Intra-individual variability over a short period of time may contain important information about how individuals differ from each other. In this article we begin by discussing diverse indicators for quantifying intra-individual variability and indicate their advantages and disadvantages. Then we propose an alternative method that models…

It is common to assume during a statistical analysis of a multiscale assessment that the assessment is composed of several unidimensional subtests or that it has simple structure. Under this assumption, the unidimensional and multidimensional approaches can be used to estimate item parameters. These two approaches are equivalent in parameter…

Background: Young females have been found to out-perform males in terms of grades and university degrees in many studies. At the same time, young women seem to exhibit lower levels of well-being compared with men. Interestingly, little work has evaluated the interplay between educational success and well-being. However, antecedents and…

Data from the ALEKS-based placement program at the University of Illinois is presented visually in several ways. The placement exam (an ALEKS assessment) contains precise item-specific information and the data show many interesting properties of the student populations of the placement courses, which include Precalculus, Calculus, and Business…

This study demonstrated the equivalence between the Rasch testlet model and the three-level one-parameter testlet model and explored the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method for model parameter estimation in WINBUGS. The estimation accuracy from the MCMC method was compared with those from the marginalized maximum likelihood estimation (MMLE)…

Using a sample of 767 children (403 girls, 364 boys), this study aimed to (a) identify groups with distinct trajectories of peer victimization over a 6-year period from primary school through the transition to secondary school, and (b) examine the associated personal (i.e., aggression or internalizing problems) and familial (family status,…

"Talk of the Town" is a community led approach to supporting the speech, language and communication (SLC) skills of children and young people, aged 0-19, living in areas of social disadvantage. It is delivered by the Communication Trust. This evaluation reports on a randomised controlled trial undertaken with 2696 pupils in 64 primary…

The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of the level of trust of primary school teachers towards their organization in relation to their perceptions of the school having a culture of teacher leadership. Participants of the study consisted of 378 teachers working in Burdur public primary schools. The data collection tool used two…

This paper describes how item response theory (IRT) methods of test-equating could be applied to the maintenance of public examination standards in England. IRT methods of test-equating have been sparingly applied to the main public examinations in England, namely the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), the equivalent of a school…

Most national Physical Education (PE) curriculums worldwide are based on a variety of outcome goals. The most important are physical activity and fitness, self-actualization, motor skill development and social development. Capturing PE Teacher Education pre-service teachers' beliefs toward these outcomes may offer a useful insight into the process…

Academic self-concept has been conceptualized as a multidimensional and hierarchical construct. Previous research has mostly focused on its multidimensionality, distinguishing between verbal and mathematical self-concept domains, and only a few studies have examined the factorial structure within specific self-concept domains. The present study…

Of the several measures of optimism presently available in the literature, the Life Orientation Test (LOT; Scheier & Carver, 1985) has been the most widely used in empirical research. This article explores, confirms, and cross-validates the factor structure of the Chinese version of the LOT with ordinal data by using robust weighted least…

Teachers are the primary agents for creating and maintaining a positive classroom climate--and promoting healthy interpersonal relations with, and among, their students (including the prevention of school bullying) is key to achieving this goal. For this study it was posited that students' willingness to report bullying to their teachers is an…

Understanding students' intentions to study science at upper-secondary school, at university, and to follow science careers continues as a central concern for international science education. Prior research has highlighted that students' science confidence has been associated with their intentions to study science further, although…

The Epistemic Beliefs Inventory (EBI), as a theory-based and empirically validated instrument, was originally developed and widely used in the North American context. Through a strict translation procedure the authors translated the EBI into Chinese, and then administered it to 451 students in 7 universities in mainland China. The construct…