Despite growing calls for more accountability of teacher education programs (TEPs), there is little consensus about how to evaluate them. This study investigates the potential for using observational ratings of program completers to evaluate TEPs. Drawing on statewide data on almost 9,500 program completers, representing 44 providers (183…

The main purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a training program based on the six hats model in developing creative thinking skills and academic achievements in the Arabic language for gifted and talented Jordanian students. The study sample consisted of 59 gifted male and female students of the 7th grade from King Abdullah…

The first step in the Validity and Reliability Study summarizes the history and purpose of California's quality rating and improvement system (QRIS), reviews findings from other QRIS evaluation studies, and describes the approach to validating the system in California. The majority of this report focuses on providing context for the California…

Introduction: Measures of parental self-efficacy (PSE) for healthy dietary or physical activity (PA) behaviors in children have been used in several studies; however, further psychometric validation of PSE for these behaviors is needed. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a new PSE instrument. Methods:…

Purpose: The goal of the study was to test an intervention using a brief essay as an instrument for evaluating higher-order information literacy skills in college students, while accounting for prior conditions such as socioeconomic status and prior academic achievement, and identify other predictors of information literacy through an evaluation…

This study reports on the validation of the language domain subtest of a developmental assessment scale for Cantonese Chinese preschool children. Three hundred and seventy eight multi-stage randomly selected children between 3;4 and 6;3 years of age were tested on the 104-item subtest. Fifty-four of these children, spreading across three age…

Goal attainment scaling (GAS) has been considered to be one of the most versatile and appealing evaluation protocols available for human services. Aspects of the protocol that make the method so appealing to practitioners--that is, collaboratively working with individual clients to identify and assign weights to goals they will work to…

Multiple-choice item-writing guideline research is in its infancy. Haladyna (2004) calls for a science of item-writing guideline research. The purpose of this study is to respond to such a call. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of student ability and method for varying the location of correct answers in classroom multiple-choice…

Problem Statement: Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is a sophisticated and efficient way of delivering examinations. In CAT, items for each examinee are selected from an item bank based on the examinee's responses to the items. In this way, the difficulty level of the test is adjusted based on the examinee's ability level. Instead of…

The use of e-assessment in higher education is a relatively new educational practice that has been more frequently studied in recent years. This review aims to summarise some research on e-assessment, providing an overview based on articles from three well-established scientific journals. Focusing on research topics, settings for e-assessment and…

This article investigates several questions regarding the impact of different item formats on measurement characteristics. Constructed response (CR) items and multiple choice (MC) items obviously differ in their formats and in the resources needed to score them. As such, they have been the subject of considerable discussion regarding the impact of…

Many national reports indicate that more attention needs to be placed on writing and the teaching of writing in schools. The purpose of this quantitative study was to, first, examine the structure of the DWA and, second, to use the scores from the DWA to examine the relationship between ELL status and writing proficiency. Five major research…

The problem addressed in the quantitative inferential study was the need to understand what service factors and satisfaction levels contribute to student enrollment retention in a private university for it to remain competitive. A survey, designed by the researcher, was administered to undergraduate, residential students of a private business…

The National Study on Alternate Assessments (NSAA) was mandated by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA). Specifically, the law called for a "Study on Ensuring Accountability for Students Who Are Held to Alternative Achievement Standards" to examine: (1) the criteria that states use to determine…

Community coalitions (CCs) have labored with some difficulty to demonstrate empirical evidence of effectiveness in preventing a wide range of adolescent problem behaviors. Training and technical assistance (TA) have been identified as important elements in promoting improved functioning of CCs. A reliable, valid, and inexpensive method to assess…