The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and other recent changes in federal legislation have placed greater emphasis on accountability in large-scale testing. Included in this emphasis are regulations that require assessments to be accessible. States are accountable for the success of all students, and tests should be designed in a way that…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between working memory and text coherence in Chinese text comprehension. Eighty-six subjects were asked to complete an operation-character working memory span task to classify them into low-span and high-span and a reading task to measure the time to detect inconsistency as well as their…

Two tests of cognitive development, the Cartoon Conservation Scales, Levels I and II, were designed to measure Piagetian stage-related constructs for children of different age groups. The tests were factor analyzed within age levels and were also analyzed using scalogram and tabular methods to test sequential hypotheses. (Author/CTM)

Tested validity of the Portuguese version of the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation questionnaire. Found results similar to original French-Canadian instrument in stability, internal consistency, and factorial structure. Found associations between teacher's description of social competence and behavioral difficulties in Brazilian…

The Tennessee value-added assessment system (TVAAS) is described. TVAAS is a statistical process measuring the influence which school systems, schools, and teachers have on indicators of student learning. Initially, TVAAS will furnish information at the system level for grades three through eight in math, science, reading, language, and social…

Argues that the usefulness of strictly quantitative research is still questioned in educational studies, primarily due to deficiencies in methodological training. Uses a critique of a recent study by Heitmeyer et al. (1995) to illustrate the requirements of "good" empirical research. Considers the problems of hypothesis testing in field research.…

This study was carried out to examine students' responses to the use of on-line assessments that included feedback. First year BSc students taking a Cell Biology module undertook such an assessment and were then asked to evaluate the test by completing an anonymous questionnaire. Answers were analysed in light of the respondents' ethnicity and…

The purpose of this study was to conduct psychometric testing on the Chinese version of the decisional balance scale (CDBS) with Taiwanese seventh, eighth, and ninth graders who were recruited from the Taipei metropolitan area. A random cluster sampling method was used with 554 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 years. Factor analysis…

Attitudinal data tested hypotheses that students have more positive attitudes toward science when teachers regularly emphasize hands-on laboratory activities and when students more frequently experience higher levels of experimentation or inquiry. The first predicted that students would have more positive attitudes toward science in classrooms…

It is believed that learners who experience barriers to learning and development are at risk for formal education and that stimulation can off set these barriers, ensuring that learners are able to actualise their potential. An intervention programme was designed with the aim of improving abilities in learners who had not yet attained the learning…

This is a study on the Personality Characteristics of the Scholars from Public and Private High Schools from the urban and rural areas in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP). The PUP has been a second home to its students and they have witnessed diverse cultures, physiques, and attitudes of students. Since the university caters to…

Four researchers at the Educational Testing Service describe what they consider some of the most vexing research problems they face. While these problems are not completely statistical, they all have major statistical components. Following the introduction (section 1), in section 2, "Problems with the Simultaneous Estimation of Many True…

This paper presents a preliminary investigation of the psycholinguistic abilities of first-year undergraduate student learners of French. In particular, it reports on the construction and use of a battery of tests of metalinguistic knowledge, language aptitude, grammatical accuracy in French, and French linguistic proficiency, and explores the…

A conceptual framework is provided for generating assessment tasks that provide an instructor with a richer description of student reasoning/thinking than is possible by simply giving students problems to solve. The application of this framework is illustrated with material from introductory statistics courses which focus on: (1) sampling; (2)…

At Michigan State University (MSU) we have developed and are testing a faculty survey instrument to gather institution-wide information on outreach activity. We have sought to define consistent quantitative measures that can be used both to describe the whole institution's investment of resources in engagement activities and to establish…