Lissitz and Samuelsen (2007) propose a new framework for conceptualizing test validity that separates analysis of test properties from analysis of the construct measured. In response, the author of this article reviews fundamental characteristics of test validity, drawing largely from seminal writings as well as from the accepted standards. He…

Mackintosh and Bennett's [Mackintosh, N. J. and Bennett, E. S, (2005). ''What do Raven's Matrices measure? An analysis in terms of sex differences.'' Intelligence 33: 663-674.] study shows that males outperform females in some APM items but not in others, implicating that these items are measuring discriminable mental processes. The present…

Many students experience difficulties learning to program. They find learning to program in the object-oriented paradigm particularly challenging. As a result, computing educators have tried a variety of instructional methods to assist beginning programmers. These include developing approaches geared specifically toward novices and experimenting…

This comprehensive "Handbook" focuses on the most used polytomous item response theory (IRT) models. These models help us understand the interaction between examinees and test questions where the questions have various response categories. The book reviews all of the major models and includes discussions about how and where the models…

This study aimed at investigating the psychometric properties of two inventories for the measurement of learning style preferences in a Greek sample: Kolb's (1985) Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) by Felder & Soloman (1999). The inventories were administered in a total of 340 Greek university undergraduate…

In the context of health sciences education, and education in general, the knowledge or ability of one or several subjects in a specific area is frequently compared using different forms of a test, or by means of different instruments aimed at measuring this knowledge or ability. In such cases, test scores must be equated so that they can be…

While checklists are often used to score standardized patient based clinical assessments, little research has focused on issues related to their development or the level of agreement with respect to the importance of specific items. Five physicians independently reviewed checklists from 11 simulation scenarios that were part of the former…

While there has been a good deal of discussion about the scholarship of teaching and learning, and models have been developed to understand its scope, the effects on students' learning of academics engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning are unclear. In the context of initiatives to develop the scholarship of teaching and learning in…

Introduction: This study aimed to explore research assessment within the field of music and, specifically, to investigate whether citation counting could be used to replace or inform the peer review system currently in use in the UK. Method: A citation analysis of academics submitted for peer review in Unit of Assessment 67 in the 2001 Research…

Background: Two major conceptions of learning exist: reproducing new material and transforming material to make meaning. Teachers' understandings of what learning is probably influence their teaching practices and student academic performance. Aims: To validate a short scale derived from Tait, Entwistle, & McCune's (1998) ASSIST inventory and…

This study is an empirical examination of possible differences between female and male college seniors' perceptions between male and female college professors. Subjects were presented with three variations of a scale designed to measure students' perceptions of university professors in general, female professors, and male professors. These…

The purpose of the present investigation was to identify the relationship among different indicators of uncertainty that lead to potential item misalignment. The item-based indicators included ratings of ambiguity and cognitive complexity. The student-based indicators included (a) frequency of cognitive monitoring per item, (b) levels of…

Civic competence is critical to the successful functioning of pluralistic democracies. Developing the knowledge, skills, and motivations for effective democratic participation is a national and global imperative that many higher education institutions have embraced through the teaching strategies of community-based learning and service-learning.…

The increasing numbers of English language learners (ELLs) in Canadian schools pose a significant challenge to the standards-based provincial tests used to measure proficiency levels of all students from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This study investigated the extent to which reading item bundles or items on the Ontario Secondary…