Wollack et al. (2015) suggested the erasure detection index (EDI) for detecting fraudulent erasures for individual examinees. Wollack and Eckerly (2017) and Sinharay (2018) extended the index of Wollack et al. (2015) to suggest three EDIs for detecting fraudulent erasures at the aggregate or group level. This article follows up on the research of…

This study draws on qualitative data to analyse the effect of the national Year 5 test culture on test actors in selected Slovak schools. The test culture is presented in the context of disciplinary power, while the method of analysis follows Foucault's later recommendation to focus more on the 'new economy of power relations'. Such an analysis is…

Alternative teacher preparation programs have triggered global debates. This study analysed 16 fellows of an alternative teacher preparation program who entered rural schools located in China--a high-stakes testing context--with a strong disposition toward quality-oriented education. Drawing on Bourdieu's sociology, we revealed four forms of…

This case study reflects upon a mixed-methods exploratory study utilized by the Leadership in Times of Crisis Framework within the paradigm of pragmatism to survey 976 Minnesota teachers in April of 2020 to determine the demographic profile of teachers in Minnesota who were facing the COVID-19 pandemic and the greatest challenges in their…

Language test developers have a responsibility to ensure that their tests are accessible to test takers of various backgrounds and characteristics and also that they have the opportunity to perform to the best of their ability. This principle is widely recognised by educational and language testing associations in guidelines for the production and…

Dr. Tracey Burns is a Senior Analyst in the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. She heads a portfolio of projects including Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning, 21st Century Children and Trends Shaping Education. Until recently she was also responsible for the OECD work on Governing Complex Education systems. Previous to…

It has been argued in the literature on (language) testing that any act of testing/assessment can impact: (1) educators' curriculum design; (2) teachers' teaching practices; and (3) students' learning behaviors. This quality of any given testing situation or act of assessment has been called washback, or backwash if you will. Washback falls into…

The "Raven's 2 Progressive Matrices Clinical Edition" (Raven's 2; Raven, Rust, Chan, & Zhou, 2018), published by NCS Pearson, is an individually administered nonverbal assessment of general cognitive ability developed to measure "educative abilities," defined as the ability to think clearly and solve complex problems in…

When tests are low stakes for examinees, meaning there are little to no personal consequences associated with test results, some examinees put little effort into their performance. To understand the causes and consequences of diminished effort, researchers correlate test-taking effort with other variables, such as test-taking emotions and test…

International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) are one of the most important tools policymakers and other educational stakeholders have to inform evidence based decision making for educational reform. Despite this, and the widespread use of ILSA data, results are sometimes misunderstood or misinterpreted. Here, we offer a brief guide to ILSAs and…

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2020 Grades 3-8 Mathematics Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2020 Grades 6-8…

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has a partnership with Questar Assessment Inc. (Questar) for the development of the 2020 Grades 3-8 Mathematics Tests. Teachers from across the State work with NYSED in a variety of activities to ensure the validity and reliability of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP). The 2020 Grades 3-5…

Evidence-based practice in education is the implementation of research-supported teaching tools to enhance students' learning. Retrieval practice is among the top performing learning techniques in scientific literature, with decades of research supporting its incorporation in educational contexts. Testing enhances posterior performance of the…

Testing can potentiate new learning, which is often called the "forward testing effect." One potential explanation for this benefit is that testing might enable participants to use more effective learning strategies subsequently. We investigated this possibility by asking participants to report their encoding strategies in a multi-list…

Test anxiety is alarmingly rising and has been shown to correlate with academic performance and affect occupations and well-being. Graduate occupational therapy (OT) students encounter a rigorous workload and pressure to become entry-level practitioners. Higher levels of baseline graduate student anxiety is correlated with increased test anxiety.…