The American Chemical Society advocates a shift from rule-based to risk-based safety education for chemistry graduates, emphasizing meaningful student engagement in the risk assessment process for laboratory work. To implement this paradigm shift, we introduced RAMP (Recognize Hazards, Assess Risk, Minimize Risk, and Prevent Emergencies)-based…

This study provides a solid validity inferential network to guide the development, interpretation, and use of machine learning-based next-generation science assessments (NGSAs). Given that machine learning (ML) has been broadly implemented in the automatic scoring of constructed responses, essays, simulations, educational games, and…

Assessment developers are increasingly using the developing technology of machine learning in transforming how to assess students in their science learning. I argue that these algorithmic models further embed the structures of inequality that are pervasive in the development of science assessments in how they legitimize certain language practices…

GCSE examinations (taken by students aged 16 years in England) are not intended to be speeded (i.e. to be partly a test of how quickly students can answer questions). However, there has been little research exploring this. The aim of this research was to explore the speededness of past GCSE written examinations, using only the data from scored…

Assessment of student learning within a degree program is an important but challenging endeavor. One goal of a programmatic assessment is to systematically collect evidence for chemistry majors' knowledge and understanding and to use the results to improve curriculum and instruction. Recently, the chemistry department at the United States Naval…

To potentially engage students in "doing organic chemistry", organic chemistry courses should foreground weaving together structure- and energy-related ideas to construct causal accounts for phenomena. Here, we investigate whether enrolling in an organic chemistry course that places substantial emphasis ([approximately]50% of total…

Research on test accommodations provides valuable information that informs policy and practice. This report presents a synthesis of the research literature published in 2022 on testing accommodations for U.S. elementary and secondary students (K-12). The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) has reported on accommodations research since…

This paper examines and builds on an earlier contribution to this journal focusing on private supplementary tutoring -- widely known as shadow education -- in Francophone West and Central Africa. Drawing on wider literature about research methods in this domain, it examines the basis for the numerical estimates presented in the original article…

A novel approach is described using primary literature manuscripts for the final examination of an upper level undergraduate course in virology. This innovative technique was applied as an alternative to a core comprehensive final examination. A recent primary literature paper in virology was assigned several weeks before the end of the semester.…

A psychological framework for different types of items commonly used with mixed-format exams is proposed. A choice model based on signal detection theory (SDT) is used for multiple-choice (MC) items, whereas an item response theory (IRT) model is used for open-ended (OE) items. The SDT and IRT models are shown to share a common conceptualization…

We propose new methods for identifying and classifying aberrant response patterns (ARPs) by means of functional data analysis. These methods take the person response function (PRF) of an individual and compare it with the pattern that would correspond to a generic individual of the same ability according to the item-person response surface. ARPs…

This paper reviews overall student performance as well as the performance of student subgroups on the assessment system developed in response to the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 (MERA), the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). Comparing students in Massachusetts to students in the rest of the United States or against…

Group work can engage students in active learning, yet students often resist working with peers in class. We investigated the impact of five minimally structured, easily implemented group work strategies used during weekly problem-based discussion sections in two introductory chemistry courses through student surveys and quiz score analyses.…

We add to a growing literature suggesting that demographic grade gaps should be attributed to biases embedded in the courses themselves. Changes in the structure of two different introductory physics classes were made while leaving the topics covered and the level of coverage unchanged. First, a class where conceptual issues were studied before…

Students in the physical sciences--physics and chemistry--often take multiple-choice exams for introductory courses. Some students will write a lot on their exams, while others write very little. Does the student doing more scratch work on their exam perform better than one who does not write as much? We analyzed multiple-choice exams in physics…