We compared students' performance on a paper-based test (PBT) and three computer-based tests (CBTs). The three computer-based tests used different test navigation and answer selection features, allowing us to examine how these features affect student performance. The study sample consisted of 9,698 fourth through twelfth grade students from across…

Mathematical Argumentation skills have historically been overlooked in assessment, but the inclusion of Mathematical Argumentation in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) as one of the Standards of Mathematical Practice challenges assessment developers to assess this mathematical practice. Explanation and justification of one's own thinking to a…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate student understanding and application of computational thinking patterns to novel situations. Over 500 students, who had just designed and programmed a Frogger-style game using the AgentSheets platform, responded to a newly developed video-prompt survey instrument administered in the Fall 2010 semester.…

The characteristics of missing data in statistical analysis are outlined, and techniques to deal with missing data are explored using a real data set that contained pretest and posttest measures of kindergarten children. In the first part of the investigation, randomly created missing values for 5%, 10%, 20%, and 25% of the sample were supplied…

This paper illustrates the use of the McNemar Test, using a hypothetical problem. The McNemar Test is a nonparametric statistical test that is a type of chi square test using dependent, rather than independent, samples to assess before-after designs in which each subject is used as his or her own control. Results of the McNemar test make it…

A research design is described for the situation in which a program, particularly a compensatory education program funded by Chapter 1 of the Hawkins Stafford Act of 1988, can be evaluated when there is no available comparison group and no pretest data. The design requires content specialists to identify which objectives on the posttest were…

The one group posttest only evaluation model has been identified as a relatively inexpensive and useful model that can identify program components that are not being successful. The use of the model is discussed and illustrated through a hypothetical evaluation of a compensatory (Chapter 1) program. The one group posttest only evaluation model…

A difficulty associated with the use of Golub and Frederick's syntactic density score was the time required in hand tabulation. This drawback was resolved with the development by Kidder of a computer program which calculates a syntactic density score for writing samples. The purpose of this study was to examine the sensitivity of the Syntactic…

Marine education research designs are discussed, and student learning outcomes while monitoring a coral reef is evaluated. Changes in environmental knowledge and attitudes, ecological intention to act, and direct reef experience were investigated. Differences between student pre-test and the post-test responses were observed, and analysis is…

A study skills course was evaluated for effects on results from the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) (D. Mealy, 1988). Subjects were students in a freshman level college study skills course. At pretest, there were 29 students in the treatment condition, and by the post-test 25 students remained. In a followup telephone survey, 21…

This paper discusses the application of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to the evaluation of the effectiveness of Basic Skills programs in the Newark (New Jersey) school district. Whether HLM is able to handle regression effects in Basic Skills examination data is studied. The analysis uses data from the Stanford Achievement Tests for…

As computer aided instruction (CAI) and distance learning become more popular, a model for easily evaluating these teaching methods must be developed, one which will enable replication of the study each year. This paper discusses the results of a study using existing dependent and independent variables to evaluate CAI for developmental reading…

Self-report, pre/post testing is a frequently employed measure of therapeutic change. To investigate whether expectation of change might be an alternative explanation to the scale shift explanation of response shift bias in a self-report measure, a two-session assertiveness training intervention for college women was evaluated under manipulated…

The tenability of the equipercentile growth assumption was investigated. This assumption is the basis of the norm referenced evaluation model (Model A) for Title I program evaluations, and supposes that a cohort of students, given no special educational intervention, will maintain the same percentile rank over the course of a school year, as…

The equipercentile assumption states that students in traditional classrooms who receive no other instructional assistance, will maintain their relative rank order over time. To test this assumption, fall to fall test results on the SRA Achievement Tests were obtained for grades 2-3, and 6-7. Total reading and total mathematics growth scale values…