In Hong Kong, pupils at Grades 3, 6 and 9 are required to take the Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA). TSA is a low-stakes standardized assessment, tracking pupils' attainment of the basic competence levels in English, Chinese and Mathematics. By design, TSA does not constitute part of individual pupils' school results, but generates…

This study investigates how figurative language is processed by learners of a second language (L2). With an experiment testing L2 comprehension of figurative expressions in three categories, each combining shared and unshared first language (L1) and L2 lexical representations and conceptual representations in a different way, the study…

COVID has highlighted significant weaknesses in how the education system in England is currently managed and resourced. England needs to build a more resilient education system post-pandemic. The Institute of Education's project, "Learning Through Disruption," set out to explore what headteachers, teachers, other school staff and parents…

Across the country, educators, parents and students are saying that there is too much testing in our schools and that testing is taking valuable time away from teaching and learning. These concerns are legitimate and merit attention. School district officials have the opportunity to respond to concerns about over-testing by leading a conversation…

The end of the school year is approaching in most countries of the EU neighbourhood and Central Asia. Most countries closed schools and all forms of face-to-face education and training in mid-March/early April 2020. As the crisis progresses, a stable picture is emerging. Countries have passed through similar stages since the outbreak: being…

This study examined the equivalence and reliability of the two versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test in an Iranian context. This study was motivated by the fact that the Vocabulary Levels test is increasingly being used in Iran for both research and pedagogical purposes without having been checked for validity and reliability in this context. The…

Mobile applications (apps) are increasingly being used with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to supplement their intervention packages; however, the Apps' educational utility is not yet understood. The lack of such knowledge results in young children's inequity of accessing quality intervention. The present qualitative study addressed…

Retrieval practice is known to lead to better retention of a to-be-learned material than restudy (i.e., the testing effect). However, few studies have investigated retrieval practice in relation to working memory capacity (WMC) and personality characteristics such as grittiness (Grit) and need for cognition (NFC). In two experiments, we examined…

Objective: This study was aimed at determining the external validity of the psychometric properties of a two-factor Collegiate Learning Assessment Performance Task Diagnostic Instrument (CLAPTDI) for use in assessing learning skills among predominantly black college students. The construct validity of the two factors CLAPTDI had been established…

This paper provides insights in the development of a skill matching test which addresses soft skills integrated videos as media to provide information about situations to be rated. The design of the skill testing and matching tool is situated in the educational ERASMUS+ project SMART which is presented as well. With a specific view on team work…

The state of Texas has committed to increased access to Higher Education (HE) for all state residents. Among the steps Texas has undertaken to raise inclusion is specific attention to equitable placement testing in community colleges. The purpose of this study was to determine if placement is affected by the instrument applicants use,…

Classification consistency and accuracy are viewed as important indicators for evaluating the reliability and validity of classification results in cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA). Pattern-level classification consistency and accuracy indices were introduced by Cui, Gierl, and Chang. However, the indices at the attribute level have not yet…

The invited colloquium on New Directions in Language Assessment held at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) annual meeting in Portland, Oregon on March 22, 2014 brought together an international panel of scholars to together explore the possibilities and challenges of translanguaging and bi/multilingual approaches in…

Two practical activities are described, which aim to support critical thinking about statistics as they concern multiple outcomes testing. Formulae are presented in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, which are used to calculate the inflation of error associated with the quantity of tests performed. This is followed by a decision-making exercise, where…

Directions used in curriculum-based measurement of reading (CBM-R) currently ask students to "do your best reading." The purpose of this study was to examine whether varying these verbal directions would affect CBM-R performance and whether these alternative directions would influence the important relation between CBM-R performance and…