The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international comparative study of student performance in reading literacy at the fourth grade. PIRLS 2016 marks the fourth iteration of the study, which has been conducted every 5 years since 2001. New to the PIRLS assessment in 2016, ePIRLS provides a computer-based extension to…

The overall purpose of the research studies described in this report was to investigate the quality of the administration of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) field test during the spring of 2014. These research studies were conducted for the purpose of formative evaluation. Findings from these studies are…

There is strong theoretical support for oral reading fluency (ORF) as an essential building block of reading proficiency. The current and standard ORF assessment procedure requires that students read aloud a grade-level passage (˜ 250 words) in a one-to-one administration, with the number of words read correctly in 60 seconds constituting their…

Identifying and measuring indicators of learning difficulties among young children and implementing effective instructional approaches are complicated, particularly during the transition to kindergarten. Purposeful school-based transition policies and practices support teacher and school decision-making and, thus, can ease the…

This study examined whether or not fourth-graders could fully demonstrate their writing skills on the computer and factors associated with their performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) computer-based writing assessment. The results suggest that high-performing fourth-graders (those who scored in the upper 20 percent…

In 2010-11, Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), and SMART Technologies began a two-year collaboration to promote the use of formative assessment in mathematics classrooms at three Wake County public schools: Millbrook Elementary, East Millbrook Middle, and Millbrook High school. The…

On-line trial testing for fourth-grade students was an exploratory study realized as a part of the project "Developing annual test of students' achievement in Nature & Society" realized by Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation. Main ideas of the study were to explore possibilities for on-line testing at national level in…

This study investigated the effect of several different modes of test administration on scores and completion times. In Experiment 1, paper-based assessment was compared to computer-based assessment. Undergraduates completed the computer-based assessment faster than the paper-based assessment, with no difference in scores. Experiment 2 assessed…

Three new computer-administered item types for the analytical scale of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test were developed and evaluated. One item type was a free-response version of the current analytical reasoning item type. The second item type was a somewhat constrained free-response version of the pattern identification (or…

As GED (General Educational Development) Testing Service considers the feasibility of a computer administration of the GED Tests, one issue being considered is the difference in costs of supplying only a computer-based format vs. offering both computer-based and paper formats of the GED Tests. A significant concern then arises as to whether…

A live tailored achievement testing study was conducted to compare procedures based on the one- and three-parameter logistic models. Previous studies yielded inconclusive results because of the procedures by which item calibrations were linked and because of the item selection procedures. Using improved procedures, 83 college students were tested…