This dissertation considers the effects of national rankings, specifically the 2010 National Research Council (NRC)'s Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs, on higher education institutions' behavior. National research studies of graduate education require significant resources and data, yet it is uncertain how universities make…

Degree mills harm students and society. Students who are unknowing victims of degree mills are harmed when they invest a considerable amount of money for credits or credentials that cannot be used for, e.g., transfer to another institution, entry to graduate school or employment. Society is harmed when fraudulent credentials are issued in areas…

Using data provided by the Council of International Schools and a literature review to contextualize the subject, this article examines the topic of international school finance. It is suggested that postgraduate programmes are not doing enough to supply financial training for teachers turned administrators, and that a lack of understanding of…

Describes the development of a placement test specifically designed for students entering Pembroke State University. Includes question construction and suitable test standards in discussing the features of a good placement test. Concludes that the test provides a reliable measure of students potential success. (MDH)

A syllabus analysis instrument was developed to assist program evaluators, administrators and faculty in the identification of skills that students use as they complete their college coursework. While this instrument can be tailored for use with a variety of learning domains, we used it to assess students' use of and exposure to computer…

This descriptive study investigated the attitudes of middle school building principals toward the desirability of preservice teacher preparation programs conducted wholly or almost wholly online. This project included middle schools in the states of Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio where random cluster sampling was utilized to select participants from…

Although by traditional measures of test validity, the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is not culture biased, it, along with the English Composition Test and the Test of Standard Written English, reinforces a narrow view of academic excellence that excludes culturally different youths. Designed to prevent admission errors, the…

This study found that the restructured National Board Dental Examination Part II is a reliable test assessing a full range of cognitive behaviors, and a unidimensional test of comprehensive general dentistry, suggesting better testing of knowledge and problem-solving skills than on the traditional examination. Performance on the pilot and…

A 1990 study of domain-referenced scores from a multiple-station clinical examination for foreign medical graduates investigated identification of essential checklist items, setting of minimum passing scores, consistency of candidate classification, and perceived appropriateness of the number of candidates classified as competent. Results and…

Two differing opinions about the value of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in college admissions address these topics: over-reliance on the test as a predictor of student success; omission of some students' scores from institutional profiles; effects of abolition of the test; and admissions officer understanding of psychometrics. (Author/MSE)

The performance of foreign medical school graduates on multistation standardized patient-based tests was used to determine the validity and generalizability of global ratings of their clinical competence made by expert examiners. Results suggest that these ratings can be used as an effective form of assessment in this context. (Author/MSE)

Using a national sample of recent medical school graduates (n=12,213), a study of predictive validity of the National Board of Medical Examiners test parts I and II found strong correlations between performance on those parts and part III, supporting the test's use, at least in part, for selection of residency applicants. (MSE)

A study investigating possible sex bias, concerning both student and standardized-patient genders, in an objective structured clinical examination found that neither men nor women were afforded an advantage by patient or test location. However, women's scores on tests administered by females were higher than corresponding men's scores. (MSE)

A review of studies in which it was possible to compare results of health profession trainees' self-evaluations with assessment of performance by experts or objective tests found that self-assessment has potential but is poorly used. Effective training to improve validity and accuracy is available. (Author/MSE)

A study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (NY) found that performance on examinations during the third month of medical school was highly predictive of performance during the first two years of medical school. This predictor was more powerful than Medical College Admission Test scores and/or undergraduate grade point averages in…