This study entailed a 3 (instructional intervention) x 2 (assessment-type) between-subjects experimental design employing a pretest-intervention-posttest methodology. The instructional interventions were administered between subjects in three conditions: (a) dynamic instruction, (b) triarchic or theory of successful intelligence-control…

The "TIMSS 2019 Assessment Frameworks" provides the foundation for the four international assessments that comprise the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA's) TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) 2019: TIMSS Mathematics--Fourth Grade, TIMSS Mathematics--Eighth Grade, TIMSS…

As the largest international study ever taken in history, the Trend in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) has been held as a benchmark to measure U.S. student performance in the global context. In-depth analyses of the TIMSS project are conducted in this study to examine key issues of the comparative investigation: (1) item flaws in mathematics…

Successful school reform is dependent on the quality of decisions made by educational leaders. In such decision making, educational leaders are charged with using sound research findings as the basis for choosing school reform initiatives. As part of the debate regarding the usability of various evaluative research designs in providing information…

West Virginia uses multiple state assessments to measure student achievement and inform program decision-making. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 requires participation of students with disabilities in statewide assessments to be consistent with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001 and current with…

Teacher observations have become a national education phenomenon, mandated by federal policies and promoted by philanthropists. They are crucial components of teacher evaluation systems that often have high stakes for teachers and school systems, but have sparked little innovation. Recent calls to make teacher evaluations better, faster, and…

This paper, deriving from a larger study, evaluates the readability of two Grade 4 natural sciences textbooks used by learners who speak English as an additional language in two South African schools. The study is set within the context of the reading-related transitional challenges faced by English second language learners when they move from the…

The authors report on three experiments designed to (a) test under increasingly more favorable conditions whether judges can correctly rate teachers of known ability to raise student achievement, (b) inquire about what criteria judges use when making their evaluations, and (c) determine which criteria are most predictive of a teacher's…

The purpose of the current study was to determine if the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scale (RIAS) scores, as standardized IQ scores, correlate with the children's judgments of their classmates' intelligence, as peer nomination scores, in terms of their power to identify intellectually superior children. Guess Who: Peer Nomination Form (GWPNF)…

In this paper, we describe findings from a three-year evaluation of a well-developed mathematics professional development program that is commercially available on a wide scale. The professional development is designed to improve teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching and to enable them to elicit more student thinking and reasoning during…

There is no comprehensive database of U.S. district-level test scores that is comparable across states. We describe and evaluate a method for constructing such a database. First, we estimate linear, reliability-adjusted linking transformations from state test score scales to the scale of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). We…

The purpose of this study was to develop a computer-based assessment for elementary school students' listening comprehension of science talk within an inquiry-oriented environment. The development procedure had 3 steps: a literature review to define the framework of the test, collecting and identifying key constructs of science talk, and…

Bikeability (2014) is described as "cycling proficiency for the 21st century". The training is practical, skill-based, outcome-led and designed to "boost the confidence of the trainee and to minimise risk". There are three levels of training and children typically start Bikeability lessons once they have learned to ride a bike.…

The "PIRLS 2016 Assessment Framework, 2nd Edition" provides the foundation for the three international assessments planned as part of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016: PIRLS, PIRLS Literacy, and ePIRLS. PIRLS represents the…

Recently, educational researchers and practitioners have turned to value-added models to evaluate teacher performance. Although value-added estimates depend on the assessment used to measure student achievement, the importance of outcome selection has received scant attention in the literature. Using data from a large, urban school district, I…