Background: While the integration of robot-based learning in early childhood education has gained increasing attention in recent years, there is still a lack of evidence regarding the impact of AI robots on young children's learning. Objectives: The study explored the effectiveness of two AI education approaches in advancing kindergarteners'…

Computational thinking (CT) has permeated primary and early childhood education in recent years. Despite the extensive effort in CT learning initiatives, few age-appropriate assessment tools targeting young children have been developed. In this study, we proposed Computational Thinking Test for Lower Primary (CTtLP), which was designed for lower…

Developing student interest is critical to supporting student learning in computer science. Research indicates that student interest is a key predictor of persistence and achievement. While there is a growing body of work on developing computing identities for diverse students, little research focuses on early exposure to develop multilingual…

There is a need for developmentally appropriate Computational Thinking (CT) assessments that can be implemented in early childhood classrooms. We developed a new instrument called "TechCheck" for assessing CT skills in young children that does not require prior knowledge of computer programming. "TechCheck" is based on…

This report provides a description of the development process, field testing, and psychometric properties of a student mathematics test designed to assess grades K, 1, and 2 student abilities. The test was administered to 4,486 participating grade K, 1, and 2 students in 67 schools located in 10 public school districts in Florida during fall 2015.…

This report provides a description of the development process, field testing, and psychometric properties of a student mathematics test designed to assess grades 1 and 2 student abilities. The test was administered to 2,373 participating grade 1 and 2 students in 22 schools located in 2 public school districts in Florida during fall 2013. Focused…

This study explores the potential of using online tests for the assessment of school readiness and for monitoring early reasoning. Four tests of a face-to-face-administered school readiness test battery (speech sound discrimination, relational reasoning, counting and basic numeracy, and deductive reasoning) and a paper-and-pencil inductive…

Children's early mathematics skills develop in a cumulative fashion; foundational skills form a basis for the acquisition of later skills. However, non-mathematical factors such as working memory and language skills have also been linked to mathematical development at a broad level. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted to evaluate the…

The results of an exploratory study into measurement of elementary mathematics ability are presented. The focus is on the abilities involved in solving standard computation problems on the one hand and problems presented in a realistic context on the other. The objectives were to assess to what extent these abilities are shared or distinct, and…

The majority of large-scale assessments develop various score scales that are either linear or nonlinear transformations of raw scores for better interpretations and uses of assessment results. The current formula for coefficient alpha (a; the commonly used reliability coefficient) only provides internal consistency reliability estimates of raw…

This paper reports on a study conducted to investigate the consistency of the results between 2 approaches to estimating school effectiveness through value-added modeling. Estimates of school effects from the layered model employing item response theory (IRT) scaled data are compared to estimates derived from a discrete growth model based on the…