We analyse the PISA-reported convergence in the performance of private and public schools in Portugal. When PISA sampling weights are used, the number of students enrolled in those types of schools and specific grades/tracks of study differs significantly from official population figures. To account for those differences, we apply a…

Errors that occasionally manifest in examination papers and other educational assessment instruments can threaten reliability and validity. For example, a multiple choice question could have two correct response options, or a geography question containing an inaccurate map could be unanswerable. In this paper we explore this oft-neglected element…

Background: Test score comparability in international large-scale assessments (LSAs) is greatly important to ensure test fairness. To effectively compare test scores on an international scale, score linking is widely used to convert raw scores from different linguistic version of test forms into a common score scale. An example is the multigroup…

Purpose: Surveys in multinational, multiregional and multicultural contexts (or "3MC" surveys) are becoming increasingly important to global and regional decision-making and theory building. To serve this purpose, the surveys need to be well managed, with an awareness of key sources of survey error and how to minimize them, mechanisms in…

One major aim of international large-scale assessments (ILSA) like PISA is to monitor changes in student performance over time. To accomplish this task, a set of common items (i.e., link items) is repeatedly administered in each assessment. Linking methods based on item response theory (IRT) models are used to align the results from the different…

This article is a response to an article written by Wang and Ma "An Examination of Plausible Score Correlation from the Trend in Mathematics and Science Study", published in the Athens Journal of Education. The purpose of this paper is to address issues with Wang's and Ma's suggestion to use analysis method for correlating plausible…

Problem-solving is one of the 21st-century skills. However, students still have difficulty solving sequences and series word problems. The purpose of this research is to analyze students' errors in solving sequences and series word problems based on problem-solving steps of Polya. The research method is descriptive qualitative. The research…

Purpose: Surveys that include skill measures may suffer from additional sources of error compared to those containing questionnaires alone. Examples are distractions such as noise or interruptions of testing sessions, as well as fatigue or lack of motivation to succeed. This paper aims to provide a review of statistical tools based on latent…

This article addresses test translation review in international test comparisons. We investigated the applicability of the theory of test translation error--a theory of the multidimensionality and inevitability of test translation error--across source language-target language combinations in the translation of PISA (Programme of International…

"U.S. Performance on the 2015 TIMSS Advanced Mathematics and Physics Assessments: A Closer Look" expands upon the results described in NCES' [National Center for Education Statistics'] initial "Highlights" report on TIMSS Advanced. This new report provides in-depth analyses that (1) examine the demographics, school…

We investigated whether consensus-based test translation review procedures can be used effectively in cultural contexts with high social stratification. We staged two test translation review panels in China -- where social stratification may potentially inhibit individuals' ability to express opinion and disagreement. We adapted a consensus-based…

Building on the sociological work by Lareau, this study examined the association between students' socioeconomic background, prior achievement and the perception of teacher support within the classroom. We expected that students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds would be more critical about the support they receive in the classroom and rate…

The purpose of this research is to first estimate the item and ability parameters and the standard error values related to those parameters obtained from Unidimensional Item Response Theory (UIRT), bifactor (BIF) and Testlet Response Theory models (TRT) in the tests including testlets, when the number of testlets, number of independent items, and…