Historically, there has been concern about students losing reading ability over extended breaks from school, commonly in the summer, but studies of this phenomenon have produced inconsistent results. We applied exploratory visual analysis of multiple datasets to examine whether students in Grades K-5 appear to lose or improve in various reading…

Providing evidence that can inform awarding is an important application of Comparative Judgement (CJ) methods in high-stakes qualifications. The process of marking scripts is not changed, but CJ methods can assist in the maintenance of standards from one series to another by informing decisions about where to place grade boundaries or cut scores.…

A sample of 108 highly gifted middle school students participated in a study of the relationships between Big Five factors and overexcitabilities. Students completed the NEO-FFI and Overexcitabilities Questionnaire-II (OEQ-II). A cutoff score applied to the OEQ-II created a threshold for overexcitability, ensuring only extreme responses. Analysis…

Background: Early-grade reading proficiency is well documented as in important factor for later academic success. Researchers and educators consider the achievement of reading proficiency by the end of grade three to be crucial to future academic success and financial independence (Hein et al., 2013; La Paro & Pianta, 2000; Singh, 2013). As…

Children's math performance is strongly correlated with later life outcomes, but early gaps in math skills are stubbornly difficult to close. It is therefore important to identify student math needs early. Using Grade 1-3 student records from Kentucky public schools, the study finds that typically recommended cut scores for widely used early grade…

This report describes a calibration, scoring, and reporting method applicable to an assessment requiring aggregation at multiple levels. We demonstrate the method using an example of an assessment that targets a small and diverse population, an English language proficiency assessment for English learners with the most significant cognitive…

This study used standards setting to establish cutscores for the fidelity of implementation of an evidence-based intervention, the Self-Determined Learning Model of Instruction, designed to enhance goal-directed actions in secondary students with and without disabilities. Cutscores were then applied to a fidelity data from a large, randomized…

We report the results of a convergent validity study examining the externalizing subscale (SRSS-E5, five items) of the adapted Student Risk Screening Scale for Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE 9) with the externalizing subscale of the Teacher Report Form (TRF) with two samples of K-12 students. Results of logistic regression and receiver…

Establishing a cut score is a crucial aspect of the test development process since the selected cut score has the potential to impact students' performance outcomes and shape instructional strategies within the classroom. Therefore, it is vital for those involved in test development to set a cut score that is both fair and justifiable. This cut…

Variation in examiner stringency is an ongoing problem in many performance settings such as in OSCEs, and usually is conceptualised and measured based on scores/grades examiners award. Under borderline regression, the standard within a station is set using checklist/domain scores and global grades acting in combination. This complexity requires a…

Racial disparities exist in autism diagnosis, and yet, the development of most diagnostic tools has not explicitly examined measurement equity between racial and ethnic groups. We examined the validity of the Toddler Autism Symptom Inventory (TASI), a semi-structured interview developed for diagnosis of toddlers, in non-Hispanic Black/African…

This paper studies the causal impacts of public universities on the outcomes of their marginally admitted students. I use administrative admission records spanning all 35 public universities in Texas, which collectively enroll 10 percent of American public university students, to systematically identify and employ decentralized cutoffs in SAT/ACT…

Regression discontinuity (RD) designs are commonly used for program evaluation with continuous treatment assignment variables. But in practice, treatment assignment is frequently based on ordinal variables. In this study, we propose an RD design with an ordinal running variable to assess the effects of extended time accommodations (ETA) for…

In this research report, we describe a study to map the scores of the "TOEFL® Essentials"™ test to the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB). The TOEFL Essentials test is a four-skills assessment of foundational English language skills and communication abilities in academic and general (daily life) contexts. At the time of writing this…

Interest in telehealth assessment for autism has increased due to COVID-19 and subsequent expansion of remote psychological services, though options that are easy for clinicians to adopt and available through the lifespan are limited. The Brief Observation of Symptoms of Autism (BOSA) provides a social context with standardized materials and…