In many psychological and educational applications, it is imperative to obtain valid and reliable score estimates of multilevel processes. For example, in order to assess the quality and characteristics of high impact learning processes, one must compute accurate scores representative of student- and classroom-level constructs. Currently, there…

The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Third Edition (ECERS-3) is the latest version of one of the most widely used observational tools for assessing the quality of classrooms serving preschool-aged children. This study was the first assessment of its factor structure and validity, an important step given its widespread use. An ECERS-3…

The relationship between 2nd and 3rd grade teachers' linguistic knowledge and spelling instructional practices and their students' spelling gains from fall to spring was examined. Second grade (N = 16) and 3rd grade (N = 16) teachers were administered an instructional practices survey and a linguistic knowledge test. Total scores on the two…

Authentic assessments used in response to accountability demands in higher education face at least two threats to validity. First, a lack of interchangeability between assessment tasks introduces bias when using aggregate-based scores at an institutional level. Second, reliance on written products to capture constructs such as critical thinking…

This paper provides the first population-based evidence on how much standardized test scores vary among public school districts within each state and how segregation explains that variation. Using estimates based on roughly 300 million test score records in math and English Language Arts (ELA) for Grades 3 through 8 from every U.S. public school…

We investigated the dimensionality of inference making in samples of 4- to 9-year-olds (Ns = 416-783) to determine if local and global coherence inferences could be distinguished. In addition, we examined the validity of our experimenter-developed inference measure by comparing with three additional measures of listening comprehension. Multitrait,…

The purpose of the present study is to examine whether performance on the "TOEFL iBT"® Reading practice test is affected by 3 different levels of feedback provided to learners upon completion of reading exercises: (a) correctness of learner response (the knowledge of correct results [KCR] feedback), (b) KCR feedback and rationales for…

The present study used hierarchical linear modeling to examine predictors of students' emotional and behavioral difficulties in preschool classrooms. Specifically, the study examined (a) the link between teachers' perceptions of their own emotional intelligence and students' emotional and behavioral difficulties, (b) the link between teachers'…

Our newly proposed integrated academic self-concept model integrates 3 major theories of academic self-concept formation and developmental perspectives into a unified conceptual and methodological framework. Relations among math self-concept (MSC), school grades, test scores, and school-level contextual effects over 6 years, from the end of…

Background: Although school climate is linked with youth educational, socioemotional, behavioral, and health outcomes, there has been limited research on the association between school climate and mental health education efforts. We explored whether school climate was associated with students' depression literacy and mental health stigma beliefs.…

Background: The multiple goal perspective posits that certain combinations of achievement goals are more favourable than others in terms of educational outcomes. Aims: This study aimed to examine longitudinally whether students' achievement goal profiles and transitions between profiles are associated with developments in self-reported and…

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias that plagues a particular population of students--the unskilled. This population suffers from illusory competence, as determined by inaccurate ratings of their own ability/performance. These mistakenly high self-ratings (i.e. ''illusions of competence'') are typically explained by a metacognitive…

Objectives: We examined the longitudinal relationship between cardiovascular fitness (CRF) and academic performance (AP) among students in a diverse public school district. Furthermore, we determined whether the relationship between CRF and AP varied by student sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: This study used data from 2005-2006 to…

Students who double major have higher earnings and are more satisfied with their educational experience in college than those who graduate with a single major. In this study, the authors examine the extent to which a student's experience with academic acceleration programs in high school, specifically successful participation in the Advanced…

The nonverbal battery of the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) is one of the two most common nonverbal measures used in gifted identification, yet the relationships between demographic variables and CogAT7 performance has not yet been fully examined. Additionally, the effect of using the CogAT7 nonverbal battery on the identification of diverse…