Nations, states, and districts must choose among an array of different approaches to measuring school effectiveness in implementing their accountability policies, and the choice can be difficult because different approaches yield different results. This study compares two approaches to computing school effectiveness: a "beating the odds"…

We investigated how evaluation standards employed in performance tests affect the impact of performance goals (here focused on appearance) on academic cheating. Thereby, we assumed that appearance goals would lead to increased cheating only if students' performance was presumably evaluated based on results rather than on the strategies they…

In response to research demonstrating that Tennessee Extension agents desired a performance appraisal system that better reflected their jobs and provided for appraisers' professional development, a committee of University of Tennessee and Tennessee State University personnel undertook a 2-year initiative to revise the performance appraisal…

Purpose: This study explores the potential of the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) to assess the technical, economic and environmental effects of cooperative innovation projects at farm level. Design/Methodology/Approach: The analysis of the FADN potential relies on the classification of innovations and the co-identification, through the Most…

Researchers have explored a variety of topics related to identifying and distinguishing among specific types of rater effects, as well as the implications of different types of incomplete data collection designs for rater-mediated assessments. In this study, we used simulated data to examine the sensitivity of latent trait model indicators of…

This study sought to determine whether an evaluator conducting electronic course evaluations in person in a classroom increased response rates. At a large public university in the United States, course evaluations were being conducted electronically, attaining a response rate of <50% over several semesters. At the end of the Spring 2015 at this…

Examinees' performances are assessed using a wide variety of different techniques. Multiple-choice (MC) tests are among the most frequently used ones. Nearly, all standardized achievement tests make use of MC test items and there is a variety of ways to score these tests. The study compares number right and liberal scoring (SAC) methods. Mixed…

Summary Employing a Wald confidence interval to test hypotheses about population proportions could lead to an increase in Type I or Type II errors unless the hypothesized value, p0, is used in computing its standard error rather than the sample proportion. Whereas the Wald confidence interval to estimate a population proportion uses the sample…

Scores estimated from multidimensional item response theory (IRT) models are not necessarily comparable across dimensions. In this article, the concept of aligned dimensions is formalized in the context of Rasch models, and two methods are described--delta dimensional alignment (DDA) and logistic regression alignment (LRA)--to transform estimated…

Learning assessment at two-year colleges is growing, but not much has been published about it yet. In general, our smaller classrooms, diverse student population, high proportion of adjunct faculty, and academic freedom in teaching methods and tools set the stage for a different approach to assessment than at four-year institutions. This is the…

In 2015, over 40% of UK higher education (HE) institutions employed oral assessment when assessing and awarding fellowship on HE Academy-accredited schemes using the UK Professional Standards Framework. This article develops research on assessed 'professional dialogues' for this purpose. Data collected at four UK institutions, in which 12 assessed…

Background: Children's spellings are often scored as correct or incorrect, but other measures may be better predictors of later spelling performance. Method: We examined seven measures of spelling in Reception Year and Year 1 (5-6 years old) as predictors of performance on a standardised spelling test in Year 2 (age 7). Results: Correctness was…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlational relationship between classroom grades and standardized test scores for Grade 8 math students. Grading plays a central role in the field of education; this study was significant as it addressed a gap in grading research comparing two current grading methods, and provided an evidence-based…

Academic outcomes and health outcomes are interconnected and reciprocal and school climate has emerged as a way to capture some of this relationship. An increasing trend in education policy is using multiple measures of school success, including school climate, such as California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). As school climate evolves as…

As states are continuing to refine teacher evaluation models, there are opportunities for student learning in the arts to be documented and connected with teacher evaluation. The Tennessee Portfolio of Student Growth in the Arts ("the Portfolio") has provided a new perspective on documenting the relationship between student growth and…