The development of any assessment should be an iterative and careful process. Ideally, this process is guided by a well-defined framework (see for example Downing in: Downing and Haladyna (eds) "Handbook of test development," Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, 2006; Mislevy et al. in "On the roles of task model variables in…

Researchers have found self-esteem neither to be strongly related to achievement nor to anti-social behaviors in children and adolescents. Due to the inconclusive findings on the benefits of higher self-esteem, an additional concept may be warranted. Other-esteem was coined by Philip Hwang as respect, acceptance, caring, valuing, and promotion of…

Measurement invariance is a prerequisite when comparing different groups of individuals or when studying a group of individuals across time. This assures that the same construct is assessed without measurement artifacts. This investigation applied a novel approach of simultaneous parameter linking to cross-sectional and longitudinal measures of…

We develop the Trait Sources of Spirituality Scale (TSSS), which assesses experiences of closeness to the sacred, within and outside a religious tradition. After using factor analysis to finalize the scale, we examine evidence of construct validity, including latent profile analysis that reveals 5 patterns of how spirituality is experienced.

Authenticity has been identified as a key characteristic of assessment design which promotes learning. Authentic assessment aims to replicate the tasks and performance standards typically found in the world of work, and has been found to have a positive impact on student learning, autonomy, motivation, self-regulation and metacognition; abilities…

Mistakes can be a source of frustration for teachers and students in mathematics classrooms because they reveal potential misunderstandings or a lack of learning. However, increasing evidence shows that making mistakes creates productive pathways for learning new ideas and building new concepts (Boaler 2016; Borasi 1996). Learning through…

Introduction: This study focuses on the development and validation of the Mentoring Processes Assessment Questionnaire--MPAQ- designed to assess mentoring processes in peermentoring programs aimed at first-year university students. Method: Participants in the study were 354 first-year students from a broad set of degrees at the University of…

Extension faculty and staff are constantly planning, implementing, and evaluating programming efforts. Data from participants are needed for assessing changes in knowledge, attitude, and behavior through summative and formative evaluation. However, collecting these data can be time-consuming and hard to achieve. A technological tool called…

For a multiple-choice test under development or redesign, it is important to choose the optimal number of options per item so that the test possesses the desired psychometric properties. On the basis of available data for a multiple-choice assessment with 8 options, we evaluated the effects of changing the number of options on test properties…

This study investigated the effects of linking potentially multidimensional test forms using the fixed item parameter calibration. Forms had equal or unequal total test difficulty with and without confounding difficulty. The mean square errors and bias of estimated item and ability parameters were compared across the various confounding tests. The…

While organizations have a power struggle with their environment and with other organizations in the globalised world, employees who are the most important resource of the organization also have power struggle among themselves. To be successful in this power struggle, employees, especially managers, use a number of political games in the…

With the growing recognition of the serious problem of bullying in schools, attention is drawn to the gap between what is known through research about school-based bullying and what is being applied in schools. This article seeks to identify areas in which the beliefs of teachers about school bullying agree with, or diverge from, what has been…

This research derived information functions and proposed new scalar information indices to examine the quality of multidimensional forced choice (MFC) items based on the RANK model. We also explored how GGUM-RANK information, latent trait recovery, and reliability varied across three MFC formats: pairs (two response alternatives), triplets (three…

Different versions of multiple-choice exams were administered to an undergraduate class in human physiology as part of normal testing in the classroom. The goal was to evaluate whether the number of options (possible answers) per question influenced the effectiveness of this assessment. Three exams (each with three versions) were given to each of…

With the widespread use of technology in the assessment field, many testing programs use both computer-based tests (CBTs) and paper-and-pencil tests (PPTs). Both the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, & NCME, 2014) and the International Guidelines on Computer-Based and Internet Delivered Testing (International Test…