Assessments built on a theory of learning progressions are promising formative tools to support learning and teaching. The quality and usefulness of those assessments depend, in large part, on the validity of the theory-informed inferences about student learning made from the assessment results. In this study, we introduced an approach to address…

Clinical judgment has become an increasingly important aspect of modern health service professionals. To ensure public safety, licensure exams must go beyond assessing only knowledge and skills when evaluating entry-level professions to evaluating clinical judgment. This importance necessitates licensure and certification examinations in these…

This study implemented the principles of dynamic assessment (DA) with computer technology, iSpring Quiz Maker, to (1) identify the English listening difficulties of 172 L2 English learners; (2) diagnose their individual learning needs, and (3) promote their future potential abilities. Upon evaluating the participating junior high school students'…

The relationship between second language (L2) listening presage and process variables was examined in a large cross-sectional study. A formal model of learning beliefs was adapted to create a structural equation model testing the interrelationships of individual difference (gender, practice, experience with native teachers) and trait variables…

It is well known that information from spoken language is integrated into reading processes, but the nature of these links and how they are acquired is less well understood. Recent evidence has suggested that predictions about the written form of newly learned spoken words are already generated prior to print exposure. We extend this work to…

Diagnostic assessments are intended to support teachers' instructional decision making by providing instructionally relevant information. In this article, we propose that using cognitive theories of learning to design diagnostic assessments can provide teachers with two diagnostic outcomes: (a) the location of a student's thinking within the…

The purpose of this study is to apply the Rasch model to investigate both the Van Hiele theory for geometric development and an associated test. In terms of the test, the objective is to investigate the functioning of a classic 25-item instrument designed to identify levels of geometric proficiency. The dataset of responses by 244 students (106…

In this article, we highlight the need for a precisely defined construct in score-based validation and discuss the contribution of cognitive theories to accurately and comprehensively defining the construct. We propose a framework for integrating cognitively based theoretical and empirical evidence to specify and evaluate the construct. We apply…

Evidence-centered design (ECD) is an orientation towards assessment development. It differs from conventional practice in several ways and consists of multiple activities. Each of these activities results in a set of useful documentation: domain analysis, domain modeling, construction of the assessment framework, and assessment…

We investigated time-related patterns in levels of cognitive performance during the period from 1970 to 1993 based on data from Swedish draft boards. The conscripts, including more than a million 18-19-year old men, had taken one of two versions of the Swedish enlistment battery (SEB67; 1970-1979 or SEB80; 1980-1993), each composed of four…

Dynamic assessment as a complementary approach to traditional static assessment emphasizes the learning process and accounts for the amount and nature of examiner investment. The present qualitative study analyzed interactions for 270 reading test items which were recorded and tape scripted. The reading ability of 9 EFL participants at three…

The evaluation of educational interventions requires assessments that consistently (reliably) produce data from which accurate (valid) inferences about the test subjects can be made for some stated purpose. Despite codified definitions of all these terms, there remains vibrant debate about the assessment design process and how measures of…

This book is intended to offer college faculty members the insights of the development of reasoning movement that enlighten physics educators in the late 1970s and led to a variety of college programs directed at improving the reasoning patterns used by college students. While the original materials were directed at physics concepts, they quickly…

We suggest one redefinition of common clusters of questions used to analyze student responses on the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation. Our goal is to propose a methodology that moves beyond an analysis of student learning defined by correct responses, either on the overall test or on clusters of questions defined solely by content. We use…

Low accuracy levels are often obtained when readers are asked to predict test performance over reading materials. Three investigations further explore the information readers use to make predictions during metacomprehension. Our results show that readers' estimates are influenced by factors such as their initial impression of the reading task,…