Background/Context: This article explains the idea of a neopragmatic postmodernist test theory and offers some thoughts about what changing notions concerning the nature of and meanings assigned to knowledge imply for educational assessment, present and future. Purpose: Advances in the learning sciences--particularly situative and sociocognitive…

This study aimed at investigating the extent to which secondary schools mathematics teachers practice to assessment models in their mathematics teaching and learning. Definitely, the study aimed at answering the following questions: (1) To what extent do secondary schools mathematics teachers practice each of the assessment models in their…

The goals of a Liberal Studies education are designed to prepare citizens to live responsible, productive, and creative lives in a changing world. Ideally, a liberal education fosters well-grounded intellectuals with dispositions toward learning and an acceptance of responsibility regarding their ideas and actions. To measure the efficacy of a…

This article demonstrates the use of a new class of model-free cumulative sum (CUSUM) statistics to detect person fit given the responses to a linear test. The fundamental statistic being accumulated is the likelihood ratio of two probabilities. The detection performance of this CUSUM scheme is compared to other model-free person-fit statistics…

This paper introduces five commonly used approaches to analyzing multiple-choice test data. They are classical test theory, factor analysis, cluster analysis, item response theory, and model analysis. Brief descriptions of the goals and algorithms of these approaches are provided, together with examples illustrating their applications in physics…

This paper describes a comprehensive model of alignment that provides a foundation for meaningful reporting of students' academic progress over time. The model includes both horizontal and vertical alignment as integral parts of the development of content standards, test blueprints, items, item pools, instruments, performance level descriptors,…

The evaluation methodology delineated in this paper is a work in progress. The purpose is to develop a method for evaluating social studies curriculum materials that encompasses the materials' comprehensibility and the perspective offered. The paper draws from past evaluations that focused on either comprehensibility or perspective but have not…

Developed and evaluated a model to assess group learning; the model required balanced representation among multiple learning criteria arranged in six goal-criterion sets drawn from the literature on group learning. Administered a test instrument to students and found imbalances among criteria in the six sets which helped identify and correct…

This paper argues that it is necessary for researchers and test developers in the area of language performance testing to have a clear understanding of the role of underlying performance capacities in second language performance. It critically evaluates the models proposed by Hymes, Canale and Swain, and Bachman. (71 references) (MDM)

A literature search of the ERIC system was conducted with regard to papers focused on evaluation models in science education. The purposes were to identify models, their common and unique features, and to examine the guidance they could provide for evaluating science education programs. The search yielded a small number of entries pertinent to the…

This paper argues that efficacy of early intervention must be assessed in relation to both program and extra-program variables. A framework outlining five classes of independent variables and two classes of outcomes to be considered in efficacy research is presented, and regression and path analytic techniques are suggested as tools for addressing…

Describes a multifaceted study that combined quantitative and qualitative approaches to educational research to investigate the behaviors and perceptions of preservice teachers as they assessed the work of an imaginary eighth grader. Summarizes findings and suggests that the mixed-methods model contributes new understandings not possible with…

As part of an undergraduate course, 147 teacher candidates graded components of an imaginary eighth grader's language-arts portfolio over a 10-week period and reported a final grade. These grades and manipulated variables for student background and academic progress were used to generate a model in which student background, growth, and actual…

The importance of feedback as an aid to self-assessment is widely acknowledged. A common form of feedback that is used widely in e-learning is the use of model answers. However, model answers are deficient in many respects. In particular, the notion of a "model" answer implies the existence of a single correct answer applicable across multiple…

The model presented in this document integrates authentic assessment with traditional evaluation practices to create comprehensive assessment systems for elementary and secondary school students. Specifically, the model poses six categories of competencies that enjoy high levels of acceptance and construct validity: (1) knowledge of concepts,…