Various factors such as regulatory body mandates, graduate employability challenges, decreasing student engagement and increasing academic misconduct in higher education have motivated universities to explore alternative approaches to teach and assess. Accordingly, the oral assessment has taken precedence in many contexts as a popular form of…

The requirement for all Initial Teacher Education programs in Australia to include a capstone teacher performance assessment (TPA) is relatively new. However, TPAs are common in other countries, particularly the United States. In this article, we report on a review of the literature instigated by the authors' involvement in the development of an…

Sports performance testing is one of the most common and important measures used in sport science. Performance testing protocols must have high reliability to ensure any changes are not due to measurement error or inter-individual differences. High validity is also important to ensure test performance reflects true performance. Time-trial…

Literature is examined to support the contention that student evaluations of teaching (SET) should not be used for summative evaluation of university faculty. Recommendations for alternatives to SET are provided.

Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) classify examinees based on the skills they have mastered given their test performance. This classification enables targeted feedback that can inform remedial instruction. Unfortunately, applications of DCMs have been criticized (e.g., no validity support). Generally, these evaluations have been brief and…

Long-standing concerns within the field of educational assessment consider the impact of assessment policy and practice as matters of equity, inequality and social justice. Yet educational assessment policy and practice continues to have powerful social consequences for key users such as children and young people. This paper re-positions these…

Periodic assessment and scrutiny of the discipline's measurement practices, instruments, and research findings are necessary to provide clarity and direction by revealing what we know, how we know it, and where the knowledge gaps exist. Reflective reviews have produced ample appraisals of the theory, research, and methods employed in the conduct…

This article provides an extensive overview of the recent literature on student evaluation of teaching (SET) in higher education. The review is based on the SET meta-validation model, drawing upon research reports published in peer-reviewed journals since 2000. Through the lens of validity, we consider both the more traditional research themes in…

Extended time is one of the most common testing accommodations provided to students with disabilities. It is also controversial; critics of extended time accommodations argue that extended time is used too readily, without concern for how it changes the skills measured by tests, leading to scores that cannot be compared fairly with those of other…

A meta-analysis of the stability of low IQ (IQ less than 80) was performed on IQ tests that have been commonly used--tests that were derived by D. Wechsler (1949, 1955, 1974, 1981, 1991, 1997) and those based on the Binet scales (L. M. Terman, 1960; L. M. Terman & Merrill, 1972). Weighted-mean stability coefficients of 0.77 and 0.78 were found…

Argues that if a testing situation is not similar to situations in which a child regularly performs linguistically, the test's ecological validity is compromised and its results must be viewed skeptically. (FL)

Distance running tests evaluate a unique physical activity that is an important component of many other physical tasks. Factor analytic studies have clearly shown that distance running tests assess underlying abilities and physiological capacities that are different from those assessed by runs of shorter duration. (CJ)

Reviews the conclusions about student ratings of teacher effectiveness on which most experts agree, cites some of the main sources of support for these conclusions, and discusses some dissenting opinions and the research support for those opinions. (EV)

Teacher education is faced with critical problems, including establishing its own credibility. One assumption often made is that other professions do a more creditable job of monitoring those who enter their ranks and that teacher education might profit by emulating those groups who have been presumably more successful. The concept of relicensing…

Reviewed 149 studies which measured counselor or therapist competencies and examined them for evidence of the reliability and validity associated with the assessment instruments. Only 43 percent of the measurements included reliability data computed at the time they were used, and only 12 percent were accompanied by evidence of their validity.…