Content balancing is one of the most important components in the computerized adaptive testing (CAT) especially in the K to 12 large scale tests that complex constraint structure is required to cover a broad spectrum of content. The purpose of this study is to compare the weighted penalty model (WPM) and the weighted deviation method (WDM) under…

Changes to federal guidelines for the identification of children with disabilities have supported the use of multi-tiered models of service delivery. This study investigated the impact of measurement methodology as used across numerous tiers in determining special education eligibility. Four studies were completed using a sample of inner-city…

Introduction: This study investigated differential item functioning (DIF) of test items on Pennsylvania's Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) for students with visual impairments and severe cognitive disabilities and what the reasons for the differences may be. Methods: The Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to analyze differences in the scores…

The validity of two measures of English reading comprehension was examined across three different groups of English language learners (ELLs; 64 Portuguese, 66 Spanish and 65 Cantonese). All three groups were achieving within the average range in second grade. An exploratory principal components analysis of reading skills was carried out to…

This longitudinal study investigated the associations between the frequency of parents' reading-related activities at home and their children's reading-related skills during the transition from kindergarten to Grade 1. Longitudinal data were obtained for 1436 Finnish children (5- to 6-year-olds at baseline) and their mothers and fathers. 684 girls…

This study investigated the predictive power of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), the General Ability Index (GAI), and the WISC-IV index score composites on subsequent reading and math standardized test scores among high-achieving students. The sample consisted of 84 elementary-age students…

Co-teaching has increasingly been implemented over the past 20 years as a shared responsibility alternative to more restrictive special education models for providing service to students with disabilities. Results of local school system research in Maryland during this 20-year period are reviewed suggesting that improved special education student…

Background: Medication treatment studies of ADHD have typically not assessed effects on reading performance, although reading difficulties frequently co-occur in children with ADHD. The current study characterizes the effects of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX; Vyvanse[R], Shire US Inc.), at peak efficacy, on reading performance in children with…

We investigated the effects of morphological awareness on five measures of reading in 103 children from Grades 1 to 3. Morphological awareness was assessed with a word analogy task that included a wide range of morphological transformations. Results indicated that the new measure had satisfactory reliability, and that morphological awareness was a…

A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest group design was used to determine whether computer-assisted fluency instruction is as effective as print-based, teacher-led fluency instruction in improving fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills in third grade students experiencing delayed fluency development. Fifty participants were randomly assigned…

The authors of this article consider Western teaching and learning alongside Confucian teaching and learning through reviewing the literature. The paper emphasizes that we must teach lower order thinking skills first before we teach higher order thinking skills, and confirms that rote learning and memorization precede critical thinking and…

The present study investigated whether young Latino dual-language learners' 2-year English reading growth varied over time according to their initial overall oral English ability. We followed 41 Latino children for 2 years. We tested overall oral English at the beginning of the study and administered multiple curriculum-based reading assessments…

This study reports Korean English language learners' perceived needs concerning their learning of reading and writing and how the integrated reading and writing instruction impacts their reading comprehension and summary-writing abilities. The study also delineates teacher's challenges faced during the instruction. A total of 93 students in a…

Although American schools are required to meet civic education goals of preparing students to become active and informed citizens, high-quality civic opportunities (e.g. service learning and volunteering) are consistently less available to youth of color who are typically enrolled in schools located in high-poverty communities. The purpose of this…

In this longitudinal study, we investigated the role of word reading and mathematical difficulties measured in 9th grade as factors for receiving educational support for learning in upper secondary education in Grades 10 to 12 (from ages 16 to 19) and furthermore as predictors of dropout from upper secondary education within 5 years after…