We previously reported how the opinions of second-year dentistry students and faculty members can be used to construct an assessment rubric to grade group-based concept maps in physiology (14). This article describes the second phase of this study of the subsequent year's cohort. A case study approach was used to investigate how groups of students…

The widespread application of personal computers to educational and psychological testing has substantially increased the number of test administration methodologies available to testing programs. Many of these mediums are referred to by their acronyms, such as CAT, CBT, CCT, and LOFT. The similarities between the acronyms and the methods…

All industries face the interrelated challenges of identifying and training the critical skills needed to be successful in the workplace. Specifically of interest to the information systems field is that any newly trained IS professional has to be equipped to solve increasingly difficult problems with great confidence and competence. In this paper…

The authors describe a set of upper-elementary activities that focuses on how animals communicate. The activities describe procedures that students working in groups can use to investigate the topic of animal communication. An initial information sheet, resource list, and grading rubric are provided. The lesson plan was field-tested in an…

This paper reports on a successful attempt to use the portfolio as a sole assessment tool for an upper level language arts course at an English-medium university in Lebanon. Over four consecutive years in the spring semester, the teacher/researcher devised a special syllabus based on the teaching/learning of text discourses and other language…

Federal government changes to the funding of doctoral students have focused the attention of university management on their completion rates. The aims of this paper are to inform the allocation of institutional resources in a manner that improves the likelihood of timely doctoral completions and to highlight a process that can also be used for…

The Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-Second Edition (GARS-2) is a screening tool for autism spectrum disorders for individuals between the ages of 3 and 22. It was designed to help differentiate those with autism from those with severe behavioral disorders as well as from those who are typically developing. It is a norm-referenced instrument that…

Most educators are familiar with instances of authentic assessment of "content" within the disciplines or of authentic assessment of "discipline-specific skills." In such authentic assessments, students apply the knowledge and skills of the discipline to situations or tasks that replicate real world challenges. The measurement of skills is…

The purpose of this article is to inform readers about the types of instruments available for assessing and improving mentoring in organizations. Extensive review of the psychological, business and medical literature was conducted to identify commercially published, practitioner-oriented instruments. All of the instruments that were…

With the congressional effort to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act at a standstill, schools and districts will need to stay on target toward the law's goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and mathematics in the next six years--or else face sanctions or interventions. That process will be especially hard in 23 states that made the…

Leo Nedelsky developed a method for determining absolute grading standards for multiple choice tests. His method required a group of judges to examine each test question and eliminate those responses which the lowest D- student should be able to reject as incorrect. The correct answer probabilities remaining were used in computing an expected test…

This pilot study compared two empirically-derived, option-weighting methods and the resultant effect on the reliability and validity of multiple choice test scores as compared with conventional rights-only scoring. (MM)

This Digest describes different types of scoring rubrics and explains why they are useful. Scoring rubrics are descriptive scoring schemes that are developed by teachers or other evaluators to guide the analysis of the products or processes of students' efforts. Scoring rubrics are generally used when a judgment of quality is required, and they…

This Digest provides a process for developing scoring rubrics. The first step is to identify clearly the qualities that need to be displayed in a student's work to demonstrate proficient performance. These qualities will be the top level or levels of scoring criteria for the scoring rubric. Then the decision must be made whether the information…

A model is presented for test construction and scoring that utilizes the knapsack model of mathematical programing. The method applies to examinations of the type in which a choice exists in the number of questions the examinee is required to answer. The method has been utilized with respect to a mathematics examination, and computer-generated…