Determining gender learning-style preferences is necessary in assuring that principal preparation programmes are inclusive of styles that benefit both males and females. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any gender differences for students in a principal preparation programme on responses to items measuring pedagogy (science…

This article arises from a broader study that investigates the benefits and forms of mathematical writing and written texts produced by twelve- to thirteen-year-old students in grade seven classes in six junior high schools in KwaZulu-Natal, particularly in the context of major curriculum changes within South Africa, These recent changes in…

Assessing fit of psychometric models has always been an issue of enormous interest, but there exists no unanimously agreed upon item fit diagnostic for the models. Bayesian networks, frequently used in educational assessments (see, for example, Mislevy, Almond, Yan, & Steinberg, 2001) primarily for learning about students' knowledge and…

Statistical prediction problems often involve both a direct estimate of a true score and covariates of this true score. Given the criterion of mean squared error, this study determines the best linear predictor of the true score given the direct estimate and the covariates. Results yield an extension of Kelley's formula for estimation of the true…

We assessed whether and how the discourse written for prototype integrated tasks (involving writing in response to print or audio source texts) field tested for the new TOEFL® differs from the discourse written for independent essays (i.e., the TOEFL essay). We selected 216 compositions written for 6 tasks by 36 examinees in a field…

This paper describes the development, implementation, and evaluation of an automated system for predicting the acceptability status of candidate reading-comprehension stimuli extracted from a database of journal and magazine articles. The system uses a combination of classification and regression techniques to predict the probability that a given…

To appeal to a larger student base, institutions have utilized current online technologies to provide courses to those students who would not otherwise be served. Unfortunately, the online learning experience has not been a positive one for a substantial portion of participating students. Thus, a key issue for postsecondary institutions is that of…

Non attendance of lectures and tutorials appears to be a growing trend. The literature suggests many possible reasons including students' changing lifestyle, attitudes, teaching and technology. This paper looks at the reasons for non attendance of students in the Faculty of Commerce at the University of Wollongong and identifies relationships…

This annotated bibliography/resource guide is intended to assist users in locating resources on educational research in the Bridgewater (Massachusetts) State College Curriculum Library. The first of five sections provides a listing of 25 basic sources for locating educational research, including indexes and abstracts of periodicals and serials of…

An educational program on family resource management was evaluated to judge the goodness of fit of multiple regression equations for predicting program results across multiple sites. The applicability and effectiveness of the 11-lesson MONEY SENSE program was evaluated in six California locations for 190 clients. Indicators of effectiveness were:…

In the past few years, political, economic, and social conditions in Ontario have changed rapidly. In some regions unexpected shifts in population have adversely affected school organization, and schools have had to be opened or closed in haste. This study has a twofold aim: to develop a methodology that will enable Ontario school boards to make…

The purpose of this study was to compare empirical and subjective procedures for identifying science test items which discriminate against males or females in a fifth grade population (n=926). Techniques such as the Mantel-Haenszel procedure enable test developers to use both a priori and ex post facto procedures to identify specific items that…

A standard-setting procedure was developed for the Georgia Teacher Certification Testing Program as tests in 30 teaching fields were revised. A list of important characteristics of a standard-setting procedure was derived, drawing on the work of R. A. Berk (1986). The best method was found to be a highly formalized judgmental, empirical Angoff…

This paper describes two studies that utilize different research methods, one statistical and one non-statistical, conducted by The National Urban League to assess the needs of black communities. The first study, Black Pulse, whose purpose was to assess the conditions and attitudes of black Americans, consisted of a detailed, statistical survey of…

This paper presents an introduction to the use of latent trait models for the estimation of domain scores. It was shown that these models provided an advantage over classical test theory and binomial error models in that unbiased estimates of true domain scores could be obtained even when items were not randomly selected from a universe of items.…