is known about the set of attitudes that makes teachers early or late adopters. In this study, the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (C-BAM) was employed…

This article describes the development and field test of the Sound Concept Inventory Instrument (SCII), designed to measure middle school students' concepts of sound. The instrument was designed based on known students' difficulties in understanding sound and the history of science related to sound and focuses on two main aspects of sound: sound…

Purpose: The first purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between principal self-efficacy and work experience. The second purpose of this paper is to re-study the structure of a multidimensional and hierarchical Principal Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES). Design/methodology/approach: PSES was measured using the Brama-Friedman scale…

The study presents an introductory idea of using mathematical averages as a tool for enriching mathematical problem solving. Throughout students' activities, a research was conducted on their ability to solve mathematical problems, and how to cope with a variety of mathematical tasks, in a variety of ways, using the skills, tools and experiences…

The current study aimed to identify the degree of applying the transformational leadership in school administration (among principals), the level of job satisfaction among teachers, and investigate the relationship to each other. The sample consisted of (182) teachers, who were randomly selected from teachers of Galilee region inside the Green…