Experts use their domain expertise and knowledge of examinees' ability levels as they write test items. The expert test writer can then estimate the difficulty of the test items subjectively. However, an objective method for assigning difficulty to a test item would capture the cognitive demands imposed on the examinee as well as be…

The objective of this study was to adapt and gather validity evidence for a Brazilian sample version of the Hope Index and to verify if cultural differences would produce different results than those found in the United States. In this study, we present a set of analyses that together comprise a comprehensive validity argument for the use of a…

A quantitative, randomized, pretest, posttest study was conducted to assess the effect of aromatherapy on cognitive test anxiety among nursing students. Sophomore nursing students (n = 39) from a private, 4-year college, were randomized into either the control group (n = 18) or the experimental group (n = 21). Each participant completed the…

This study explored the Junior Brixton Test (JBT), an executive function (EF) measure for children, in comparison to the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in a sample of 6- to 8-year-olds, all attending the first 2 years of elementary school. Factor analyses indicated two main domains in both measures, namely concept formation and cognitive…

Introduction: Delays in theory of mind (ToM) of children who are congenitally blind have often been attributed to the absence of visual and social experiences. However, these delays could also be partly due to neural factors. In some children, the blindness itself has neural causes (ocular-plus blindness). Children whose blindness has an…

Background: A population sample of people with Down syndrome has been studied from infancy and has now been followed up again at age 47 years. Methods: Intelligence and language skills were tested and daily living skills assessed. Memory/cognitive deterioration was examined using two test instruments. Results: Scores on verbal tests of…

This article analyzes the design decisions of a team developing diagnostic assessments for a learning trajectory focused on rational number reasoning. The analysis focuses on the design rationale for key decisions about how to develop the cognitive assessments and related validity arguments within a fluid state and national policy context. The…

The purpose of this study was to determine the abstract thinking levels of the science students attending the first and fourth year at two Palestinian Universities (Al-Aqsa and Al-Azhar). The sample consisted of 133 students from Science Education Departments (SE). The tool, used to measure abstract thinking, was one of the Science Reasoning Tasks…

The transition to secondary school is considered difficult for children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), yet there has been little strength-based investigation of positive experiences of this population and the types of support they value most in managing anxiety about transition. The current article presents a qualitative exploration of the…

The goal of this study was to examine how selected pressure points or areas of vulnerability are related to individual differences in reading comprehension and whether the importance of these pressure points varies as a function of the level of children's reading comprehension. A sample of 245 third-grade children were given an assessment battery…

Adults demonstrate difficulty and pronounced variability when developing second language (L2) grammatical knowledge and reading skills. We examine explanations in terms of individual differences in working memory (WM). Despite numerous studies, the association between WM and adult second language (L2) acquisition remains unclear, and longitudinal…

This study investigated the roles of different executive function (EF) components (inhibition, shifting, and working memory) in 2-step arithmetic word problem solving. A sample of 139 children aged 8 years old and regularly attending the 3rd grade of primary school were tested on 6 EF tasks measuring different EF components, a reading task and a…

This study examined associations between broad cognitive abilities (Fluid Reasoning [Gf], Short-Term Working Memory [Gwm], Long-Term Storage and Retrieval [Glr], Processing Speed [Gs], Comprehension-Knowledge [Gc], Visual Processing [Gv], and Auditory Processing [Ga]) and reading achievement (Basic Reading Skills, Reading Rate, Reading Fluency,…

Reading is a skill that is necessary to be successful both academically and professionally in today's society. Thus, it is essential that educators work with students to develop their reading skills and help them become proficient readers (Otto, 2008). This study concurrently implemented a phonics-based reading intervention and a sight-word…

The present study explored the bidirectional and longitudinal associations between executive function (EF) and early academic skills (math and literacy) across 4 waves of measurement during the transition from preschool to kindergarten using 2 complementary analytical approaches: cross-lagged panel modeling and latent growth curve modeling (LCGM).…