School systems across the United States increasingly use performance-based assessments (PBAs) as alternatives to traditional standardized tests, like the SAT, to make post-secondary and workforce readiness (PWR) determinations. However, very little research has been conducted to validate such alternative assessments as valid indicators of a…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the data from the qualitative study fit Rasch model requirements for the definition of a measure, as well as to address concern in the extant literature regarding the appropriate number of items needed in analysis to assure unidimensionality. The self-report victimization scale was…

In today's economy, employers increasingly demand that workers have a high school diploma, yet America's graduation rates are unacceptably low, particularly among poor and minority students. Nationally, only about 70 percent of students graduate from high school on time with a regular diploma; for African American and Hispanic students, this…