This multiple manuscript dissertation offers a cohesive set of research studies curated to address three topics related to how high-quality instructional practice (HQIP) is defined, measured and ultimately connected to student engagement and achievement. Grounded in Benson's (1998) framework of construct validation, this line of inquiry outlines:…

The purpose of this study was to further investigate the relationship between the instruments identified by Kose and developed by Maras et al. (2013), Astramovich (2016), and Dimmitt et al. (2007) to provide validation to the proposed taxonomy of program evaluation competencies for school counselors. Theoretically, these instruments should be…

The purpose of this study is to examine how validity has been presented in technical and other users' manuals for various editions (i.e., revisions) of the same commercially published test over time. Although the unitary view of validity came to prominence more than 30 years ago and has been embraced in the "Standards for Educational and…

Source-based writing, in which writers read or listen to academic content before writing, has been considered to better assess academic writing skills than independent writing tasks (Read, 1990; Weigle, 2004). Because scores resulting from ratings of test takers' source-based writing task responses are treated as indicators of their academic…

Students with disabilities often face academic challenges while in school. They can only master academic concepts if they receive services that are appropriately monitored and assessed. This quantitative causal-comparative study analyzed the associations between academic assessment methods for students with disabilities in a local Florida school…

Spatial analytics receive increased attention in educational data mining. A critical issue in stop detection (i.e., the automatic extraction of timestamped and located stops in the movement of individuals) is a lack of validation of stop accuracy to represent phenomena of interest. Next to a radius that an actor does not exceed for a certain…

Background: Speech is the most common method of communication. Video-based clinical communication evaluation is a requirement for children with speech-language impairments living in rural areas, and those who have limited mobility. Aims: To determine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Viking Speech Scale (VSS-T) via live…

Physical literacy (PL) is highlighted as a construct that can positively impact physical activity (PA). Measurement methods and definitions for PL exist, but vary between research groups. This variation affects the ability to compare research findings. The purpose of this study was to assess the construct validity of PL in children. PL was…

In this program evaluation study, we analyzed the impact of interpersonal validation and participation in living-learning communities (LLC) on retention and GPA via regression and propensity score matching. The LLCs were designed to improve outcomes for underrepresented, low-income and first-generation students at a Midwestern regional public…

Game-based assessment (GBA), a specific application of games for learning, has been recognized as an alternative form of assessment. While there is a substantive body of literature that supports the educational benefits of GBA, limited work investigates the validity and generalizability of such systems. In this paper, we describe applications of…

The distinguishing feature of dynamic assessment (DA) is the dialectical integration of assessment and instruction. However, how to design the targeted instruction or mediation has been relatively underexplored. To address this gap, this study proposes the attribute-based mediation model (AMM), an English-as-a-foreign-language listening mediation…

The quality of sexuality education is significant in encouraging and expanding the knowledge of sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Parents' attitudes and beliefs toward sexuality education contribute to the effectiveness of sexuality education in schools. Consequently, there is a need to provide a validated instrument to investigate parental…

While many tools exist to assess student content knowledge, there are few that assess whether students display the critical listening skills necessary to interpret the quality of a speaker's message at the college level. The following research provides preliminary evidence for the internal consistency and factor structure of a tool, the…

This paper addresses the need for effective curriculum-based measures (CBMs) to assess foundational literacy skills in India. It seeks to answer the questions: What is the reliability and validity of the FABLe app in the Indian context? What is the efficacy of the FABLe app in identifying students who are at-risk for reading difficulties? There…

Gender disparities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) faculty composition remain a major issue in U.S. higher education. Specifically, the underrepresentation of women of color has been described as a crisis. We developed the Workplace Climate and Persistence Scale (WCPS) for STEM faculty to assess departmental-level…