Presymptomatic genetic testing generates socioscientific issues in which decision making is complicated by several complexity factors. These factors include weighing of advantages and disadvantages, different interests of stakeholders, uncertainty of genetic information and conflicting values. Education preparing students for future decision…

The Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) is a continuous performance test (CPT) that assesses attention, impulsivity, and processing speed. CPTs are used in the assessment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, but more young adults are being assessed for ADHD as well. The TOVA norms are based on a standardization sample…

The cheating scandal that has rocked the 48,000-student Atlanta school system was an egregious, but not entirely unexpected, byproduct of accountability pressures, many testing experts say. The reason: As long as test scores are used in any field to make decisions on rewards or punishments, including for schools or educators, a small percentage of…

The purpose of this study was to develop the Scale of Allied Health Education Barriers to identify factors limiting enrollment in college/university allied health education programs. Development of the Scale of Allied Health Education Barriers was conducted through the following four stages: (1) review of literature, (2) focus group studies, (3)…

Although writing is of great importance to effective social work practice, many students entering social work education programs experience serious academic difficulties related to writing effectively and thinking critically. The purpose of this article is to present an introductory social work course that integrates Writing Across the Curriculum…

We propose, develop, and evaluate the black ink-red ink (BIRI) method of testing. This approach uses two different methods within the same test administration setting, one that matches recognition learning and the other that matches recall learning. Students purposively define their own tradeoff between the two approaches. Evaluation of the method…

This article tests the assumption that state-mandated multiple-choice history exams are a cultural tool for disseminating an "official" collective memory. Findings from a qualitative study of a collection of multiple-choice questions that relate to the history of the Soviet Union are presented. The 263 questions all come from New York…

We analyze the effectiveness of the Programa Hondureno de Educacion Comunitaria (PROHECO) community school program in rural Honduras. The data include standardized tests and extensive information on school, teacher, classroom and community features for 120 rural schools drawn from 15 states. Using academic achievement decompositions we find that…

Using clickers to gauge student understanding in large classrooms is well documented. Less well known is the effectiveness of using clickers with youth for test taking in large-scale Extension programs. This article describes the benefits and challenges of collecting evaluation data using clickers with a third-grade population participating in a…

The White House will soon unveil a final version of its "college scorecard"--an online tool giving college-bound students and their families a hype-free snapshot of reliable information about any U.S. campus: real costs, graduation rates, student debt statistics, and earning potential of graduates. The college scorecard is a good idea…

With increased accountability attached to students' results on national testing in Australia, teachers feel under pressure to prepare students for the tests. However, this can lead to shallow teaching of a narrowed curriculum. An alternative approach involves using data to identify common errors and misconceptions, discussing strategies aimed at…

Using data from the National Center for Educational Statistics research spanning fifteen years, researchers examined the impact of national educational policy implementation on the role of social studies in elementary schools. Specifically, with the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2007 and the continuation of federal-mandated…

When 2 targets are embedded in a rapid serial visual presentation stream of distractors, perception of the second target is impaired when the intertarget lag is relatively short (less than 500 ms). Stimuli concurrently presented with the stream can affect this phenomenon, which is called attentional blink (AB). Previous studies have yielded…

The author's school is a founding member of the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools, which includes all sorts of institutions--some in highly affluent communities, others with vastly more socioeconomically diverse populations, and some with strong percentages of international students. Individual members' approaches to…

In this study, we investigate the logistic regression (LR), Mantel-Haenszel (MH), and Breslow-Day (BD) procedures for the simultaneous detection of both uniform and nonuniform differential item functioning (DIF). A simulation study was used to assess and compare the Type I error rate and power of a combined decision rule (CDR), which assesses DIF…