In order to ensure content validity by covering a broad range of content domains, the testing times of some educational large-scale assessments last up to a total of two hours or more. Performance decline over the course of taking the test has been extensively documented in the literature. It can occur due to increases in the numbers of: (a)…

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is an important target of science teacher knowledge assessment. Most studies that have assessed the PCK across a large sample of science teachers used a text-based approach to elicit and assess the more declarative and static form of teachers' PCK. Recently, small-scale qualitative studies have adopted a novel…

Assessment of learners in the anatomical sciences is a complex task as it not only tests students' fact knowledge, but also the analysis of visual information. Sometimes, novice histology learners must acquire image recognition skills of microscopic structures in a short time frame. This paper describes a strategy of offering first year dental…

Use of high-stakes exams in a course has been associated with gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequities. We investigated whether offering students the opportunity to retake an exam makes high-stakes exams more equitable. Following the control value theory of achievement emotions, we hypothesized that exam retakes would increase students'…

Testwiseness is defined as the set of cognitive strategies used by a student that is intended to improve his or her score on a test regardless of the test's subject matter. Questions with elements that may be affected by testwiseness are common in physics assessments, even in those which have been extensively validated and widely used as…

Bloom's taxonomy was adopted to create a subject-specific scoring tool for histology multiple-choice questions (MCQs). This Bloom's Taxonomy Histology Tool (BTHT) was used to analyze teacher- and student-generated quiz and examination questions from a graduate level histology course. Multiple-choice questions using histological images were…

The GED® test was built from the ground up to give students a test that measures the skills they need to succeed. The test focuses on the foundational knowledge and skills needed for career- and college-readiness, so colleges and employers know that students who pass the GED® test have the skills to excel on the job or in the classroom. This…

Examinee effort can impact the validity of scores on higher education assessments. Many studies of examinee effort have briefly noted gender differences, but gender differences in test-taking effort have not been a primary focus of research. This review of the literature brings together gender-related findings regarding three measures of examinee…

The document is from a presentation at the Texas Region VII 2014 Curriculum Conference. The study examined the effects of a three-tiered high school program designed to increase student achievement and Texas end-of-course (EOC) TAKS and STAAR chemistry scores. The student sample (n = 625) consisted 75% high school sophomores and 25% high school…

A simulated Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) was administered to 39 premedical students two weeks prior to the new MCAT. High correlations between simulated and active test scores were obtained in the biology, chemistry, physics, science problems, reading, and quantitative areas. (MH)