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…

Objectively scoring constructed-response items on educational assessments has long been a challenge due to the use of human raters. Even well-trained raters using a rubric can inaccurately assess essays. Unfolding models measure rater's scoring accuracy by capturing the discrepancy between criterion and operational ratings by placing essays on an…

To mitigate the deleterious effects of rapid guessing (RG) on ability estimates, several rescoring procedures have been proposed. Underlying many of these procedures is the assumption that RG is accurately identified. At present, there have been minimal investigations examining the utility of rescoring approaches when RG is misclassified, and…

Pan and Wollack (PW) proposed a machine learning method to detect compromised items. We extend the work of PW to an approach detecting compromised items and examinees with item preknowledge simultaneously and draw on ideas in ensemble learning to relax several limitations in the work of PW. The suggested approach also provides a confidence score,…

Strength-based assessment has achieved acceptance from educational, mental health, and social service professionals as a means to measuring emotional and behavioral strengths of children. Several standardized, norm-referenced tests have been developed to assess these strengths; however, the primary mode of assessment is via informal interviews of…

The discussion of social responsibility has expanded from ethical conduct of research to include a broader range of topics including participating in the policy-making process, engaging in public discourse related to science, and promoting projects serving societal common goods. Although such an expanded framework on social responsibility is…

Back random responding (BRR) behavior is one of the commonly observed careless response behaviors. Accurately detecting BRR behavior can improve test validities. Yu and Cheng (2019) showed that the change point analysis (CPA) procedure based on weighted residual (CPA-WR) performed well in detecting BRR. Compared with the CPA procedure, the…

A test of item compromise is presented which combines the test takers' responses and response times (RTs) into a statistic defined as the number of correct responses on the item for test takers with RTs flagged as suspicious. The test has null and alternative distributions belonging to the well-known family of compound binomial distributions, is…

This study aims to obtain and compare the opinions of exam question writers and teachers on skill-based exam questions. 24 science teachers and 11 context-based exam question writers participated in the study, which was carried out according to the convergent parallel design. Opinions of both parties on the skill-based exam questions were…

The most common effect size when using a multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis approach to measurement invariance is [delta]CFI and [delta]TLI with a cutoff value of 0.01. However, this recommended cutoff value may not be ubiquitously appropriate and may be of limited application for some tests (e.g., measures using dichotomous items or…

This dissertation measures the multicultural teaching competency (MTC) and the frequency at which science educators use culturally relevant educational practices (CREPs). This study's mixed-method, convergent design is grounded in critical theory, and the MTC and culturally relevant education (CRE) framework. Findings suggest that the CREPs-F…

Quality and accountability remain meaningful discussions for university-based traditional educator preparation programs (EPPs) that prepare most new teachers. A fundamental premise of this study is to create rigorous and transparent measures that are intentionally designed and aligned with pre-service teacher (PST) readiness standards, which is…

Students who are engaged writers are likely to produce better writing and to enjoy writing more than students who are disengaged writers. Yet, we are unaware of any existing tool that validly and reliably measures writing engagement. In this article, we describe what writing engagement is and why it is important. Then, we present the Writing…

This study examines the relationship between two secondary End of Course (EOC) exams, the Biology EOC and the English I EOC exams, and their impact on Emergent Bilingual (EB) students in a small district in South Texas. This study is a mixed methods study which uses both quantitative and qualitative data to answer three research questions: (a)…

New public management ideals and standards have become increasingly adhered to in health professions education; this is particularly apparent in high-stakes assessment, as a gateway to practice. Using an Institutional Ethnographic approach, we looked at the work involved in running high-stakes Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs) throughout…