Various areas of educational research are interested in the transitions between different states--or events--in sequential data, with the goal of understanding the significance of these transitions; one notable example is affect dynamics, which aims to identify important transitions between affective states. Unfortunately, several works have…

Monte Carlo methods are an accepted methodology in regards to generation critical values for a Maximum test. The same methods are also applicable to the evaluation of the robustness of the new created test. A table of critical values was created, and the robustness of the new maximum test was evaluated for five different distributions. Robustness…

When an assessment undergoes changes to the administration or instrument, bridge studies are typically used to try to ensure comparability of scores before and after the change. Among the most common and powerful is the common population linking design, with the use of a linear transformation to link scores to the metric of the original…

Precision is a key facet of test development, with score reliability determined primarily according to the types of error one wants to approximate and demonstrate. This article identifies and discusses several primary forms of reliability estimation: internal consistency (i.e., split-half, KR-20, a), test-retest, alternate forms, interscorer, and…

This article discusses the nonuse, misuse, and proper use of pilot studies in experimental evaluation research. The authors first show that there is little theoretical, practical, or empirical guidance available to researchers who seek to incorporate pilot studies into experimental evaluation research designs. The authors then discuss how pilot…

This study examines the effectiveness of three approaches for maintaining equivalent performance standards across test forms with small samples: (1) common-item equating, (2) resetting the standard, and (3) rescaling the standard. Rescaling the standard (i.e., applying common-item equating methodology to standard setting ratings to account for…

Program evaluation often suffers due to time constraints, imperfect instruments, incomplete data, and the need to report standardized metrics. This article about the evaluation process for the Wi$eUp financial education program showcases the difficulties inherent in evaluation and suggests best practices for assessing program effectiveness. We…

Growth mixture modeling (GMM) has become a more popular statistical method for modeling population heterogeneity in longitudinal data, but the performance characteristics of GMM enumeration indexes in correctly identifying heterogeneous growth trajectories are largely unknown. Few empirical studies have addressed this issue. This study considered…

In 2002, an article entitled "Four assumptions of multiple regression that researchers should always test" by Osborne and Waters was published in "PARE." This article has gone on to be viewed more than 275,000 times (as of August 2013), and it is one of the first results displayed in a Google search for "regression…

Parameter recovery was assessed within mixture confirmatory factor analysis across multiple estimator conditions under different simulated levels of mixture class separation. Mixture class separation was defined in the measurement model (through factor loadings) and the structural model (through factor variances). Maximum likelihood (ML) via the…

The number of years a child of school-entry age can expect to remain in school is of great interest both as a measure of individual human capital and of the performance of an education system. An approximate indicator of this concept is the sum of age-specific enrolment rates. The relatively low data demands of this indicator that are feasible to…

Evidence from recent research suggests that in the UK the public perception of errors in national examinations is that they are simply mistakes; events that are preventable. This perception predominates over the more sophisticated technical view that errors arise from many sources and create an inevitable variability in assessment outcomes. The…

Statistical modeling of school effectiveness data was originally motivated by the dissatisfaction with the analysis of (school-leaving) examination results that took no account of the background of the students or regarded each school as an isolated unit of analysis. The application of multilevel analysis was generally regarded as a breakthrough,…

After decades of disinterest, evaluation of the performance of elementary and secondary teachers in the United States has become an important educational policy issue. As U.S. states and districts have tried to upgrade their evaluation processes, one of the models that has been increasingly used is the Framework for Teaching. This paper summarizes…

This paper is part of a series investigating the implementation of competency education. The purpose of the paper is to explore how districts and schools can redesign grading systems to best help students to excel in academics and to gain the skills that are needed to be successful in college, the community, and the workplace. In order to make the…