Test-takers' voices in relation to high-stakes language tests have received growing attention in recent years. While the perspectives of this stakeholder group can be utilised to improve test quality, test-taking experience, and test impact, we argue that this goal needs to be achieved by considering a fundamental shift in our conceptualisation of…

In recent years, large-scale international assessments have been increasingly used to evaluate and compare the quality of education across regions and countries. However, measurement variance between different versions of these assessments often posts threats to the validity of such cross-cultural comparisons. In this study, we investigated the…

Testing organization needs large numbers of high-quality items due to the proliferation of alternative test administration methods and modern test designs. But the current demand for items far exceeds the supply. Test items, as they are currently written, evoke a process that is both time-consuming and expensive because each item is written,…

Language is frequently discussed as barrier to mathematics word problems. Hence this paper presents the initial findings of a linguistic analysis of numeracy skills test sample items. The theoretical perspective of multi-modal text analysis underpinned this study, in which data was extracted from the ten sample numeracy test items released by the…

Despite the need for writing competence in and out of school, writing has been deemed the neglected "R" in educational practice. Moreover, many students do not meet expected standards of writing performance. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS), adopted by 45 states, provides an opportunity to change the state of writing instruction on…

The United States and the United Kingdom have used standardized high-stakes testing as a measurement of students' cognitive level to determine success in the 21st century. Standardized tests have given teachers guidance to help them determine what to teach students and how to teach to the test. With such increased emphasis on high-stakes…

According to the model of constructive alignment, learners adjust their learning strategies to the announced assessment (backwash effect). Hence, when teaching for understanding, the assessment method should be aligned with this teaching goal to ensure that learners engage in corresponding learning strategies. A quasi-experimental field study with…

One of the greatest assessment challenges is providing fair and valid tests for multilingual pupils. Since language proficiency impacts their results on content tests, accommodations are suggested to help in solving the validity issues. In this mixed methods study on multilingual assessment, pupils were divided according to three testing…

Rhode Island is committed to ensuring that all educators receive fair, accurate, and meaningful educator evaluations that provide information that can help all teachers improve and refine their practice. Currently, districts in Rhode Island may submit a district-designed model for approval that complies with the Educator Evaluation System…

Despite the wide use of language tests as a basis for awarding English language course credits at Japanese universities, little has been published about how universities set policies on awarding credits according to external test scores. To narrow this gap, the characteristics of such policies were investigated in relation to the EIKEN Test in…

The overall objective of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) is to collect the information necessary for a comprehensive picture of elementary and secondary education in the United States. The abundance of data collected permits detailed analyses of the characteristics of schools, principals, teachers, school libraries, and public school…

National standards for student achievement have been developed in the arts in a process that paralleled the standards discussions being held in mathematics, language arts, science, history, and other areas. The standards process, while demanding, has generated important discussion and debate about which art forms, what kind of knowledge, and what…

Our paper aims at analysing the linguistic "features" produced by Arabic learners of Italian as a foreign language. There are published studies of common errors for Arab students of Italian (Della Puppa, 2006; Giacalone Ramat et al., 2001). However, this study introduces the standardized language assessment, namely the CILS test of…

Providing two or more versions of multiple-choice exams has long been a popular strategy for reducing the opportunity for students to engage in academic dishonesty. While the results of studies comparing exam scores under different question-order conditions have been inconclusive, the potential importance of contextual cues to aid student recall…

In organizational and educational practices, sensitivity reviews are commonly advocated techniques for reducing test bias and enhancing fairness. In the present paper, results from two studies are reported which investigate how effective individuals are at detecting problematic test content and the influence such content has on important testing…