In the service of educational accountability, student achievement tests are being used to measure constructs quite unlike those envisioned by test developers. Scores are compared to cut points to create classifications like "proficient"; scores are combined over time to measure growth; student scores are aggregated to measure the…

Ten years after an original survey, this article reports findings from a 2017 survey of secondary school staff involved in school-based management of GCSE examination access arrangements. A total of 263 respondents, including specialist assessors and SENCos, explained their views on the manageability and fairness of processes for GCSE examination…

In this study we developed and evaluated a crowdsourcing-based latent semantic analysis (LSA) approach to computerized summary scoring (CSS). LSA is a frequently used mathematical component in CSS, where LSA similarity represents the extent to which the to-be-graded target summary is similar to a model summary or a set of exemplar summaries.…

Accrediting agencies for English language programs, such as the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA), require a plan in writing for monitoring and reviewing assessment practices. Nonetheless, web-search queries such as "assessing assessment," "how to assess assessment," "assessing assessment…

College students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or learning disabilities are frequently allowed to complete examinations in a separate, distraction-reduced setting. Although separate room test accommodations are believed to provide students with equal access to testing and thereby improve performance, little experimental…

As one of the most popular Online Student Response Systems (OSRSs), "Socrative" is defined as a web-based platform that can be accessed using any browser that is connected to the Internet (Mork, 2014). In an attempt to guide EFL teachers on their journey towards transforming their traditional paper-based formative assessment into using…

Purpose: Singapore's education system is known for its robust curriculum and excellent results. It is also a system of keen competitiveness and high pressure. This article addresses how such an education system responds to the issue of student well-being. Design/Approach/Methods: This article analyses the recent initiatives and shift in education…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing -- as can be clearly observed not only from the rising recognition of assistance tools such as Siri (Apple) but also from the newly introduced Google Voiced Translator. Yet, some crucial benchmarks still have to be supplied before it can act as a proxy for a real instructor: imagination, creativity, and…

Prosocial behavior is a highly heterogeneous construct, and young children use distinct prosocial actions in response to differing emotional needs of another person. This study examined whether toddlers' prosocial responses differed in response to two understudied emotional contexts--whether or not children caused a victim's distress and the…

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that students don't need more stress. Fortunately, we can reduce students' anxiety about grading--and improve their learning. Grading expert Joe Feldman shares four "outdated" grading practices and their constructive, more equitable alternatives.

Standardized testing is an applauded system of testing due to the uniformity that it offers. The idea is that in standardized testing, because every student is being asked exactly the same question and each question has only one specific answer, standardized examinations are neutral, value free, and exonerated from the subjectivity that an…

The development of six online quizzes to support students' study of an introductory mathematics masters module at The Open University is described and their use evaluated. The quizzes were implemented using the "STACK" online e-assessment system, which is powered by a computer-algebra engine. Evaluation of student feedback and an initial…

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) tools are increasingly administered through technology-based modalities such as computers and tablets. Two studies were conducted to examine whether students perform similarly on paper-based and tablet-based math fact probes. Ten students completed 1-min addition or multiplication math probes using a single-case…

Effective assessment is an extremely important area of chemistry education. Typically tests measure students' knowledge of critical thinking skills, chemistry vocabulary, and application of concepts from one chapter to another. While it is relatively straightforward to measure concepts such as chemical vocabulary and algorithmic problem solving…

Two key topics of many second-year organic chemistry courses are substitution and elimination reactions. Predicting and explaining substitution and elimination reactions tends to be a challenging task for students, as documented in the research literature. Motivated by the many documented challenges experienced by students when learning these…