Studies on automatic scoring systems in writing assessments have also evaluated the relationship between human and machine scores for the reliability of automated essay scoring systems. This study investigated the magnitudes of indices for inter-rater agreement and discrepancy, especially regarding human and machine scoring, in writing assessment.…

National and institutional policies to escalate the production of doctorates have raised concerns about the quality of PhDs in South Africa. This study evaluates examiner reports of doctorates by thesis and publication in clinical medicine to ascertain the criteria that examiners used to define a successful doctoral thesis. A qualitative…

Valid and evidence-informed practices are critical to help young children with disabilities and their families with highly effective interventions and instruction to reach their potentials. Replication research is critical for appraising research and identifying evidence-based practices. The purpose of this study was to replicate the methods used…

This literature review attempts to survey representative studies within the context of L2 speaking assessment that have contributed to the conceptualization of rater cognition. Two types of studies are looked at: 1) studies that examine "how" raters differ (and sometimes agree) in their cognitive processes and rating behaviors, in terms…

We describe our experience of using a modified version of the Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) tool for randomised and non-randomised comparative studies. Objectives: (1) To assess time to complete RoB assessment; (2) To assess inter-rater agreement; and (3) To explore the association between RoB and treatment effect size. Methods: Cochrane risk of…

Gaps between science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and required workplace skills have been identified in industry, academia, and government. Educators acknowledge the need to reform STEM education to better prepare students for their future careers. We pursue this growing interest in the skills needed for STEM…

Background: From 2002 onwards, initiatives and first steps for the project International Comparative Analysis of Learning and Teaching (ICALT) have been taken by the inspectorates of education in England, Flanders (Belgium), Lower Saxony (Germany) and The Netherlands. The inspectorates of education in these European countries reviewed the results…

This study examined judgments of document relevance made by library science graduate students who were not the originators of the queries for which the documents were retrieved. Although the secondary judgments compared well with those of the original users, it was found that secondary judges used document record fields differently and had a…

Philosophy statements have been used in the National Debate Tournament (NDT) since the mid-1970s and the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) National Tournament since its 1986 inception. The statements should help debaters adapt to critics' expressed preferences. Moreover, philosophy statements can guide the study of argumentation theory…

Part of a special issue on adaptive behavior, the article reviews adaptive behavior research in areas which include the relationship between adaptive behavior and intelligence and school achievement, relationship between different measures of adaptive behavior, predictive aspects, declassification, group differences in adaptive behavior,…

This paper discusses recent developments in language testing. It begins with a review of the traditional criteria that are applied to all measurement and outlines recent emphases that derive from the expanding range of stakeholders. Drawing on Alderson's seminal work, criteria are presented for evaluating communicative language tests. Developments…