University league tables give the image that there is a single dimension along which institutions can be placed. Most derive rankings from an aggregate score of multiple items, which often include opinion responses which has the potential to introduce sampling bias. This paper explores what happens when the two issues of dimensionality and…

One common modification to the Angoff standard-setting method is to have panelists round their ratings to the nearest 0.05 or 0.10 instead of 0.01. Several reasons have been offered as to why it may make sense to have panelists round their ratings to the nearest 0.05 or 0.10. In this article, we examine one reason that has been suggested, which is…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine the relationship between science writing and student science achievement and how teachers implement the writing strategy claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) in their science classrooms. Writing is a critical tool for scientific literacy and student achievement. We must teach our students to…

In an analysis of publication rates in applied behavior analysis, Dixon, Reed, Smith, Belisle, and Jackson (2015a) argued the need to measure the research productivity of graduate programs as a means of informing prospective graduate students. The current study replicated and extended Dixon, et al. (2015a) by analyzing the number of publications…

The purpose of the current study was to estimate reliability, internal consistency and construct validity of the Measure of Instruction for Creative Engagement (MICE) instrument. The MICE uses an iterative process of evidence collection and scoring through teacher observations to determine instructional domain ratings and overall scores. The…

It was thought in this study that it was important to analyze the countries' economic situation and patent production based on their information transfers via their success rankings in PISA, which determined their success internationally. Therefore, it was aimed to analyze the countries' success in participation into the PISA 2012. Case study…

This paper explores the development of the "hensachi" system in Japanese education from the 1960s when it first appeared as a "de facto" measure for scholastic achievement. Unlike absolute scoring systems (such as A-level grades) "hensachi" gave an indication of the probability of getting a place on a particular…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the validity of college rankings, by investigating to what extent measurements employed by rankings are good proxies for evaluating educational practices at liberal arts colleges. Using a hierarchical linear modeling with data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, Integrated…

Academicians, experts, and other stakeholders have contributed extensively to the literature on university rankings also known as "league tables". Often the tone is critical usually focused on the subjective aspects of the process; e.g., the list of the universities' attributes used in the rankings, their respective weights, and the size…

Karen Gross, former president of Southern Vermont College and author of "Breakaway Learners: Strategies for Post-Secondary Success with At-Risk Students," writes of the impact the recent March for Our Lives at hundreds of locations around the globe had on her. As she stood in the middle of hundreds of thousands of protesters in…

Four recent publications describe the progress of nine states that received Round 1 Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grants in implementing systems that rate early learning and development programs on quality and help them improve. These systems are known as tiered quality rating and improvement systems (TQRIS). RTT-ELC had…

In 2015, the Australian Government's Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment of research quality declined to rate 1.5 per cent of submissions from universities. The public debate focused on practices of gaming or "coding errors" within university submissions as the reason for this outcome. The issue was about the…

This article questions the existing understanding of how global university rankings work to coordinate higher education policy. Rankings are often analyzed as accelerators of reform processes while their differences are overlooked. We suggest studying the particular encounters between rankers and national policy contexts as occasions for friction…

National and international rankings of universities are now an accepted part of the higher education landscape. Rankings aggregate different performance measures into a single scale and therefore depend on the methods and weights used to aggregate. The most common method is to scale each variable relative to the highest performing entity prior to…

Reviews of editorial practices and academic studies have shown that journalists often rely on organization websites--and online newsrooms in particular--to inform news stories. Yet, at a time when many academics are called upon as experts by the media, university newsrooms have been ignored. To fill this gap, this study assesses newsrooms of…