Scoring constructed-response items can be highly difficult, time-consuming, and costly in practice. Improvements in computer technology have enabled automated scoring of constructed-response items. However, the application of automated scoring without an investigation of test equating can lead to serious problems. The goal of this study was to…

Formative assessments have been shown to improve student success; however, the format in which these assessments are implemented has not been well researched. In this study, individual Anatomy and Physiology lab sections were administered formative assessments composed of either a projected (i.e. 'shared-display') quiz presentation or a…

Construct confusion and measurement challenges have plagued emergent literacy research for decades. Using a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design, this study evaluated the dimensionality of alphabet knowledge and identified the sequence of development of 8 alphabet knowledge skills. Eleven models were evaluated in a sample of 3,692 preschool- and elementary…

The lack of research exploring the influence of dynamic visual narratives on inference skills prompted the present study with an aim to profile the inference skills in school children between the ages of 6 years and 9 years 11 months using dynamic visual narratives. A total of 80 participants were considered for the study. An animated story was…

The purpose of this study is to introduce a method for converting scored 4-option multiple-choice (MC) items into scored 3-option MC items without re-pretesting the 3-option MC items. This study describes a six-step process for achieving this goal. Data from a professional credentialing exam was used in this study and the method was applied to 24…

In this study, online test scores and paper-pencil test scores of students studying through online learning were examined. Causal-comparative research was used to determine the distribution of students' test scores and to examine the relationship between them. The participants of the research are freshman students studying in 12 faculties and 8…

Two-tiered assessment structures with paired content and confidence items are frequently used within chemistry assessments to stimulate and measure students' metacognition. The confidence judgment is designed to promote students' reflection on their application of content knowledge and can be characterized as calibrated or miscalibrated based on…

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…

This paper probes into implicit language aptitude (LA), a set of cognitive abilities that showcase learners' unconscious, automatic second language (L2) attainment. Implicit LA is becoming an important part of aptitude research, and advances the understanding of L2 learning mechanism. This paper critiques the construct of implicit LA and proposes…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruptions to the educational system in Arkansas and across the United States. At the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, schools in Arkansas were forced to replace on-site instruction with virtual instruction. During the 2020-2021 academic year, there were three student instructional options:…

Research has underscored the separate role of output to promote processing instruction (PI) effects in language learning. Yet, there is a need to scrutinize the interplay between structured output (SO) and unstructured output (USO) within PI to understand how innovative combinations may enhance ultimate educational attainment. The present…

For passage-based tests, items that belong to a common passage often violate the local independence assumption of unidimensional item response theory (UIRT). In this case, ignoring local item dependence (LID) and estimating item parameters using a UIRT model could be problematic because doing so might result in inaccurate parameter estimates,…

The current article evaluates a national English language proficiency test known as the "MSRT test" which is used to determine the eligibility of candidates for admission to and completion of higher education programs in Iran. Students in all majors take this standardized, high-stake criterion-referenced test to determine if they have…

Research Findings: Children are increasingly using touchscreen technologies at home, which has become a recurring feature within their classroom too. Research has investigated the potential effect of using computer-based tests to assess pupils' performance rather than traditional paper tests. An agreement has still not been formed about the impact…

Research suggests that certain characteristics of survey items may impact participants' responses. In this study we investigated the impact of several of these characteristics: vague wording, question-versus-statement phrasing, and full-versus-partial labeling of response options. We manipulated survey items per these characteristics and randomly…