This paper provides evidence that a short, fully online, well-constructed diagnostic test based on research literature can give teachers information about their students' thinking and strategies that is sufficiently accurate to use for formative assessment purposes. The example is a test for students beginning to learn to solve equations. The main…

The likelihood-to-act (LtA) survey measures impulsive and analytic dispositions in solving mathematics problems. The current version has 16 impulsive and 16 analytic items. Its validity was assessed using a sample of 27 in-service and 92 pre-service teachers. Both the impulsive and analytic subscales were found to have internal consistency…

Generalized expectancies for problem solving referred to by Rotter appear to have significant relevance to the field of psychotherapy, particularly four specific expectancies of interest: (1) looking for alternatives; (2) understanding the motives of others; (3) long-term planning; and (4) discriminating differences in psychological situations. A…

Intended for employers concerned about problem solving and communication within their organization, this document outlines a strategy for developing an instrument that would provide objective data rather than impressionistic data. A questionnaire was designed to explore the relationship between the central constructs of problem solving and…

Few studies have explicitly attended to the personal problem-solving process within the counseling literature, perhaps due in part to the dearth of relevant assessment instruments. To examine the dimensions underlying the applied problem-solving process, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted using data collected from four samples of college…

The development of the Test of Logical Thinking (TOLT), a group test of formal reasoning ability that requires students to solve problems and to justify the solutions obtained, is presented. Procedures are described for investigations of internal consistency, construct validity, and criterion-related validity. Items used in prior research serve as…

Order Analysis is a multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique for determining order among items. This paper reviews articles by different authors describing various components of ordering theory. A common nomenclature is constructed to link together the various ideas and is applied to a fairly simple set of data. Topics discussed include a more…

This study presents psychometric characteristics of the mathematics problem solving performance assessment used in the Minneapolis Public Schools, focusing on the interrater reliability, scoring reliability, and validity of the assessment. The Minneapolis Math Problem Solving Assessment (MPSA) was established in 1991. Students are asked to solve…

The study reported in this paper is an attempt to develop a comprehensive model of measuring problem solving and posing (PSP) skills based on Marshall's schema theory (ST). A battery of tests on PSP skills was administered to 5th and 6th grade Cypriot students (n=2519). The Rasch model was used and a scale was created for the battery of tests and…

Even though several national testing firms have developed measures to evaluate the effectiveness of baccalaureate education, there continues to be a general reluctance on the part of faculty in colleges and universities to accept these measures as criteria on which to evaluate educational programs. Some of the resistance appears to lie in the lack…

The validation of key contextual features of algebra word problems was studied in two phases. In the first phase, five experts were asked to assess the appropriateness of the concepts in the problems and the adequacy of the assignment of the contextual features to the problems. In the second phase, construct validity was established by having 6…

This study examined gender-related differential item functioning (DIF) using a mathematics performance assessment, the QUASAR Cognitive Assessment Instrument (QCAI), administered to middle school students. The QCAI was developed for the Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement and Reading (QUASAR) project, which focuses on…

One of the most ambitious attempts to assess students' understanding of mathematics was carried out in England between 1974 and 1979. The results of this study indicate that there is a need in an overall assessment program to evaluate students' algebraic understanding as well as to measure their achievement in algebraic manipulations and problem…

This symposium on the learning organization is comprised of three papers. "Leading the Learning Organization" (James R. Johnson) examines actions that four leaders of widely diverse organizations took to transform an organization into a learning organization. (Leaders who were successful in implementing the learning organization concept…

Writing encompasses a wide range of skills, from the mechanics of punctuation and spelling to the systematic or even creative development of ideas. The higher order skills of communication necessarily involve critical thinking and problem solving, and an assessment of the writing of advanced students will be able to encompass these other higher…