Whilst formative feedback has been highlighted as a key element in both student satisfaction and learning, research highlights the dissatisfaction of both tutors and students with its effectiveness in improving performance. This study tracks changes in undergraduate student satisfaction and performance across three cohorts in response to…

The research was carried out to determine whether the use of group tests for undergraduate science students to augment lecture material in a second-year core course in microbiology would improve the retention of material on a subsequent regular mid-term/final exam. On three separate occasions, the students were asked to complete short…

This article is a commentary of a paper by Derek C. Briggs and Frederick A. Peck, "Using Learning Progressions to Design Vertical Scales That Support Coherent Inferences about Student Growth," which describes an elegant potential framework for at least beginning to address three priorities in large-scale assessment that have not been…

The purpose of this study was to determine factors that influenced student satisfaction with a new learning management system and to identify which of these factors were most important. The data was collected using an an online survey tool that was administered to students enrolled in courses designed and taught by faculty who participated in a…

In the attempt to identify or prevent unfair tests, both quantitative analyses and logical evaluation are often used. For the most part, fairness evaluation is a pragmatic attempt at determining whether procedural or substantive due process has been accorded to either a group of test takers or an individual. In both the individual and comparative…

This article describes briefly the education system of Cyprus and elaborates on the recent changes in its large-scale assessment (LSA) programme. Until 2005, two independent LSA programmes existed: one for school-graduation purposes and one for gaining entrance to higher education. The introduction of a dual-purpose LSA program in 2006, due to…

This study examined factors at the school, district, and provincial level that influenced school administrators' responses to large-scale assessment. To understand administrators' perspectives, 5 secondary and 4 elementary administrators from a suburban school district in southern Ontario, Canada were interviewed. Key factors noted by…

The study involving 30 educable mentally retarded children (8 to 12 years old) was designed to analyze the effect of the presence of others on three psychomotor measures from the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Special Fitness Test. (SB)

Effects of the number of individuals coacting while taking two standardized motor performance tests were examined. Increases in aptitude scores corresponding to increases in group size were predicted based upon the summation hypothesis of social facilitation theory. Results indicated a group size effect. (Author/BJG)

Study funded by the Exploratory Committee for Assessing the Progress of Education (ECAPE).

Timed and untimed scoring methods were employed with five WAIS subtests administered to 40 young and 40 old subjects matched for verbal intelligence. Elimination of bonuses for rapid performance differentially improved the scores of older subjects but did not raise those scores to levels achieved by the young. (Author)

This article examines problems inherent in current practice: (1) defining the concept of intelligence"; (2) using tests which rely on school taught skills; (3) relying too exclusively on test scores; and (4) introducing the concept of chronological age into IQ ratings, further distorting results. Some positive alternatives are offered. (CJ)

This report describes the general plan for a study to clarify the interpretation of group performance measures of student achievement. Group tests are the most efficient procedure for collecting achievement information from a large number of students, but they also require item formats that may be different from the form in which students normally…

An experiment employing a 2x2x3 factorial design sought to determine the extent to which socially disadvantaged elementary school students' unfamiliarity with some terms in a verbal subsection of a group intelligence test may account for their relatively poor performance on such tests. Training was provided so as to attempt improvement in these…

The performance of 131 urban sixth-grade students on the Uses Test of creativity was studied in four environments to determine the effects of testing condition variables and to find optimal testing procedures. Testing condition variables included the giving of grades vs. no grades and individual vs. group administration of the task. The four test…