Increasingly, academic institutions are being required to improve the validity of the assessment process; unfortunately, often this is at the expense of reliability. In medical schools (such as Leeds), standardized tests of clinical skills, such as "Objective Structured Clinical Examinations" (OSCEs) are widely used to assess clinical…

The emergence of molecular tools in multiple disciplines has elevated the importance of undergraduate laboratory courses that train students in molecular biology techniques. Although it would also be desirable to provide students with opportunities to apply these techniques in an investigative manner, this is generally not possible in the…

This article reviews and discusses the use of statistical concepts in a natural resources and life sciences journal on the basis of a census of the articles published in a recent issue of the "Agronomy Journal" and presents a flow chart and a graph that display the inter-relationships between the most commonly used statistical terms. It also…

In answering general-information questions, a within-person confidence-accuracy (C-A) correlation is typically observed, suggesting that people can monitor the correctness of their knowledge. However, because the correct answer is generally the consensual answer--the one endorsed by most participants--confidence judgment may actually monitor the…

This paper investigates the learning of young people involved in learning a trade in Senegal, West Africa. Fieldwork took place at two contrasting sites, one a workshop where young men were apprenticed to a tailor and the other a vocational training centre where young women were also learning tailoring. The research addresses the relationship…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to posit and test hypotheses concerned with relationships between teachers' demographics, locus of control and career stages. Design/methodology/approach: A sample consisting of 416 Australian non-executive high school teachers was gathered from 40 randomly selected high schools. Multilevel regression…

The testing of English language learners (ELLs) is, to a large extent, a random process because of poor implementation and factors that are uncertain or beyond control. Yet current testing practices and policies appear to be based on deterministic views of language and linguistic groups and erroneous assumptions about the capacity of assessment…

Spatial ability, which is positively correlated with retention and achievement in engineering, mathematics, and science disciplines, has been shown to improve over the course of a Computer-Aided Design course or through targeted training. However, which type of training provides the most beneficial improvements to spatial ability and whether other…

The work aims to improve the assessment of creative problem-solving in science education by employing language technologies and computational-statistical machine learning methods to grade students' natural language responses automatically. To evaluate constructs like creative problem-solving with validity, open-ended questions that elicit…

There is increasing pressure for institutions of higher education in the United States to objectively document student learning outcomes. Criticism of higher education is mounting, with the result being that education institutions need to be more accountable for student learning on their campuses. As a result, there is increased interest in the…

The comparability of examinations in different subjects has been a controversial topic for many years and a number of criticisms have been made of statistical approaches to estimating the "difficulties" of achieving particular grades in different subjects. This paper argues that if comparability is understood in terms of a linking…

The purpose of this study is to examine the problem behavior and self-medication models of alcohol abuse in incarcerated male adolescents. Male adolescents (N = 56) incarcerated in a juvenile correction facility were administered a battery of psychological measures. Approximately 84% of adolescents with clinically significant alcohol-related…

In the past decade, researchers have attempted to develop computer-assisted learning and testing systems to help students improve their learning performance. Conventional testing systems simply provide students with a score, and do not offer sufficient information in order to improve their learning performance. It would be of more benefit to…

How does neighborhood poverty affect the poor's ability to access resources such as health care and job information? Most studies have focused on individuals or neighborhoods; we focus on organizations--specifically, whether organizations are less connected if located in poor neighborhoods. Our case study is childcare centers. We ask whether…

Literature on coping strategies and assessments has not previously included international students, who make up approximately 4% of university students. Results of an Internet survey of 555 graduate and undergraduate international students in U.S. universities are reported. The survey included the Brief COPE, a widely used assessment of coping…