Research based on single-case designs (SCD) are frequently utilized in educational settings to evaluate the effect of an intervention on student behavior. Visual analysis is the primary method of evaluation of SCD, despite research noting concerns regarding reliability of the procedure. Recent research suggests that characteristics of the graphic…

With the increasing refinement of language processing models and the new discoveries about which variables can modulate these processes, stimuli selection for experiments with a factorial design is becoming a tough task. Selecting sets of words that differ in one variable, while matching these same words into dozens of other confounding variables…

Measuring values in sociological research sometimes involves the use of ranking data. A disadvantage of a ranking assignment is that the order in which the items are presented might influence the choice preferences of respondents regardless of the content being measured. The standard procedure to rule out such effects is to randomize the order of…

Written communication remains an important learning objective for colleges and universities as more and more students enter the workforce without necessary writing skills and experiences. This importance is increased for public colleges and universities within the state of Texas, as that state has adopted written communication as a core learning…

Self-assessment as one of authentic assessments has been currently implemented in EFL teaching pedagogy as to give more opportunity to the students to reflect on their own learning and progress. This study aims at investigating the effect of self-assessment on students' independence and writing competence. In the present study, two groups of…

The problem of taking a data set and separating it into subgroups, where the members of each subgroup are more similar to each other than they are to members outside the subgroup, has been extensively studied in science and mathematics education research. Student responses to written questions and multiple-choice tests have been characterised and…

Recent research on multiple measures of teaching effectiveness has redefined the role of in-classroom observations in teacher evaluation systems. In particular, most states now mandate that teachers are observed on multiple occasions during the school year, and it is increasingly common that multiple raters are utilized across the different rating…

This study investigated the effect of dynamic Assessment (DA) on the acquisition of L2 grammar by EFL learners. The focus was on teaching Conditional Type II, or Unreal Conditional, which is a difficult structure for language learners to acquire. To this end, two intact classes of intermediate EFL learners, each consisting of 23 male students were…

Linear factor analysis models used to examine constructs underlying the responses are not very suitable for dichotomous or polytomous response formats. The associated problems cannot be eliminated by polychoric or tetrachoric correlations in place of the Pearson correlation. Therefore, we considered parameters obtained from the NOHARM and FACTOR…

This paper draws upon a broader piece of research aimed at investigating assessment in higher education. It focuses upon the perceptions of undergraduates about issues of effectiveness, fairness and feedback, particularly in regard to the so-called learner-centred methods. In total, 378 undergraduate students participated in the study at the…

This study investigated the complexity of leveled passages used in four classroom reading assessments. A total of 167 passages leveled for Grades 1-6 from these assessments were analyzed using four analytical tools of text complexity. More traditional, two-factor measures of text complexity found a general trend of fairly consistent across-grade…

This study investigated the responses of 531 preservice teachers to a "Beliefs About Assessment" questionnaire in China. The questionnaire focused on understanding the purposes, practices and principles of assessment for and of learning. Using factor analysis, an inter-correlated two-order model fitted well to the responses. This model…

The goal of this study was to examine how selected pressure points or areas of vulnerability are related to individual differences in reading comprehension and whether the importance of these pressure points varies as a function of the level of children's reading comprehension. A sample of 245 third-grade children were given an assessment battery…

This exploratory study investigated potential sources of setting accommodation resulting in differential item functioning (DIF) on math and reading assessments for examinees with varied learning characteristics. The examinees were those who participated in large-scale assessments and were tested in either standardized or accommodated testing…

Considering the amount of funding that is distributed to educational research each year, leaders and policymakers have a vested interest in finding scientifically based evidence that answers causal questions regarding program effectiveness. The importance of program evaluation has long been recognized in many fields of research; however, the most…