Standard setting is arguably one of the most subjective techniques in test development and psychometrics. The decisions when scores are compared to standards, however, are arguably the most consequential outcomes of testing. Providing licensure to practice in a profession has high stake consequences for the public. Denying graduation or forcing…

As the use of diagnostic assessment systems transitions from research applications to large-scale assessments for accountability purposes, reliability methods that provide evidence at each level of reporting are needed. The purpose of this paper is to summarize one simulation-based method for estimating and reporting reliability for an…

Recently, sociologists have expended much effort in attempts to define social mechanisms. We intervene in these debates by proposing that sociologists in fact have a choice to make between three standards of what constitutes a good mechanistic explanation: substantial, formal, and metaphorical mechanistic explanation. All three standards are…

The central tenet of the revisions to the Law on the Promotion of Private Education is the implementation of categorized management of private schools, establishing a legal basis for categorized management. Private education is characterized by publicness, and upholding and guiding private schools in exercising their public nature is the target…

In the construction of "Double First-class" universities, how to establish an evaluation system of universities' scientific and technological innovation capacity with Chinese characteristics and international standards will determine the direction and level of improvement of Chinese university?s technological innovation capacity. The…

This paper engages with an extensive body of research by David Raffe to explore what it means to say that a qualifications framework "works", in light of the limited evidence to support the claims made about this popular policy phenomenon. The framework regarded as the most successful, the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework, is…

Since No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was enacted into federal law in 2002, states have been required to test students in grades 3 through 8 and again in high school to assess math and reading achievement. The federal law also asks states to establish the performance level students must reach on the exams in order to be identified as…

This paper explores four main areas that will likely have an impact upon the future of information organization education. In particular, information organization education must be prepared for the continued shift from the use of traditional library cataloging standards to more web-compliant, linked-data standards. Also, there will be more…

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the inclusion of aspects of nature of science (NOS) in the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS). In this new standards document, NOS elements in eight categories are discussed in Appendix H along with illustrative statements (called exemplars). Many, but not all, of these exemplars are…

A singular vision has propelled higher education and ministries of education in Asia since the new millennium. It is a vision launched by the once rising tide of a globalized world order that spilled into higher education: in order to be competitive on the world scene, each Asian country had to build "World Class Universities," which…

This essay presents an English teacher's inquiry into her professional practice in an institutional setting that is heavily regulated by standards-based reforms. Rather than something external to her, she sees those reforms as part of an internal conflict that affects her capacity to be fully responsive to her students. In dialogue with a…

The main aim of this paper is to examine the syntactic status of a selected text-corpus focus, with a special focus on the verb within its Verb-Phrase. The major claim is that the power of the verb in its VP is loaded syntactically through which the speaker's desire of the doublespeak within X-Phemism is achieved. In order to fulfill this claim, a…

The present paper sparks a complementary argument that the development of standards movement must not be at the expense of sacrificing the achievement of behavioral objectives. Furthermore, due to the systemic and dynamic nature of standards, standards need to be revised off and on. Besides, the present writers taking a more or less relativist…

The 2014-15 school year was the first in which the Smarter Balanced assessments (referred to here as the SBAC) were administered statewide. While educators and policymakers agree that multiple measures over multiple years are the best way to gauge student, school, and district performance, the first-year SBAC results provide an important baseline…

This article explores the nature of teacher expertise in the primary school classroom, drawing on theoretical models of expertise and of teaching expertise. It challenges simplistic models of an "outstanding" or "master" teacher to argue that since teacher expertise is both situated and prototypical, it is manifested in…