This study examined gender differences in students' scientific literacy as measured by OECD-PISA. In particular, we focused on the 2437 students from 140 Hong Kong schools. Hong Kong boys' and girls' science scores did not differ overall. However, boys scored higher than girls at the higher percentiles (75th and above). Moreover, specific test…

The learning difficulties for new entrant chemistry students from a multi-national, regional, tertiary education institution in the South Pacific were investigated using a purpose-designed diagnostic instrument. The instrument contained 25 items distributed across three themes: scientific reasoning, numeracy and scientific language literacy. The…

Instructionally supportive accountability tests (a) measure students' mastery of only a modest number of extraordinarily important curricular aims; (b) describe what is to be assessed in clear, teacher-palatable language; and (c) report each student's results for every curricular aim assessed. To determine the suitability of such assessments to…

A clear and consistent finding of educational research has been the importance of active student responding. During lectures and discussions, active responding most often takes the form of student responses to teacher questions. This whole group responding to questions, however, does not permit every student to respond and does not assure that all…

Twenty-nine percent of students enrolled in Austin Independent School District were English language learners in 2009-2010. The majority of them (62%) continued to make progress in English proficiency, and their state academic test (TAKS) performance continued to improve over the years.

Disappointing results of international monitoring studies such as TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study) and PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) have fuelled another general debate on the need for a sufficient level of scientific literacy and the necessity to improve the quality of science instruction in…

The degree of gender differences in mathematics and science appears to vary with the content subdomain. Differences also appear to be greater on items assessing content knowledge than with items measuring reasoning about scientific processes. Many studies of gender differences have involved fairly select populations. This study focuses instead on…

A simple curriculum is provided that is designed to allow any school to prepare its students for the Enhanced American College Testing Program Tests (Enhanced ACT). Components of this manual include: (1) introduce the test structure; (2) give the strategy lectures; (3) provide as much structured practice as possible; (4) administer a mock test…

This document presents a two-part study. In the first part, open-ended questions based on interview studies were administered via paper-and-pencil tasks to 76 sixth and eighth grade students. In the second part, the earth and sun relationship questions were extracted, modified, and given to 178 seventh grade students. In part one, the performance…

A model for use in identifying assessment needs in association with teacher-made mathematics and science tests at the secondary level was developed. The model focuses on the identification and narrowing of discrepancies between teachers' perceptions of their testing practices and actual practice. All 19 math and 16 science teachers at a 4-year…

The development of the emerging technology of item writing was motivated in part by the desire to reduce potential subjectivity and bias between different item writers who attempt to construct parallel achievement tests. The present study contrasts four test forms constructed by the combined efforts of six item writers using four methods of item…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) conducted several surveys between 1964 and 1985. Sweden has taken part in nine of the surveys. This paper reports the survey results briefly. Major sections included are: (1) Swedish results for all IEA studies; (2) science tests in 1970 and 1983; (3) mathematics…

This survey was developed by the Ohio Sea Grant Education Program in 1979. It is been used every four years as a repeated measure of Ohio students' knowledge and attitudes about the oceans and Great Lakes, charting changes in those attributes as means of determining how well Ohio citizens are being prepared for decisionmaking about those bodies of…

The reading comprehension (RC) and sentence completion (SC) items from four forms of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) verbal sections were examined for differential item functioning (DIF) between male and female examinees. Forms 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the SAT-verbal were administered in January 1983, January 1984, October 1984, and June 1986,…

Data gathered from large-scale assessments in the Ontario Assessment Instrument Pool (OAIP) are examined. Implications for science instruction are to be found at the item level; the items should not involve more than two or three steps if the responses are to be informative. Items are collected and linked to provincial curriculum guidelines. These…