Credentialing examination developers rely on task (job) analyses for establishing inventories of task and knowledge areas in which competency is required for safe and successful practice in target occupations. There are many ways in which task-related information may be gathered from practitioner ratings, each with its own advantage and…

Classroom support plays a salient role in successful inclusive education, hence it has been widely debated in the literature. Much extant work has only focused on a particular aspect of classroom support. A comprehensive, systematic discussion of classroom support is sporadic in the literature. Relevant research concerning the Chinese context is…

The ability to purposefully access, reflect, and use evidence from educational research (Educational Research Literacy) is expected of future professionals in educational practice. Based on the presented conceptual framework, a test instrument was developed to assess the different competency aspects: Information Literacy, Statistical Literacy, and…

"Linking" is a term given to a general class of procedures by which one represents scores X on one test or measure in terms of scores Y on another test or measure. A recent taxonomy by Holland and Dorans (2006; Holland, 2007) organizes the various types of links into three broad categories: prediction, scale aligning, and equating. In…

This paper makes an in-depth comparison of the PISA (OECD) and TIMSS (IEA) mathematics assessments conducted in 2003. First, a comparison of survey methodologies is presented, followed by an examination of the mathematics frameworks in the two studies. The methodologies and the frameworks in the two studies form the basis for providing…

This paper suggests a new approach to attitude scale construction. Instead of asking respondents to express the extent or the degree of opinion on a particular issue, respondents should be asked about the factors that are relevant for the issue of interest and how much weight respondents are willing to attach to each relevant piece of evidence.…

The difference between compensatory and non-compensatory item response theory (IRT) models in terms of the dimensionality of test data generated by them, and its effect on the model-data-fit were examined. The STRESS (proportion of variance not accounted for by the multidimensional scaling model) and RSQ (proportion of variance accounted for by…

This study compared the performance of the LOGIST and BILOG computer programs on item response theory (IRT) based scaling and equating for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) using real and simulated data and two calibration structures. Applications of IRT for the TOEFL program are based on the three-parameter logistic (3PL) model.…

International comparative educational studies make use of test instruments originally developed in English by international panels of experts, but that are ultimately administered in the language of instruction of the students. The comparability of the different language versions of these assessments is a critical issue in validating the…

An alternative procedure is examined to compare test scores which does not require the utilization of computers and therefore, can be easily employed by classroom teachers. This technique is called the Average System: a simple way to score examinees using information obtained from a representative sample (or samples). Examinees are ranked on a…

Test developers continue to struggle with the technical and logistical problems inherent in assessing achievement across different languages. Many testing programs offer separate language versions of a test to evaluate the achievement of examinees in different language groups. However, comparison of individuals who took different language versions…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…