The main purpose of the study was to investigate the distinctness and reliability of analytic (or multitrait) rating dimensions and their relationships to holistic scores and "e-rater"® essay feature variables in the context of the TOEFL® computer-based test (CBT) writing assessment. Data analyzed in the study were analytic and holistic…

The West Point Bridge Design (WPBD) building project engages students in project-based learning by giving them a real-life problem to solve. By using technology, students are able to become involved in solving problems that they normally would not encounter. Involvement with interactive websites, such as WPBD, assists students in using…

The development, implementation, review, and subsequent revision of a capstone assignment during teacher education candidates' field experience and the assignments-related rubric was based on research that points teacher education programs to give candidates experiences in rethinking their views of pedagogy as they integrate technology into the…

The purpose of this research is to analyze preservice teachers' use of and reactions to an automated essay scorer used within an online, case-based learning environment called ETIPS. Data analyzed include post-assignment surveys, a user log of students' actions within the cases, instructor-assigned scores on final essays, and interviews with four…

Although pair programming has proved its usefulness in teaching and learning programming skills, it is difficult to assess the individual roles and abilities of students whilst programming in pairs. (Note that within this manuscript, the term assessment refers to evaluating individual student performance.) Assessing only the outcomes of a pair…

Over the past several decades, a wider range of assessment strategies has gained prominence in classrooms, including complex assessment items such as individual or group projects, student journals and other creative writing tasks, graphic/artistic representations of knowledge, clinical interviews, student presentations and performances, peer- and…

Portfolio assessment was investigated as a method of evaluating elementary school students' competence in writing. The study comprised an empirical study of the utility and meaningfulness of using a holistic/analytic scoring rubric to score students' portfolios and a qualitative analysis of scoring approaches drawing on raters' critiques of the…

This paper outlines the development of techniques for computer-based personality assessment from sentence completions. The One-Word Sentence Completion (OWSC) instrument was designed to elicit data suitable for machine processing, while retaining most of the advantages of a free-response format. Two operative scoring systems are described. The…

A new standard setting method, Mapmark, was recently developed by ACT Inc. in the course of a contract with the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) to set achievement levels for the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Grade 12 mathematics. Mapmark includes elements of the bookmark method (Lewis, Mitzel, & Green, 1996;…

The presentation will trace the experiences of two program directors from Walden University and their examination of issues involved with faculty assessment. Their experiences were used to create a simple but effective and workable model for faculty assessment and development. Once a presentation of how data were obtained, and analyzed, to create…

Interpretation of emergent variables on the basis of structure coefficients (zero order correlations between original and emergent variables) is potentially very misleading and should be avoided in favor of interpretation on the basis of scoring coefficients. This is most apparent in multiple regression analysis and its special case, two-group…

The psychometric characteristics of the Test of Written English (TWE) rating scale were explored. Rasch model scalar analysis methodology was employed with more than 4,000 scored essays across 2 elicitation prompts to gather information about the rating scale and rating process. Results suggested that the intervals between TWE scale steps were…

Traditionally, the test score represented by the number of items answered correctly was taken as an indicator of the examinee's ability level. Researchers still tend to think that the number-correct score is a way of ordering individuals with respect to the latent trait. The objective of this study is to depict the benefits of using ability…

A desirable goal would be to develop a methodology for scoring essays so that the final grades are less affected by when or by whom each essay was read. It seems sensible to derive such grades by somehow adjusting the ratings originally given by each reader. This essay describes a solution that relies on statistical adjustment, using the context…

The question of what variables affect success in debate has long been an area of interest and concern in the forensic community. For many years, it was thought that traditional performance variables--delivery, reasoning, organization, analysis, refutation and use of evidence--were the key factors influencing evaluations of debaters. Some…