Embodied cognition--the idea that mental states and processes should be understood in relation to one's bodily constitution and interactions with the world--remains a controversial topic within cognitive science. Recently, however, increasing interest in predictive processing theories among proponents and critics of embodiment alike has raised…

General intelligence is a fundamental human capacity with significant educational implications. However, it is often not considered in educational research despite substantial evidence illustrating its association with positive life outcomes and student's capacity to learn. There are a number of potential reasons for this including the…

The predictive validity of performance on cognitive-behavioral measures of executive function (EF) suggests that these measures index children's underlying capacity for self-regulation. In this paper, we apply ecological systems theory to critically evaluate this assertion. We argue that as typically administered, standard measures of EF do not…

The general feeling is that no predictions can be made based on agent-based social simulations. The outcomes of social simulations are based on the behaviors of individuals and their interactions. Behavioral models are always incomplete and often, also incorrect with respect to real behavior and thus the outcomes of agent-based social simulations…

Improving teacher selection is an important strategy for strengthening the quality of the teacher workforce. As districts adopt commercial teacher screening tools, evidence is needed to understand these tools' predictive validity. We examine the relationship between Frontline Education's TeacherFit instrument and newly hired teachers' outcomes. We…

Grit is theoretically defined as the combination of perseverance and passion for long term goals. Both of these constructs are likely to be relevant for our understanding of how language acquisition occurs and for explaining between-person differences in the rate of language acquisition. Despite this relevance, there are methodological and…

Since its inception in 1949, over 1,500 studies have investigated the validity of the GRE General Test to predict its performance criteria in higher education (Klieger, Bridgeman, Tannenbaum, & Cline, 2016). The present review paper sought to examine the predictive validity of the GRE General Test. Factors affecting the predictive validity…

This article reviews the evidence on the extent to which experts' perceptions of item difficulties, captured using comparative judgement, can predict empirical item difficulties. This evidence is drawn from existing published studies on this topic and also from statistical analysis of data held by Cambridge Assessment. Having reviewed the…

In an attempt to engage more students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, schools are encouraged by STEM educators and professionals to introduce students to STEM through projects which integrate skills from each of the STEM disciplines. Because little is known about the learning environment of STEM classrooms, we…

For many practical purposes, it is often assumed that the quality of a marker is directly related to their seniority. At its extreme, the assumption is that the most senior marker (the Principal Examiner) is always right even in cases where large numbers of junior markers have a collectively different opinion regarding the mark that should be…

The Elo rating system has been recognised as an effective method for modelling students and items within adaptive educational systems. The existing Elo-based models have the limiting assumption that items are only tagged with a single concept and are mainly studied in the context of adaptive testing systems. In this paper, we introduce a…

Extending the discussion on replication in sociology and psychology, this article focuses on the adaption of scales in research. Drawing on a recently published scale, we highlight several validity issues in the scale's composition and development. Using data from two empirical studies, we subsequently show how scales can be tested and adapted. In…

One of the major claims of the report of University of California's Task Force on Standardized Testing is that SAT and ACT scores are superior to high-school grades in predicting how students will perform at UC. This finding has been widely reported in the news media and cited in several editorials favoring UC's continued use of SAT/ACT scores in…

The Additive Factor Model (AFM) is a cognitive diagnostic model that can be used to predict student performance on items in a context that allows for student learning. Within AFM, "skills" have a learning rate, and student acquisition of a skill depends only on the number of opportunities a student has had to exercise that skill and the…

In this paper, we argue that classroom management, student support, and cognitive activation are generic aspects of classroom teaching, forming Three Basic Dimensions of teaching quality. The conceptual framework was developed in research on mathematics instruction but it is supposed to generalize across subjects. It is based on general theories…