Questionnaire scales that are mixed-worded, i.e. include both positively and negatively worded items, often suffer from issues like low reliability and more complex latent structures than intended. Part of the problem might be that some responders fail to respond consistently to the mixed-worded items. We investigated the prevalence and impact of…

This study investigates consistent and inconsistent respondents to mixed-worded questionnaire scales in large-scale assessments. Mixed-worded scales contain both positively and negatively worded items and are universally applied in different survey and content areas. Due to the changing wording, these scales require a more careful reading and…

The Student Background survey administered along with achievement tests in studies of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement includes scales of student motivation, competence, and attitudes toward mathematics and science. The scales consist of positively- and negatively keyed items. The current research…

Linking IEA's international reading assessments across 40 years is an interesting endeavor from several perspectives. Being able to examine trends in reading achievement at the 4th grade over such a long period and relate these to policy changes during that time span is an attractive idea. However, this work brings to the fore many thorny issues…

Over time international large-scale assessments have grown in terms of number of studies, cycles, and participating countries, many of which are a heterogeneous mix of economies, languages, cultures, and geography. This heterogeneity has meaningful consequences for comparably measuring both achievement and non-achievement constructs, such as…

Survey participation rates can have a direct impact on the validity of the data collected since nonresponse always holds the risk of bias. Therefore, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has set very high standards for minimum survey participation rates. Nonresponse in IEA studies varies between studies…

Background: In 2011 the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) were conducted at fourth grade in a number of participating countries with a shared representative sample. In this article we investigate whether there are multidimensional proficiency patterns…

Recently, performance profiles in reading, mathematics and science were created using the data collectively available in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011. In addition, a classification of children to the end of their primary school years was…

The "U.S. TIMSS and PIRLS 2011 Technical Report and User's Guide" provides an overview of the design and implementation of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 in the United States and the nine participating benchmarking states:…

Romania's education system has made impressive strides over the past two decades, with an increasing share of students mastering the basic competencies that they need for life and work. But these average improvements mask significant disparities in learning outcomes and attainment, with an increasing share of students leaving education early…

Why has large-scale standardised testing attracted such a bad press? Why has pedagogic benefit to be derived from test results been downplayed? The paper investigates this question by first surveying the pros and cons of testing in the literature, and goes on to examine educators' responses to standardised, large-scale tests in a sample of low…

As an extension of the effort devoted to updating the questionnaires for TIMSS and PIRLS 2011, this dissertation explored a new reporting strategy for contextual questionnaire data. The study investigated the feasibility of constructing "global indicators" from a large number of diverse background variables, which could provide policy…

In information-rich environments, schools are often presented with a myriad of data from which decisions need to be made. The use of the information on a classroom level may be facilitated if performance could be described in terms of levels of proficiency or benchmarks. The aim of this article is to explore benchmarks using data from a monitoring…

The relationship between students' family background and achievement is often seen as an important topic in regard to equality and equity of educational provision. The results of various education studies show that the family background of students correlates with students' academic achievement at school. This paper focuses on the measurement of…

Using data from the international Teacher Education and Development Study: Learning to Teach Mathematics (TEDS-M), the measurement equivalence of teachers' beliefs across countries is investigated for the case of "mathematics-as-a fixed-ability". Measurement equivalence is a crucial topic in all international large-scale assessments and…