Longitudinal change in the average Z scores for four groups of pupils sorted by quartiles was examined for its stability over three years. The data, collected from 1998 to 2009, was obtained from nine cohorts of Japanese junior high school pupils totaling 1,962 subjects. It showed illusionary declines among the mid-range pupils but improvements…

How to compute and report subscores for a test that was originally designed for reporting scores on a unidimensional scale has been a topic of interest in recent years. In the research reported here, we describe an application of multidimensional item response theory to identify a subscore structure in a test designed for reporting results using a…

For decades Japan has remained at or near the top of international assessments of student learning; and in the past decade, students in Japan have become more engaged in learning. However, the government aspires to improve learning outcomes even further. "Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for…

In the past 150 years, educational systems have expanded and become integrally linked with economic, political, and social status in modern nation-states. As the stakes for education have risen, so has the call for more and improved use of scientific evidence as a basis for educational policymaking. Evidence from averaged scores on international…

Examines reading disabilities in fifth grade Japanese children and concludes they are as prevalent in Japan as in many Western countries, are more prevalent in males than females, occur at the same rate in urban and rural children, and are strongly associated with an inferiority of sentence memory and reasoning, but not with word discrimination…

THIS FINAL REPORT DESCRIBES TWO RESEARCH EXPERIMENTS CARRIED OUT IN TOKYO IN 1965 AND 1966. STUDY A, A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ACQUISITION OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AT TWO DIFFERENT AGE LEVELS (3RD AND 4TH GRADES), WAS BASED ON A COURSE OF THREE 15-MINUTE SESSIONS A WEEK, USING TEN-MINUTE TAPES. SOME RESULTS NOTED WERE--(1) NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN…

This report presents the findings of a study conducted to explore the feasibility of developing and delivering an assessment of information and communication technology (ICT) literacy for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The study was conducted at the request of an expert panel convened by Network A and was funded in…

The latest important event in the history of educational testing in Japan was the establishment of the National Center for University Entrance Examination (NCUEE) in 1977. The entrance examination system consists of two stages. The first stage exam is the Joint Achievement Test (JAT) which is jointly administered by national and local public…

This document is an English-language abstract (appropriately 1,500 words) of a thesis answering the arguments against adopting the tests from the national Educational Test Research Institute (ETRI). The author gives an account of the committees on selection methods in his own university and also analyzes responses to an opinion survey conducted on…

This document is an English-language abstract (approximately 1,500 words) of a series of research papers on the selection of college and university students. One paper compared the scores gained by three different types of entrants to six universities attracting applicants of high quality. It was found that a candidate has almost no chance of…

Continuing concern regarding the quality and future of education in both America and Japan prompts many comparisons of their nation's educational systems. Chapter 1, "Japanese Schools' Higher Achievement, Literacy, Efficiency, Discipline, Classroom Management, and Strengths of Civilization," attempts to explain the superior performance…