A graphical-decision rule for studying an item's behavior and admitting items onto a test form is proposed. The tool--the isthmus of acceptance--ameliorates some parameter stability problems common to binary item response theory models by using a functional representation of item performance, and it is tuned to match current standards. (TJH)

Stuttered sentences pronounced by 12 4- to 6-year-old children in spontaneous conversation were analyzed for length and grammatical complexity. Results indicated that sentences in which stuttering occurred within the first three words were significantly longer and more complex than sentences where no fluency failure was found. Implications for…

Measures the effects of presentation mode and perceived difficulty on retention of academic content material. Finds the main effects of presentation mode and difficulty to be significant; however, pairwise comparisons of means for mode did not show significant differences. (NH)

The relations between Angoff ratings (minimum passing levels) and the actual "p" values for borderline examinees were studied with 115 examinees taking the Certified Financial Planner examination. Findings do not suggest that the Angoff judges' task is nearly impossible, but they do suggest the need to improve standard-setting…

A sample of 144 mathematical tasks used during reform-oriented teaching was analyzed in terms of task features and cognitive demands. The ways cognitive demands of high-level tasks declined and factors associated with task changes were explored. Teachers used tasks that led to the development of students' thinking capacities. (MAK)

The effect of removing nonfunctioning items from multiple-choice tests was studied by examining change in difficulty, discrimination, and dimensionality. Results provide additional support for the benefits of eliminating nonfunctioning options, such as enhanced score reliability, reduced testing time, potential for broader domain sampling, and…

Ratings of test item relevance were collected from 57 practitioners from a pretest of a medical certifying examination. Ratings were correlated with item difficulty, but the relationship between ratings and item discrimination was less clear. Application of generalizability theory shows that reasonable estimates of item, stem, and total test…

In the context of producing academic research that is more accessible to people with intellectual disabilities, this article proposes publishing academic papers with a "parallel text" which would both provide a simplified version but also facilitate access to the main document. Background research on the idea of parallel texts and technical…

This study investigated the effectiveness of articulation training (daily sessions for 8 weeks) on the production of phonemes by 12 hearing impaired children (ages 5-10). Results suggest that phonemes with an intermediate error rate (trained at a phonological level) are easier to train than phonemes with a high error rate (trained at a phonetic…

In recent years, assessment data have assumed a more central role education policy and practice. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires states to implement standardized assessment-based systems to evaluate their schools. The NCLB approach rests on the assumption that assessment data can provide credible information to gauge how effectively schools…

Rememberers play an active role in learning, not only by committing material more or less faithfully to memory, but also by selecting judicious study strategies (or not). In three experiments, subjects chose whether to mass or space the second presentation of to-be-learned paired-associate terms that were either normatively difficult or easy to…

The authors argue that imitation is a flexible and adaptive learning mechanism in that children do not always reproduce all of the details they can from a demonstration. Instead, they vary their replications depending on their interpretation of the situation. Specifically, the authors propose that when children do not understand the overall reason…

Leveled books originally selected by or produced for use in Reading Recovery or its regular classroom initiative are now also widely used in regular and special classrooms having no affiliation with Reading Recovery. The frequent use of these leveled books in settings other than Reading Recovery raises an important question: Do books leveled for…

Those who have taught commercial paper, sometimes referred to as negotiable instruments, to undergraduate business students know all too well that complexity abounds: "Holders in due course!" "Liability of the parties!" Those who have taught in this area also know the fear students experience as these topics are introduced and…

Switching between tasks produces decreases in performance as compared to repeating the same task. Asymmetrical switch costs occur when switching between two tasks of unequal difficulty. This asymmetry occurs because the cost is greater when switching to the less difficult task than when switching to the more difficult task. Various theories about…