While microcredentials and open digital badges have become increasingly popular in education, more research is needed to better understand their implementation and benefits to both issuers and users. In this paper, we use a case study approach to report and discuss the outcomes from the implementation of an open badges program at National…

Test-optional admissions policies have been steadily, though slowly, expanding throughout higher education institutions for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, sparked a rapid expansion of institutions adopting test-optional policy. Using a diffusion of innovations framework, this study assesses the institutional characteristics that shaped…

Despite the repeated documentation of the positive outcomes for students with extensive support needs (ESN) when they are included in general education settings and receive access to state-adopted general education standards, there has been little systemic progress on the inclusion of students with ESN across most states. The purpose of this…

Rubrics are often used as scoring tools in evaluating student writing performance. Although there is a considerable amount of research on the use of rubrics in ESL writing instruction, little attention has been paid to studies of engaging students in rubric co-construction in the ELT context. This study investigates the implementation of…

Effective mathematics teaching elicits and uses evidence of student thinking to assess progress toward mathematical understanding and adjusts instruction continually to support and extend learning (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2014). However, as teachers march through content in precalculus, they tend to rely heavily on traditional…

This article presents students' experiences with hybrid grading contracts through a thematic analysis of data. We specifically focused on students' perceptions of the grading contract's role in improving their writing skills, issues of fairness, labor, and stress. We argue that the stressful conditions of COVID-19 illuminate the benefits and…

A qualitative study adopting a phenomenological approach examined the feedback of 53 sixth-grade students (aged 11-12) who participated in an annual educational program on climate change and environmental activism. The program was structured around instilling hope while utilizing the 'head,' 'heart,' and 'hands' pedagogical framework. Research…

Historically, colleges have used standardized testing to determine whether a student is ready for college-level work or requires developmental courses first, but this method has been criticized as inaccurate. To obtain more accurate placements, nearly three-quarters of colleges now use multiple measures assessment (MMA) systems. These systems…

Attitudes to sign languages or language policies are often not overtly discussed or recorded but they influence deaf young people's educational opportunities and outcomes. Two qualitative studies from Scotland investigate the provision of British Sign Language as accommodation in public examinations. The first explores the views of deaf pupils and…

As an alternative to Cronbach's [alpha] for estimating scale reliability, McDonald's [omega] has attracted increased attention within the methodological community for its less stringent measurement assumptions. Notwithstanding, [omega] is still seldom used by practitioners, likely due to its unavailability in popular software packages (e.g., SPSS)…

Although a range of studies has explored the effectiveness of group-dynamic assessment (G-DA) and process-based instruction (PBI) in second language (L2) learning, no study has compared the effects of G-DA and PBI on EFL learners' metacognitive awareness (MA) and listening comprehension (LC). Thus, this study aimed to explore the effects of G-DA…

The current study set out to investigate the effects of concurrent group dynamic assessment (GDA) and cumulative GDA on Iranian EFL learners' development of reading comprehension micro-skills. To this end, a convenience sample of 60 intermediate undergraduate EFL university students that were selected based on the results of a placement test and…

The purpose of this article is to describe the nature of the YAP assessment and the utility for enhancing instruction as well as for school-level monitoring and evaluation. Emphasis is on the results from a brief case study that employed the YAP as part of standardized school assessments to guide program planning and school activity promotion…

This study describes the role that Rasch measurement played in the development of assessments aligned to the "Next Generation Science Standards," tasks that require students to use the three dimensions of science practices, disciplinary core ideas and cross-cutting concepts to make sense of energy-related phenomena. A set of 27…

There have been a handful of studies on kindergarteners' motivational beliefs about writing, yet measuring these beliefs in young children continues to pose a set of challenges. The purpose of this exploratory, mixed-methods study was to examine how kindergarteners understand and respond to different assessment formats designed to capture their…