Words read correctly per minute (WCPM) is the reporting score metric in oral reading fluency (ORF) assessments, which is popularly utilized as part of curriculum-based measurements to screen at-risk readers and to monitor progress of students who receive interventions. Just like other types of assessments with multiple forms, equating would be…

Longitudinal studies can produce biased estimates of learning if children miss tests. In an application to summer learning, we illustrate how missing test scores can create an illusion of large summer learning gaps when true gaps are close to zero. We demonstrate two methods that reduce bias by exploiting the correlations between missing and…

Oral reading fluency (ORF) assessments are commonly used to screen at-risk readers and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions as curriculum-based measurements. As with other assessments, equating ORF scores becomes necessary when we want to compare ORF scores from different test forms. Recently, Kara et al. (2023) proposed a model-based…

Engaging in explanation while studying expository science texts can improve comprehension. The present study varied the timing of explanation activities and restudy opportunities before taking final comprehension tests on a set of 6 topics studied as part of a course in Introduction to Psychology. When students had the opportunity to restudy in…

Background: Evidence from education randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) demonstrates how interventions can improve children's educational achievement [1, 2, 3, 4]. RCTs assess the impact of an intervention by comparing outcomes--aggregate test scores--between treatment and control groups. A review of…

Researchers use test outcomes to evaluate the effectiveness of education interventions across numerous randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Aggregate test data--for example, simple measures like the sum of correct responses--are compared across treatment and control groups to determine whether an intervention has had a positive impact on student…

In operational testing, item response theory (IRT) models for dichotomous responses are popular for measuring a single latent construct [theta], such as cognitive ability in a content domain. Estimates of [theta], also called IRT scores or [theta hat], can be computed using estimators based on the likelihood function, such as maximum likelihood…

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of eight different facemasks on speech perception and listening effort in listeners with normal hearing (NH) and hearing loss by manipulating both mask type and background noise levels. Method: Forty adults listened to Quick Speech-in-Noise Test sentences recorded by a female talker through…

Coefficient alpha reliability persists as the most common reliability coefficient reported in research. The assumptions for its use are, however, not well-understood. The current paper challenges the commonly used expressions of coefficient alpha and argues that while these expressions are correct when estimating reliability for summed scores,…

This study uses two annual cohorts of students from a large, public, midwestern research institution to implement a propensity-based analysis of a student support program called Supplemental Instruction. Beginning with the history and importance of improving college completion (i.e. graduation) rates, this study identifies student support…

This study empirically investigates whether graduate degrees (MBA, MSA and MST) earned by candidates affect their performance on the CPA exam. By examining more than half million first-time exam sittings taken during the period 2005-2013, the authors find that candidates with a graduate degree performed better on each section of the CPA exam than…

This study investigated the effect of the motor game 'Exchequer Motor Game' (EMG) on first-grade children's Level of Geometric Thinking (LGT) and their post-learning mood tracking (PLMT). Thirty children (age 6.1 ± 0.7 years; physical education experience: 0.6 ± 0.4 years), classified at the "Visualization" stage of van Hiele's geometric…

The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) are widely used, parent-report instruments of language acquisition. Here, we focus on the word-inventory sections of the instruments, and show two different approaches to modeling CDI data, based on real-world needs. First, we show that Words & Gestures data collected…

Vaccine hesitancy was recently declared one of the ten greatest global health threats by the World Health Organization and research has linked it to low levels of health literacy. Health literacy can be supported by media literacy education which aims to heighten critical thinking and help individuals develop habits of inquiry and make appropriate…

Considering the interdisciplinary nature of the sustainable development concept, this study aims to investigate the effect of a cross-curricular mathematical modeling course on pre-service teachers' sustainable development attitudes and mathematical modeling self-efficacies and to investigate their opinions about the course. The sample for this…