Ipsative assessment is an approach to evaluating student progress that covers a wide range of assessment and feedback practices. In ipsative assessment, students receive an indication of their achievement that represents the extent of their improvements from their previous assessed task(s) in relation to one or more objectives. In turn, ipsative…

Robust evidence links students' positive mental health with academic achievement and provides a compelling rationale for developing and refining strength-based assessments. The Social Emotional Health Survey--Secondary (SEHS-S) assesses adolescents' social and emotional skills and positive psychological dispositions. Previous studies provide…

To identify the most effective strategies for implementing and sustaining Tier 2 and 3 behavior support systems, a measure of general and tier-specific factors hypothesized to predict sustained implementation is needed. To address this need, we conducted two studies examining the construct validity of the "Advanced Level Tier Interventions…

A variety of Flashcard Apps (FCAs) for standardized tests such as the IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, GRE and SAT can be downloaded from the Google Play, and iPhone App Stores for free and used by the students to prepare for any of those tests. FCAs contain thousands of essential words and specialized vocabulary covering several categories such as biology,…

Purpose: We examined whether diverse profiles of strengths and weaknesses would emerge when assessing different aspects of morphological awareness in first- through sixth-grade students using a recently developed standardized test, the Morphological Awareness Test for Reading and Spelling (MATRS; Apel et al., 2021). Method: Four thousand…

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends using an autism-specific screening tool for all young children at primary care well visits. Screening can detect risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in young children whose parents and pediatrician may not otherwise have developmental concerns. The identification of children with or at-risk for ASD…

The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative study was to examine the impact of school closure on beginning-of-the-year readiness for third-grade students in a rural Northeastern North Carolina school district. The research compared third-grade students' beginning-of-the-year reading readiness during the 2019-2020 school year to third-grade…

The research presented in this dissertation describes a series of studies characterizing and assessing undergraduate chemistry students' knowledge related to the epistemic nature of scientific models and modeling. Engaging in authentic scientific practices, for instance, developing and using scientific models, has been identified as an important…

This quantitative correlational non-experimental study examined the predictable relationship between the ACCESS for English Language Learners scale score and the Georgia Milestones English Language Arts (GMAS-ELA) standardized assessment for reclassified fifth-grade English language learners during the 2018-2019 school year. The problem addressed…

Large-scale assessments, a prominent part of education in the United States, are the accountability measures used to determine policies, programs, and the allocation of resources. The U.S. school population continues to have an increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, indicating the need to reevaluate the…

This case study discusses an investigation to develop and validate a survey designed to obtain information on practitioner self-reported knowledge, use, and perceived effectiveness of recommended classroom-based practices for the inclusive instruction of students receiving special education services for Emotional Disturbance. First, students will…

Previous research has suggested that African American children are more equipped to close the achievement gap when enrolled in mainstream schools than in culturally familiar schools. However, this study seeks to determine if there are benefits to attending a culturally familiar school. This study explored test score performance difference of 393…

This longitudinal case study examines reading difficulties identified in Grade 2 and Grade 6 national assessment test (NAT) scores in relation to Grade 9 NAT in Swedish (L1) and English (L2). A norm-referenced screening was used in Grade 2 to assess word reading and reading comprehension. In line with the simple view of reading, four subgroups…

A good deal of research purports that bilingualism has a positive effect on some aspects of cognitive functioning. However, this effect is not consistent, and little research examines trajectories of cognitive skill development in bilingual children. Moreover, it remains unclear whether different types of bilingualism impact how cognitive…

Research Findings: This study aims to extend our knowledge regarding contributions of educator--child interactions to child language outcomes by examining the extent to which specific dimensions of the CLASS observational tool of educator-child interactions are associated with child language abilities, utilizing data from an Australian…