This paper follows a line of logical argumentation to claim that what Samuel Messick conceptualized about construct validation has probably been misunderstood by some educational policy makers, practicing educators, and classroom teachers. It argues that, while Messick's unified theory of test validation aimed at (a) warning educational…

The current paper on writing assessment surveys the literature on the reliability and validity of essay tests. The paper aims to examine the two concepts in relationship with essay testing as well as to provide a snapshot of the current understandings of the reliability and validity of essay tests as drawn in recent research studies. Bearing in…

Test scores are used to assess one's general knowledge of a specific area. Although strategies to improve test performance have been previously identified, the consistency with which one uses these strategies has not been analyzed in such a way that allows assessment of how much consistency affects overall performance. Participants completed one…

A good test is one that has at least three qualities: reliability, or the precision with which a test measures what it is supposed to measure; validity, i.e., if the test really measures what it is supposed to measure; and practicality, or if the test, no matter how sound theoretically, is practicable in reality. These are the sine qua non for…

The purpose of this study is to validate a test anxiety scale for Italian students. The scale is part of a questionnaire administered after the students' annual competence test by the National Institute for the Educational Evaluation of Instruction and Training (INVALSI). The aim of the scale is to explore the anxiety levels of Italian students…

The present report demonstrates the difference between classical test theory (CTT) and item response theory (IRT) approach using an actual test data for chemistry junior high school students. The CTT and IRT were compared across two samples and two forms of test on their item difficulty, internal consistency, and measurement errors. The specific…

It is a bitter reality that the curricula and traditional pedagogy prevailing in public schools of Pakistan in general and Sindh in particular do not incorporate the algebraic concepts properly. Both the content and the presentation therein cannot be considered up to the mark, thereby making "Algebra" a tough and dry subject. This…

The Investigators hypothesized cooperating teachers' evaluations of candidates in clinical practice and field experiences would possess higher scores than those provided by clinical and education division faculty. However, the reasons for the higher scores proved to be much more complex than originally thought. While it was assumed that teachers…

This research paper describes the benefits of using an activity-based rhetorical perspective to develop English for specific purposes (ESP) test specifications. This approach expands the potential of ESP test specifications to analyze and describe target language use (TLU) situations, TLU tasks, and ESP test tasks. Multiple activity systems are…

This study examines Linguistic Competence in English Language (LCE) as a general indicator of Communicative Competence. A test and a questionnaire were administered to 1838 undergraduate freshmen from five major institutes of higher education in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The results of the test are analysed in their association with main features of…

The research study examined whether a difference existed between the reading achievement scores of an experimental group and a control group in standardized reading achievement. This difference measured the effect of systematic oral reading fluency instruction with repeated readings. Data from the 4Sight Pennsylvania Benchmark Reading Assessments…

In order to determine students' achievement, science teachers have to develop their own assessment tools. This study attempts to find out the relationship between the teachers' assessment tools and students' cognitive development according to the teachers' teaching experiences. Six open-ended survey questions were developed and delivered to 59…

Purpose: The paper deals with the study of students' computer literacy one of the purposes being demonstration the impact of the cognitive and non-cognitive personality traits (attention, verbal and non-verbal intelligence, emotional-motivational relationship with computer, learning strategies, etc.) on the quality of computer literacy.…