This election factsheet highlights the following points: (1) While the GCSE pass rate has increased since its introduction, this doesn't tell us very much about how standards have changed. Evidence from international surveys suggests that education standards have remained stable. Stopping the use of modules and limiting resits is likely to reduce…

Investigating the processes underlying test performance is a major source of data supporting the explanation inference in the validity argument (Chappelle, 2021). One way of modeling the cognitive processes underlying test performance is by constructing a Q-matrix, which is essentially about summarizing the attributes explaining test-takers'…

This study reports the development and validation of a questionnaire to assess the holistic development of students with special educational needs (SEN) as a reliable instrument for measuring their overall performance in inclusive education. The survey was administered to 981 regular education teachers in Beijing. The identified factor structure…

Peer interaction can be challenging in autism spectrum disorder, but naturalistic peer-observation scales for preschoolers are scarce. This study examined psychometric qualities of the newly developed Autism Peer Interaction Observation Scale. We tested the Autism Peer Interaction Observation Scale to (a) characterize peer interactions of…

Most studies of the early origins of adult health rely on summing dichotomously measured negative exposures to measure childhood misfortune (CM), neglect, adversity, or trauma. There are several limitations to this approach, including that it assumes each exposure carries the same level of risk for a particular outcome. Further, it often leads…

This study aimed to validate the Chinese School Attendance Reason Scale (CSARS) for assessing junior high students' reasons for school attendance and examine the relationship between school attendance and school adjustment among Chinese students. Participants included three independent samples of 1,235 students from four Chinese provinces.…

Measures of teaching are used internationally to understand and improve quality in early education with little consideration for ecological validity. In this study, we analyze videos gathered in 58 K-1 classrooms in Central Mexico to evaluate the validity and reliability of scores from an observational tool developed in the U.S. and used…

This study investigates the perceptions of teaching competency in multicultural classrooms held by 421 teachers at 16 schools in Hong Kong. The aims of the study are (a) to use confirmatory factor analysis to validate a culturally appropriate version of the Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale (MTCS), (b) to assess three types of…

Over the past 8 years, U.S. kindergarten classrooms have been impacted by policies mandating or recommending the administration of a specific kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) in the initial months of school as well as the increasing reliance on digital technology in the form of mobile apps, touchscreen devices, and online data platforms. Using…

Over the past decades, the integration of content and language in education has been gaining ground in different design formats and at various levels of education worldwide. This study describes a pilot project carried out at the School of Pharmacy of an Italian University, using a partial-CLIL format, as this was the only model accepted for…

Background: Participation is one of the most important interdisciplinary outcome variables in biopsychosocial conceptions of health and disability. While the literature surrounding social and community participation in persons with disabilities indicates that participation is a highly subjective construct, there are few known psychometrically…

Despite the increasing discussions on quality and professionalism in the field of language assessment, limited empirical research is currently available on whether language testing practice conforms to the best practice model prescribed in professional standards. Situated in the context of Chinese higher education, this study examined how English…

The majority of studies on mental health in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children report a higher level of mental health problems. Inconsistencies in reports of prevalence of mental health problems have been found to be related to a number of factors such as language skills, cognitive ability, heterogeneous samples as well as validity problems…

In many countries' policy documents and curricula, teachers in the subject areas of science, social science and language are encouraged to collaborate on cross-curricular issues such as sustainable development (SD). This study is conducted in secondary schools (compulsory years 7-9) in Sweden and investigates the similarities and differences in…

This is the first study that examines the comparative validity of the Chinese National College Entrance Exam (known as Gaokao) to a Western end-of-secondary-school performance measure, Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), as admission criteria to an Australian undergraduate degree programme. The study offers a strong warning about using just…