Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the extent to which Hispanic students differed in their performance on the Texas state-mandated Algebra I End-of-Course exam by their at-risk status. Specifically examined was the degree to which the at-risk status of Hispanic students was related to three grade level…

Purpose: Specific language impairment (SLI) is characterized by a delay in language acquisition despite a lack of other developmental delays or hearing loss. Genetics of SLI is poorly understood. The purpose of this study is to identify SLI genetic loci through family-based linkage mapping. Method: We performed genome-wide parametric linkage…

This report discusses frameworks and assessment development approaches to consider fairness, opportunity to learn, and consequences of test use in the design and use of assessments administered to diverse populations. Examples include the integrated design and appraisal framework and the sociocognitively based evidence-centered design approach.…

The focus on STEM has centered on knowledge use across multiple disciplines. However, there currently exists limited understanding of the relationship between the cognitive practices utilized across these disciplines as a function of performance on standardized assessments. Focusing on science and mathematics, we investigated the direct and…

The Every Student Succeeds Act requires that English Learners (ELs) are included in annual state testing (grades 3-8 and once in high school) and included in each state's accountability system disaggregated by subgroup to ensure that they receive the support they need to learn English, participate fully in their education experience, and graduate…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress's (NAEP's) transition to an entirely digitally based assessment (DBA) began in 2017. As part of this transition, new types of NAEP items have begun to be developed that leverage the DBA environment to measure a wider range of knowledge and skills. These new item types include the science…

Enacting equitable teaching practices and sustaining those practices continue to be challenges in most high schools (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2018), particularly in an era of high-stakes testing. Just one year after Boaler and Staples (2008) reported on the successes of "Railside High," where equitable teaching…

This article introduces a 6P framework for understanding intelligence, as well as the theories and tests that are derived from it. The 6Ps in the framework are purpose, press, problems, persons, processes, and products underlying intelligence. Each of the 6Ps is considered in turn. We argue that although the purpose of intelligence is culturally…

Response time information has recently attracted significant attention in the literature as it may provide meaningful information about item preknowledge. The methods that use response time information to identify examinees with potential item preknowledge make an implicit assumption that the examinees with item preknowledge differ in their…

A readily and widely applicable procedure is discussed that can be used to point and interval estimate the probabilities of particular responses on polytomous items at pre-specified points along underlying latent continua. The items are assumed thereby to be part of unidimensional multi-component measuring instruments that may contain also binary…

Providing assessment validity information to decision makers in a clear and useful format is an ongoing challenge for the educational and psychological measurement community. We identify issues with a previous approach to a graphical presentation, noting that it is mislabeled as presenting incremental validity, when in fact it displays the effects…

For agencies that deliver high-stakes Second Language (L2) proficiency exams, a research agenda has been undertaken for years to examine the role of rater, task, and rubric as sources of variability into their performance assessments (Lee, 2006; Sawaki & Sinharay, 2013; Xi, 2007; Xi & Mollaun, 2006). However, these challenges are more…

Unequal access to qualified teachers for children of different socioeconomic status--also known as inequitable teacher sorting--has been increasingly put forth as one potential factor contributing to the socioeconomic achievement gap. Despite this, few studies have investigated cross-national differences in teacher sorting, and none have examined…

The world demands bold action to meet the global goal of zero net emissions by 2050. Young people will experience the consequences of climate change more directly during their lifetime than any previous generation in recent history. Education can play a pivotal role in preparing new generations for a greener future. What students learn may mean…

The research note focuses on the alignment aspect of English language proficiency (ELP) assessments, one of the required types of validity evidence for the federal peer review process of states' assessment systems. A basic tenant of current U.S. education policy is the alignment between what a test assesses and what content has been determined as…