New Jersey consistently ranks as one of the top-performing states in the country when it comes to education. Most recently, it was ranked third in the nation. A look at the state's standards in any subject shows the state works diligently to vertically align standards while also challenging students in order to better prepare them for the future…

The importance of mathematical problem solving (MPS) has been widely recognized. While there has been significant progress in developing and studying interventions to support teaching and learning MPS for students with disabilities, the research on how to accurately and effectively assess the impact of those interventions has lagged, leaving a gap…

Determining the most appropriate method of scoring an assessment is based on multiple factors, including the intended use of results, the assessment's purpose, and time constraints. Both the dichotomous and partial credit models have their advantages, yet direct comparisons of assessment outcomes from each method are not typical with constructed…

Arithmetic fluency is regarded as a foundational math skill, typically measured as a single construct with pencil-and-paper-based timed assessments. We introduce a tablet-based assessment of single-digit fluency that captures individual trial response times across several embedded experimental contrasts of interest. A large (n = 824) cohort of…

In this edition of Assessment News, Charles Darr uses a case study from the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) to highlight how students can benefit from activating deliberate thinking in assessments. The key message underscores the value of using assessment information to generate insights that inform better teaching and…

Middle level school teachers commonly measure and monitor students' academic performance, but such is not the case for students' classroom behavior. This is unfortunate, given the rise in students' classroom behavior problems in middle school, especially for students who experience emotional or behavioral disorders. The Classroom Performance…

Research Purpose and Contribution: The study aimed to construct an evaluation framework for assessing pupils' computational thinking (CT) during classroom learning problem solving. As a self-report evaluation scale for pupils, this evaluation framework further enriched the CT assessment instruments for pupils and provided a specialized instrument…

Though there is an extensive research literature on understanding and assessing individual modeling competencies, less attention has been given to characterizing the social context of the classroom in which modeling occurs. Yet a classroom's culture of modeling--its negotiated system of beliefs and values about the nature of modeling and what…

This study was carried out to develop a test to assess algorithmic thinking skills. To this end, the twelve steps suggested by Downing (2006) were adopted. Throughout the test development, 24 middle school sixth-grade students and eight experts in different areas took part as needed in the tasks on the project. The test was given to 252 students…

This study describes the rationale, design, development, and technical properties of SELweb MS, a direct assessment of social and emotional competencies in middle school students. Assessment and item design were iteratively developed with input from youth and experts to measure five domains: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness,…

The purpose of this article is to report how Year 6 teachers used geometric reasoning tasks to foster students' mathematical attitudes and dispositions by encouraging communication as students constructed mathematical meaning for themselves. The Year 6 teachers implemented two tasks to provide a rich mathematical assessment opportunity…

With problem-solving as the focus and wisdom as the goal, the concept of giftedness is reconceptualized in the 21st century context. The two most prominent constructs in the field of education for the gifted, creativity and intelligence, are integrated into a view of exceptional talent as consisting of the ability and willingness to solve complex…

This study was aimed to develop a general argumentation framework for evaluating the quality of causal arguments across scientific and social contexts. We designed a computer-delivered assessment that contains four scenario-based argumentation tasks. Each task asks students to identify relevant evidence from provided data sources and use the…

At an unrivaled and enduring pace, computing has transformed the world, resulting in demand for a universal fourth foundation beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic: computational thinking (CT). Despite increasingly widespread acceptance of CT as a crucial competency for all, transforming education systems accordingly has proven complex. The…

Persistence is an important part of student success--both in and out of school. To enhance persistence, we first need to assess it accurately. Digital games can be used as vehicles for measuring and enhancing persistence. The purpose of this study is to test the effects of (a) game-level characteristics (i.e., game mechanics and conceptual…