Background: This study investigated the psychometric properties of the recently developed Qiyas for L1 Arabic language test using a Rasch measurement framework. Methods: Responses from 271 examinees were analyzed in this study. The test is hypothesized to involve one dominant factor that assesses four skills: reading comprehension, rhetorical…

As the number of candidates who repeat English language proficiency tests more than once to meet a certain cutscore (e.g., for university admission) or to demonstrate progress (e.g., after instruction) continues to increase dramatically, there is a need for more research on the attributes and test performance of test repeaters. This article…

Inquiry-oriented teaching is a specific form of active learning gaining popularity in teaching communities. The goal of inquiry-oriented classes is to help students in gaining a conceptual understanding of the material. My research focus is to gauge students' performance and conceptual understanding in inquiry-oriented linear algebra classes. This…

How we choose to use a term depends on what we want to do with it. If "validity" is to be used to support a score interpretation, validation would require an analysis of the plausibility of that interpretation. If validity is to be used to support score uses, validation would require an analysis of the appropriateness of the proposed…

Naomi Gafni, director of Research and Development, National Institute for Testing and Evaluation, Jerusalem, Israel, has devoted a substantial part of her career to the development of admissions tests and other educational tests and to the investigation of their validity. As such she is keenly aware of the complexities involved in this process.…

The use of assessment results to inform school accountability relies on the assumption that the test design appropriately represents the content and cognitive emphasis reflected in the state's standards. Since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act and the certification of accountability assessments through federal peer review practices,…

This book analyses the nexus between ideology, the state, and education reforms worldwide. The research evinces the neo-liberal ideological imperatives of current education and policy reforms and illustrates the way these shifts in the relationship between the state and education policy are affecting current trends in education reforms and…

There is a growing interest in conceptualizing, defining, and assessing what are often called 21st century skills or deeper learning competencies. The purpose of this literature review is to explore the conceptualizations, definitions, and understandings in the research literature related to critical thinking. Key initial questions include: What…

Over the past several years, content experts, psychometricians, and researchers have been hard at work developing, refining, and studying the digital SAT. The work is grounded in foundational best practices and advances in measurement and assessment design, with fairness for students informing all of the work done. This paper shares learnings from…

The current discussion about assessment in the language teaching context--involving topics such as immigration and citizenship, and university entrance--has brought with it the issue of justice in assessment. Although in Colombia such concerns are not generally discussed, it is important to consider fairness when it comes to classroom assessment.…

The Italian Disciplinary section of Test of Competences (TECO-D) project is an important longitudinal study used to analyze learning outcomes of ungraded students and to measure quality of the educational process. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the TECO-D in students enrolled in the Bachelor's Degree in…

When Superintendent Dennis Vespe came to Somerdale Park School District, he was very interested in strengthening teachers' capacity to track student growth and progress. To do this, he knew the district needed to enhance its "ability to accurately assess and accurately drive instruction." But years of experience had taught him that new…

The usual role of a discussant is to clarify and correct the paper being discussed, but in this case, the author, Howard Wainer, generally agrees with everything David Thissen says in his essay, "Bad Questions: An Essay Involving Item Response Theory." This essay expands on David Thissen's statement that there are typically two principal…

In this study, we describe what factors influence the observed score correlation between an (external) anchor test and a total test. We show that the anchor to full-test observed score correlation is based on two components: the true score correlation between the anchor and total test, and the reliability of the anchor test. Findings using an…

This research synthesizes studies that used a Digitalized Interactive Component (DIC) to assess K-12 student mathematics performance during Computer-based-Assessments (CBAs) in mathematics. A systematic search identified ten studies that categorized existing DICs according to the tools that provided language assistance to students and tools that…