This article investigates the accuracy of examinee classification into performance categories and the estimation of the theta parameter for several item response theory (IRT) scaling techniques when applied to six administrations of a test. Previous research has investigated only two administrations; however, many testing programs equate tests…

The campaign from 1996-2000 to include the religion question in the 2001 Census for England and Wales was a defining event for Muslim communities in Britain because it provided formal recognition of their collective identity as a faith group, rather than being subsumed in the "black", "Asian" or…

This study investigates the syntactic errors in speaking among an Arab L2 post-graduate student in an academic speaking context. Specifically, the objectives are to describe the syntax error patterns committed by the student while engaging in speaking and to explore the contributing factors that may affect the errors. To address these objectives,…

In the current time of globalization, collaboration among people in virtual environments is becoming an important precondition of success. This trend is reflected also in the educational domain where students collaborate in various short-term groups created repetitively but changing in each round (e.g. in MOOCs). Students in these kind of dynamic…

Recently, performance profiles in reading, mathematics and science were created using the data collectively available in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011. In addition, a classification of children to the end of their primary school years was…

Within the landscape of educational data, textual natural language is an increasingly vast source of learning-centered interactions. In natural language dialogue, student contributions hold important information about knowledge and goals. Automatically modeling the dialogue act of these student utterances is crucial for scaling natural language…

The "TextEvaluator"® text analysis tool is a fully automated text complexity evaluation tool designed to help teachers, curriculum specialists, textbook publishers, and test developers select texts that are consistent with the text complexity guidelines specified in the Common Core State Standards.This paper documents the procedure used…

In this review, we investigated game design features that promote engagement and learning in game-based learning (GBL) settings. The aim was to address the lack of empirical evidence on the impact of game design on learning outcomes, identify how the design of game-based activities may affect learning and engagement, and develop a set of general…

Learning object repositories are a shared, open and public space; however, the possibility and ability of personal expression in an open, global, public space is crucial. The aim of this study is to explore personal spaces in a big learning object repository as a facilitator for adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) into teaching practices…

Due to evidence linking education and development, funding has been invested in interventions relevant to getting youth into school and keeping them there. This article reports on a systematic review of impact studies of these school enrollment interventions. Reports were identified through electronic searches of bibliographic databases and other…

This study investigated qualitatively how undergraduate students experienced the Great Recession at a flagship university in the South Eastern of United States and how this experience relates to their retention. Results indicate that the Great Recession has significantly impacted students' engagement and commitments. We argue that student…

Unstructured data in social media is as part of the "big data" spectrum. Unstructured data in Social media can provide useful insights into social phenomena and citizen opinions, both of which are critical to government policy and businesses decisions. Teachers of business intelligence and analytics commonly use quantitative data from…

Previous studies have focused on the differences between charter schools and district schools, treating all charters within a community as essentially alike. In effect, these studies take a "top­-down" approach, assuming that the governance of the school (charter versus district) determines the nature of the school. This approach may be…

Instructional design can be more effective if it is as fixedly dedicated to the accommodation of individual differences as it currently is to the accommodation of subject matters. That is the hypothesis. A menu of accommodation options is provided that is applicable at each of three stages of instructional development or administration: before,…

The experience of living with multiple sclerosis (MS) can have a profound effect on employment. The impact of MS is a complex interaction of personal, medical, functional, financial, and psychosocial variables that ultimately results in up to 80% of persons with MS leaving their jobs within 10 years of their diagnosis. The aim of this study was to…