Although content validity--how well each item of an instrument represents the construct being measured--is foundational in the development of an instrument, statistical validity is also important to the decisions that are made based on the instrument. The primary purpose of this study is to demonstrate how simulation studies can be used to assist…

Multiple true-false (MTF) items are a widely used supplement to the commonly used single-best answer (Type A) multiple choice format. However, an optimal scoring algorithm for MTF items has not yet been established, as existing studies yielded conflicting results. Therefore, this study analyzes two questions: What is the optimal scoring algorithm…

Survey results from a national sample of economics instructors describe the grading policies and practices in principles of economics courses. The survey results provide insights about absolute and relative grading systems used by instructors, the course components and their weights that determine grades, and the type of assessment items used for…

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a group of states working together to develop a modern assessment that replaces previous state standardized tests. It provides better information for teachers and parents to identify where a student needs help, or is excelling, so they are able to enhance instruction to…

Using de-identified data, this study investigated the relationship between racial categories with curriculum-based early writing measures (CBM-W), which included word dictation, picture word sentence writing, and story prompt tasks for over 300 participants in Grades 1, 2, and 3. Words written, words spelled correctly, correct letter sequences,…