In most large-scale programs of tests that aid in making high-stakes decisions, such as the "TOEIC"® family of products and service, it is not unusual for a significant portion of test takers to retake the test at multiple times.The study reported here used multilevel growth modeling to explore the score change patterns of nearly 20,000…

The National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLaN) is an annual literacy and numeracy test for all Australian students, and results from the test are disaggregated into a number of categories including language background other than English (LBOTE). For this and other categories, results on each section of the test are aggregated into…

The purpose of test directions is to familiarize examinees with a test so that they respond to items in the manner intended. However, changes in educational measurement as well as the U.S. student population present new challenges to test directions and increase the impact that differential familiarity could have on the validity of test score…

The effect of planning on second language (L2) learners' oral performance is a hotly debated topic in the field of second language acquisition. However, studies on the effect of different amounts of planning time have been quite limited, especially in a testing context. The present study investigated the effects of different lengths of…

The current study explores the nature and relationships among test takers' performance appraisals, appraisal calibration, and reported cognitive and metacognitive strategy use in a language test situation. Performance appraisals are executive processes of strategic competence for judging test performance (e.g., evaluating the correctness or…

At the start of the 21st century large scale educational initiatives reshaped the landscape of general education setting rigorous academic expectations to all students. Despite the legal efforts to improve K-12 education, an abundance of research indicates that students entering college often lack basic learning and study skills. For adolescents…

This is an excerpt from "Back to School: Why Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Education" (The New Press, 2012). It concludes that GED programs need more resources, not less. The programs tend to be populated by low-to-modest income people who failed school the first time around and now are considered less worthy of investment. GED…

Testing aids, including student-prepared testing aids (a.k.a., cheat sheets or crib notes) and open-textbook exams, are common practice in post-secondary assessment. There is a considerable amount of published research that discusses and investigates the impact of these testing aids. However, the findings of this research are contradictory and…

Throughout the United States the number of students who speak English as a second language (ESL) enrolled in United States colleges and universities has been increasing steadily over the past 20 years. ESL students may be considered an at-risk group for performance on reading comprehension portions of classroom and high stakes tests (HST) like the…

This quasi-experimental study reports on the effectiveness of three assessment strategies for students' performance. The primary goal was to determine whether there are any improvements in students' conceptual learning when a frequent (weekly) quiz is used for grading purposes compared to using midterm and final examinations only. Another goal was…

Assessments of student learning outcomes (SLO) have been widely used in higher education for accreditation, accountability, and strategic planning purposes. Although important to institutions, the assessment results typically bear no consequence for individual students. It is important to clarify the relationship between motivation and test…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential impact of misrouting under a 2-stage multistage test (MST) design, which includes 1 routing and 3 second-stage modules. Simulations were used to create a situation in which a large group of examinees took each of the 3 possible MST paths (high, middle, and low). We compared differences in…

This replication study investigates how the level of context in vocabulary assessment affects the scores on tests of American idioms. Using Uçkun's methodology of 3 tests with 3 levels of context, 85 participants varying in level from high-beginner to advanced took an online test consisting of 30 questions, 10 questions for each level of context.…

"Passing the Leadership Test: Strategies for Success on the Leadership Licensure Exam" is a study guide for the School Leaders Licensure Examination (SLLA.) The book presents a comprehensive, practical guide for preparing for the SLLA. It is divided into two sections: basic principles of test preparation and the ISLLC standards with implications…

Understanding academic vocabulary is essential to student success in school. Use of academic vocabulary words in writing is considered one of the strongest measures of how well a reader understands a given word. In theory, willingness to use academic vocabulary in writing indicates the complexity of acquiring representations of the word's…