Community colleges have been criticized for lowering the educational aspirations of their students. This paper suggests that this contention is subject to serious measurement errors. Evidence is presented from several surveys.

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III; Wechsler, 1997b) provides factor-based index scores but allows only for pairwise comparison of these scores, producing inflated Type I error rates and reducing profile interpretability. This article provides tables for simultaneous comparison to the overall mean index score, thus…

A novel attentional capture effect is reported in which visual-verbal serial recall was disrupted if a single deviation in the interstimulus interval occurred within otherwise regularly presented task-irrelevant spoken items. The degree of disruption was the same whether the temporal deviant was embedded in a sequence made up of a repeating item…

The typical finding from research on metacomprehension is that accuracy is quite low. However, recent studies have shown robust accuracy improvements when judgments follow certain generation tasks (summarizing or keyword listing) but only when these tasks are performed at a delay rather than immediately after reading (K. W. Thiede & M. C. M.…

There are usually many testing activities going on in a school, with different tests serving different purposes, thus organization and planning are key in creating an efficient system in assessing the most important educational objectives. In the ideal case, an assessment system will be able to inform on student learning, instruction and…

In this technical report, the authors describe the development and piloting of reading comprehension measures as part of a comprehensive progress monitoring literacy assessment system developed in 2006 for use with students in Kindergarten through fifth grade. They begin with a brief overview of the two conceptual frameworks underlying the…

The AP Course Audit utilizes a criterion-based professional judgment method of analysis within a nested multi-step review process. The overall goal of the methodology is to yield a final judgment on each syllabus that is ultimately valid. While reviewer consistency is an important consideration, the most important goal is to reach a final judgment…

The author has discovered that errors in grades often occur when scores are combined for final marks. These errors are not related to the grading individual assignments. Rather, they occur when teachers at all grade levels bring individual test and assignment scores together for the students' final grades. Unfortunately, professors of mathematics…

The authors describe 2 efficiency (planned missing data) designs for measurement: the 3-form design and the 2-method measurement design. The 3-form design, a kind of matrix sampling, allows researchers to leverage limited resources to collect data for 33% more survey questions than can be answered by any 1 respondent. Power tables for estimating…

This is a construct validation study of a second language speaking assessment that reported a language profile based on analytic rating scales and a composite score. The study addressed three key issues: score dependability, convergent/discriminant validity of analytic rating scales and the weighting of analytic ratings in the composite score.…

Equating multiple test forms is frequently desired. When multiple forms are linked in a chain of equating, error tends to build up in the process. This paper compares three procedures for equating multiple forms in a common-form design where each school administered, in a spiraled fashion, only a subset of multiple forms. Data used were from a…

The serious problems associated with the use of stepwise methods are well documented. Various authors have leveled scathing criticisms against the use of stepwise techniques, yet it is not uncommon to find these methods continually employed in educational and psychological research. The three main problems with stepwise techniques are: (1)…

Graded or binary disagree-agree responses to attitude statements are often collected for the purpose of attitude measurement. The empirical characteristics of these responses will generally be inconsistent with the analytical logic that forms the basis of the Likert attitude measurement technique (R. Likert, 1932). As a consequence, the Likert…

The meta-analytic techniques of G. V. Glass (1976) and J. E. Hunter and F. L. Schmidt (1977) were compared through their application to three meta-analytic studies from education literature. The following hypotheses were explored: (1) the overall mean effect size would be larger in a Hunter-Schmidt meta-analysis (HSMA) than in a Glass…

Seven features of valid classroom observations procedures, a five-step measurement schemata, and a systematic classroom observation procedure designed to reduce measurement error are presented. The following features are addressed: (1) the inference of the observation is established a priori and confirmed post hoc; (2) craft knowledge and…