Test-taking experience is a consequence of the interaction between students and assessment properties. We define a new notion, rapid-pacing behavior, to reflect two types of test-taking experience -- disengagement and speededness. To identify rapid-pacing behavior, we extend existing methods to develop response-time thresholds for individual items…

Feedback is a powerful instructional tool for motivating learning. But effective feedback, requires that instructors have accurate information about their students' current knowledge status and their learning progress. In modern educational measurement, two major theoretical perspectives on student ability and proficiency can be distinguished.…

The purpose of this study is to introduce a method for converting scored 4-option multiple-choice (MC) items into scored 3-option MC items without re-pretesting the 3-option MC items. This study describes a six-step process for achieving this goal. Data from a professional credentialing exam was used in this study and the method was applied to 24…

Although literacy achievement has improved in Chile, adolescents' underperformance in reading comprehension is still a serious concern. In English, core academic-language skills (CALS) have been found to significantly predict reading comprehension, even controlling for academic vocabulary knowledge. CALS are high-utility language skills that…

Assessment instruments composed of two-tier multiple choice (TTMC) items are widely used in science education as an effective method to evaluate students' sophisticated understanding. In practice, however, there are often concerns regarding the common scoring methods of TTMC items, which include pair scoring and individual scoring schemes. The…

Mokken scale analysis is a probabilistic nonparametric approach that offers statistical and graphical tools for evaluating the quality of social science measurement without placing potentially inappropriate restrictions on the structure of a data set. In particular, Mokken scaling provides a useful method for evaluating important measurement…

While learning progressions (LPs) hold promise as instructional tools, researchers are still in the early stages of understanding how teachers use LPs in formative assessment practices. We report on a study that assessed teachers' proficiency in using a LP for student ideas about hydrologic systems. Research questions were: (a) what were teachers'…

We provide a tutorial on differential item functioning (DIF) analysis, an analytic method useful for identifying potentially biased items in assessments. After explaining a number of methodological approaches, we test for gender bias in two scenarios that demonstrate why DIF analysis is crucial for developing assessments, particularly because…

This study conducted to assess the effectiveness of peer observation on enhancing teacher competence among teacher trainees during teaching practice: A case study of Mwenge Catholic University. The study used a cross-sectional design whereby the target population included first, second and third year education students, lecturers, and TP from…

Unlike intelligence, creativity has rarely been investigated from the standpoint of cross-cultural invariance of the structure of the instruments used to measure it. In the study reported in this article, we investigated the cross-cultural invariance of expert ratings of creative stories written by undergraduate students from the Russian…

We analyzed a pool of items from an admissions test for differential item functioning (DIF) for groups based on age, socioeconomic status, citizenship, or English language status using Mantel-Haenszel and item response theory. DIF items were systematically examined to identify its possible sources by item type, content, and wording. DIF was…

This simulation study was prompted by the current increased interest in linking national studies to international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) such as IEA's TIMSS, IEA's PIRLS, and OECD's PISA. Linkage in this scenario is achieved by including items from the international assessments in the national assessments on the premise that the average…

Classroom response systems (often referred to as "clickers") have slowly gained adoption over the recent decade; however, critics frequently doubt their pedagogical value starting with the validity of the gathered responses: There is concern that students simply "click" random answers. This case study looks at different…

The Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) was constructed to be a single-factor instrument that assesses an individual's overall acceptance of evolutionary theory. The MATE was validated and the scores resulting from the MATE were found to be reliable for the population of inservice high school biology teachers. However, many…

The aim of the present study was to respond to the increasing demand for comprehensive tools for the measurement of ocean literacy, by investigating the psychometric characteristics of a Greek version of the Survey of Ocean Literacy and Experience (SOLE), an instrument that assesses conceptual understanding of general ocean sciences content,…