University settings present a unique opportunity for young adults to develop characteristics constitutive of wisdom. One challenge for educators working to support this development involves effectively measuring these characteristics. In this article, we present results from a secondary analysis of cognitive interviews to examine challenges that…

Ultimately, measures in research, testing, assessment and evaluation are used, or have implications, for ranking, intervention, feedback, decision-making or policy purposes. Explicit recognition of this fact brings the often-ignored and sometimes maligned concept of consequences to the fore. Given that measures have personal and social…

Research on the relationship between affect and cognition in Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIEd) brings an important dimension to our understanding of how learning occurs and how it can be facilitated. Emotions are crucial to learning, but their nature, the conditions under which they occur, and their exact impact on learning for different…

A method for medical screening is adapted to differential item functioning (DIF). Its essential elements are explicit declarations of the level of DIF that is acceptable and of the loss function that quantifies the consequences of the two kinds of inappropriate classification of an item. Instead of a single level and a single function, sets of…

"Linking" is a term given to a general class of procedures by which one represents scores X on one test or measure in terms of scores Y on another test or measure. A recent taxonomy by Holland and Dorans (2006; Holland, 2007) organizes the various types of links into three broad categories: prediction, scale aligning, and equating. In…

Newton's article (2010) makes three main contributions to the literature. First, it is transatlantic, bringing together literatures that have been dealing with similar problems, using sometimes different methods and certainly with distinctive educational, cultural perspectives. He points out that neither of these literatures has all of the…

Unless the characteristics of the units accompanying measurements are known, little legitimate evaluation can occur. Educators cannot assume their measurements are valid bases for evaluative statements unless higher level techniques (such as interval and ratio scales) have been employed. Misinterpretation arises from assuming that measurements…

EDUCATORS POSSESS SPECIAL SERVICE AND INSTRUCTIONAL SKILLS WHICH, IF USED WISELY, CAN ASSIST MINORITY GROUP CHILDREN IN OVERCOMING THEIR EARLY DISADVANTAGES. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS MAY HELP IF THEY ARE CAREFULLY AND INTELLIGENTLY EMPLOYED. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND DIAGNOSTIC SENSITIVITY ARE REQUIRED. STANDARDIZED TESTS CURRENTLY IN USE…

This study used meta-analysis research techniques to determine if there are differences in General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) validities and test scores between males and females. The sample consisted of 26,111 subjects from 122 Specific Aptitude Test Battery (SATB) validation or revalidation studies analyzed since 1972. Four approaches were…

In this interview, Leon Kamin, a prominent psychologist, rejects the theory that intelligence is transmitted by heredity. He deplores the practice of finding scientific data to support political policies, and he challenges that standardized tests-as they are now used-create social harm. (Editor/PG)

Describes the Child Abuse Potential Inventory and associated psychometric data. Discusses uses and misuses of the inventory, general test limitations, and screening instruments available to professionals concerned with child maltreatment. (RJC)

In an attempt to restore the symmetry and balance between the study of person and item variation, this paper presents a novel methodology construct specification equations, which allows one to ascertain from the lawful behavior of items what an instrument is measuring. (Author/PN)

Reasonable and practical solutions to two major problems confronting the developer of any test of educational achievement (what to measure and how to measure it) are proposed, defended, and defined. (Author/PN)

In this article, the authors provide their critique on a set of papers that investigated Mathematics Knowledge for Teachers (MKT) assessment and the underlying theory and characteristics of the validity enterprise. Three types of assumptions and inferences--elemental, structural, and ecological--are discussed in these papers. These assumptions…