This study compared four methods for setting item response time thresholds to differentiate rapid-guessing behavior from solution behavior. Thresholds were either (a) common for all test items, (b) based on item surface features such as the amount of reading required, (c) based on visually inspecting response time frequency distributions, or (d)…

Attitudes to science scales developed in England have been used in a rural region of South Africa with children aged 10 and 11 years in a two-stage data collection investigation. Cultural constraints on the use of "foreign" scales are explored. Factor analyses reveal differences between the South African and English children. A South…

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends 2014, taking place in Porto, Portugal, from 4 to 6 of April. Psychology, in our time, offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and behavioral…

In June 2007, the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) was awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the College Ready School Diagnostic, a web-based diagnostic instrument. The purpose of this tool is to provide individual school profiles and customized recommendations, enabling each institution to make…

This study examines the appropriateness of a large-scale state standards-based English-Language Arts (ELA) assessment for students who are deaf or hard of hearing by comparing the internal test structures for these students to students without disabilities. The Grade 4 and 8 ELA assessments were analyzed via a series of parcel-level exploratory…

This paper lays out a framework for comparing the qualities and the quantities of information about student competence provided by multiple-choice and free-response test items. After discussing the origins of multiple-choice testing and recent influences for change, the paper outlines an "inference network" approach to test theory, in…

Response generative modeling (RGM) is an approach to psychological measurement that involves a "grammar" capable of assigning a psychometric description to every item in a universe of items and is capable of generating all the items in that universe. The article discusses the rationale behind RMG and its roots, explores how it relates to…

The Perception of Parental Reciprocity Scale (POPRS) was originally developed with a late adolescent population to assess the extent of perceived reciprocity in adolescent-parent relations. This study examined the reliability and validity of using POPRS with younger adolescents. Subjects, 655 males and 636 females ranging in age from 13 to 18,…

A study was undertaken at California's College of the Canyons (CoC) to determine whether evidence existed of disproportionate impact in English course placement based on student ethnicity, gender, or age. Data were compiled for all 4,309 students tested between spring 1993 and fall 1995, while the standard for disproportionate impact was taken…

Unlike many instruments used to measure the attitudes and practices of college composition teachers, the Survey of Attitudes and Practices of Teachers of Freshman Composition (SAPTFC) is based on a generalized theory of teaching at the college level, classifying instruction into three groups: didactic, heuristic, and philetic. In composition…

A series of computer simulations was run to measure the relationship between testlet validity and the factors of item pool size and testlet length for both adaptive and linearly constructed testlets. Results confirmed the generality of earlier empirical findings of H. Wainer and others (1991) that making a testlet adaptive yields only marginal…

Operational procedures for the Graduate Record Examinations Validity Study Service are reviewed, with emphasis on the problem of frequent occurrence of negative coefficients in the fitted within-department regressions obtained by the empirical Bayes method of H. I. Braun and D. Jones (1985). Several alterations of the operational procedures are…

A study reanalyzed the 1977 original form of the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) developed by Guglielmino. It questioned whether there is an intracultural and intercultural factorial consistency, whether raters would reconfirm the eight-factor solution, and whether raters would reconfirm the main characteristics of a "highly…

This study involves a correlation between two measures of creativity: the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) and the divergent production subtests of the Structure of Intellect Learning Abilities Test (SOI-LA). A population of 263 junior high school and senior high students from Louisiana were tested with both the TTCT and the SOI-LA.…

This document contains the instrument used, results gathered, and discussions of the instrument used to measure students' (grades 10 and 12) understanding of science in its technological and social context. The following sections are included: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "A Comparison of Grade 10 and 12"; (3) "The Grade 10…