One of the central lessons from research on data use in schools and school districts is that assessments, student tests, and other forms of data are only as good as how they are used. But what influences how they are used? This relatively straightforward question turns out to be fairly complex to answer. Data use implicates a number of processes,…

Several instruments have been developed to gauge student perceptions of their classroom environment as greater attention has been given to the relationship between student achievement and student perceptions. One widely used instrument to assess those perceptions is the Classroom Environment Scale (CES), a 90-item measure for secondary level…

The goal of this article is to contribute to the validation of a self-evaluation method, which can be used by schools to evaluate the quality of their Competence Assessment Program (CAP). The outcomes of the self-evaluations of two schools are systematically compared: a novice school with little experience in competence-based education and…

Multilevel data often exist in educational studies. The focus of this study is to consider differential item functioning (DIF) for dichotomous items from a multilevel perspective. One of the most often used methods for detecting DIF in dichotomously scored items is the Mantel-Haenszel log odds-ratio. However, the Mantel-Haenszel reduces the…

As a fairly new and emergent construct, there remain many gaps in our knowledge about how to integrate notions of culture and cultural context into evaluation theory and practice, as well as gaps in our knowledge about how to conduct and implement evaluations in immigrant and indigenous communities. In this article, the authors provide a…

A single-group (SG) equating with nearly equivalent test forms (SiGNET) design was developed by Grant to equate small-volume tests. Under this design, the scored items for the operational form are divided into testlets or mini tests. An additional testlet is created but not scored for the first form. If the scored testlets are testlets 1-6 and the…

Determining whether individuals belong to different latent classes (taxa) or vary along one or more latent factors (dimensions) has implications for assessment. For example, no instrument can simultaneously maximize the efficiency of categorical and continuous measurement. Methods such as taxometric analysis can test the relative fit of taxonic…

On the basis of a multistage exploration of evaluation texts, electronic searches, and nominations from the field and from managing social science, the author concludes there is little research literature on managing evaluation studies, evaluators and other workers, and evaluation units. The discussion explores what this limited literature tells…

Doors to Discovery[TM], an early childhood curriculum, focuses on the development of children's vocabulary and expressive and receptive language through a learning process called "shared literacy," where adults and children work together to develop literacy-related skills. Literacy activities, organized into thematic units, encourage…

While much of the work in language testing is concerned with constructing quality tests in order to measure language knowledge in reliable and valid ways, there has been a significant movement in language testing research that examines tests in the context of their use in education and society. This line of research exits from the notion that…

We estimated the invariance of educational achievement (EA) and learning attitudes (LA) measures across nations. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to estimate the invariance of educational achievement and learning attitudes across 55 nations (Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA] 2006 data, N = 354,203). The…

LOCO-Analyst is a learning analytics tool we developed to provide educators with feedback on students learning activities and performance. Evaluation of the first version of the tool led to the enhancement of the tool's data visualization, user interface, and supported feedback types. The second evaluation of the improved tool allowed us to see…

Research suggests that high quality early care and education programs can have a significant impact on improving the cognitive, academic and social skills of all children, especially those most at risk for later school failure. A number of states are developing Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) to assess and improve the quality of…

Assessment is a hotly contested issue in education today. The education policy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) emphasizes standardized testing throughout a child's schooling as a major means of assessment. Even at Head Start an attempt was made at standardized testing using the National Reporting System (NRS). Although research indicates that these…

Increasing numbers of empirical studies and theoretical frameworks for preventing sexual violence are appearing in the research- and practice-based literatures. The consensus of this work is that although important lessons have been learned, the field is still in the early stages of developing and fully researching effective models, particularly…