In this study, we propose that the unique needs and characteristics of linguistic minorities should be considered throughout the test development process. Unlike most measurement invariance investigations in the assessment of linguistic minorities, which typically are conducted after test administration, we propose strategies that focus on the…

The National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLaN) is an annual literacy and numeracy test for all Australian students, and results from the test are disaggregated into a number of categories including language background other than English (LBOTE). For this and other categories, results on each section of the test are aggregated into…

While most educators assume that not all students try their best on achievement tests, no current research examines if behaviors associated with low test effort, like rapidly guessing on test items, affect teacher value-added estimates. In this article, we examined the prevalence of rapid guessing to determine if this behavior varied by grade,…

This research investigated the relationships among test performance, anxiety, and the quality of interaction during collaborative testing of college students. It also explored which students are most likely to benefit from collaborative testing. It was randomly determined whether a student would take each of six examinations alone or with a…

Feedback to the test taker is a defining characteristic of diagnostic language testing (Alderson, 2005). This article reports on a study that investigated how much and in what ways students at a Taiwan university perceived the feedback to be useful on an online multiple-choice diagnostic English grammar test, both in general and by students of…

"Naturalization Test Redesign Project: Civics Item Selection Analysis" provides an overview of the development of content items for the U.S. history and government (civics) portion of the redesigned naturalization test. This document also reviews the process used to gather and analyze data from multiple studies to determine which civics…

Exam-skilled, high-anxious college students performed comparably with skilled, low-anxious peers on the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices, yet significantly worse on the concurrent backward Digit Span test. Conversely, high-anxious, unskilled subjects were exceeded by low-anxious, unskilled peers on both tasks. (Author/BW)

Compared the impact of computer-assisted psychological assessment on respondents to traditional psychometric administration procedure. Findings indicated no difference between administration methods on respondents' self-reported anxiety, electromyograph monitored stress, or task satisfaction. Moreover, computer-assisted assessment was more…

To reduce test anxiety, students should know that apparently no correlation exists between student rankings on examinations and the order in which students completed those examinations. Although the first paper completed usually ranks higher than the last, it is not necessarily the best paper, nor is the last the worst. (SB)

A causal-comparative analysis was made of college students' performance on a program of tests and retests. Gains in test scores, student response to testing and retesting, and characteristics of students who chose to be retested are discussed. (CJ)

Relationships between multiple-choice test answer changing and testwiseness skills, and between these two variables and examination performance were studied with 150 college business students. Answer-changing behavior was related to multiple-choice test performance but not to testwiseness or performance on the nonmultiple choice portion.…

The performance of college students on the adolescent-adult version of the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) test was examined in three studies to determine the effects of strategies on performance. With the standard instructions for the MFF, performance was found to be unrelated to test anxiety or extraversion and was parallel in many respects to…

Many community colleges have a need for a mathematics placement test which tests achievement for initial placement in the different levels of mathematics classes. Merrit College investigated this need by examining the scores of all the entering students who did not complete the mathematics section of the School and College Ability Test which they…

Interest in the effectiveness of test coaching has prompted many studies, almost all of which have been directed toward coaching's effect on results of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). The focus of this research was to investigate whether preparation for the American College Test (ACT) provided by professional coaches would raise the scores…

This study explored the relationship between time needed to complete multiple choice tests and college student test performance. Examination time and performance for midsemester and final exams were measured. Results indicated that the variables were relatively unrelated. Students tended to use a consistent test-taking tempo on relatively untimed…