The Programme for International Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year olds academic achievement. Although it has traditionally been conducted using paper-and-pencil tests, the vast majority of countries will use computer-based assessment from 2015. In this paper, we consider how cross-country comparisons of children's…

Despite decades of research and debate, the issue of unequal outcomes continues to be a concern in educational systems worldwide. In England, published data relating to pupils' attainment across ethnic groups and by class indicators has been used to demonstrate continued inequalities in schools. This article attempts to deconstruct the…

Much of the argument about comparability of examination standards is at cross-purposes; contradictory positions are in fact often both defensible, but they are using the same words to mean different things. To clarify this, two broad conceptualisations of standards can be identified. One sees the standard in the observed phenomena of performance…

The rank-ordering method for standard maintaining was designed for the purpose of mapping a known cut-score (e.g. a grade boundary mark) on one test to an equivalent point on the test score scale of another test, using holistic expert judgements about the quality of exemplars of examinees' work (scripts). It is a novel application of an old…

Robert Coe has claimed that three broad conceptions of comparability can be identified from the literature: performance, statistical and conventional. Each of these he rejected, in favour of a single, integrated conception which relies upon the notion of a "linking construct" and which he termed "construct comparability".…

The report, "Evaluation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress", provides a number of recommendations for addressing validity concerns about NAEP. This article identifies actions that could be taken by the Congress, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the National Assessment Governing Board--which share responsibility for…

Research supported in part by Public Health Research Grant MH-1733-09 from the National Institute of Mental Health and by the National Science Foundation through an undergraduate fellowship.

This document discusses the scores of Albuquerque (New Mexico) Public Schools (APS) students on the American College Test (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) during the 1982-83 school year. Graphs, a map, and a question and answer format are used to report the information. Comparisons of average ACT scores and average SAT scores are drawn…

Experiments demonstrate that in bilingual subjects, Welsh digits take longer to articulate than their English equivalents, explaining why norms for Welsh children on the digit span test of the Welsh Children's Intelligence Scale are less than those for the same age American children. (Author/KC)

Argues that the Coleman results make a great deal more sense when the test score results are interpreted as reflecting aptitude instead of achievement. (Author/ROF)

Prior use of the equipercentile method of test equating was based on a graphic procedure which is tedious, subject to smoothing errors, and non-analytical. Recognition of the equipercentile method as a curve-fitting procedure for two cumulative percentage distributions leads to a proposed analytical solution to the problem through use of linear…

The validity of a comparison of mean test scores for two groups and of a longitudinal comparison of means within each group is assessed. Using LISREL, factor analyses are used to test the hypotheses of similar factor patterns, equal units of measurement, and equal measurement accuracy between groups and across time. (Author/DWH)

A study examined whether intercollegiate debating enhances the critical thinking ability of participants and investigated whether users of the two existing styles--National Debate Tournament (NDT) and Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA)--differed significantly from each other and from nondebaters in their critical thinking skills. Four…

Test data from a large licensure examination were used to investigate the impact of the number of score groups and score group size on the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) alpha statistic. Two kinds of quasi-experimental studies were conducted: (1) baseline MH analyses in which the number of score groups and the ethnicity of each randomly equivalent…