This article focuses on rater severity and consistency and their relation to major changes in the rating system in a high-stakes testing context. The study is based on longitudinal data collected from 2009 to 2019 from the second language (L2) Finnish speaking subtest in the National Certificates of Language Proficiency in Finland. We investigated…

Aberrant behavior refers to any type of unusual behavior that would not be expected under normal circumstances. In educational and psychological testing, such behaviors have the potential to severely bias the aberrant examinee's test score while also jeopardizing the test scores of countless others. It is therefore crucial that aberrant examinees…

The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable achievement test on the subject of 'Basic Compounds in the Structure of Living Things'. During the preparation of the draft form of the test, a 32 item-question pool was created by the researchers in the light of the relevant literature. Then, these questions were presented to expert opinion…

It is imperative to collect validity evidence prior to interpreting and using test scores. During the process of collecting validity evidence, test developers should consider whether test scores are contaminated by sources of extraneous information. This is referred to as construct irrelevant variance, or the "degree to which test scores are…

High-stakes reading tests significantly influence one's future success, leading many second language learners to engage in intensive test preparation. This study examines nine TOEFL reading preparation lectures from two popular cram schools, or [foreign characters omitted] "hagwons," in Korea, with a total duration of five hours and…

The extent to which writing modality (i.e., hand-writing vs. keyboarding) impacts second-language (L2) writing assessment scores remains unclear. For alphabetic languages like English, research shows mixed results, documenting both equivalent and divergent scores between typed and handwritten tests (e.g., Barkaoui & Knouzi, 2018). However, for…

In physics education research, instructors and researchers often use research-based assessments (RBAs) to assess students' skills and knowledge. In this paper, we support the development of a mechanics cognitive diagnostic to test and implement effective and equitable pedagogies for physics instruction. Adaptive assessments using cognitive…

Background: Given that limited well-developed instruments are available to assess students' transdisciplinary STEM practices (T-STEMP), this study aims to develop and validate an instrument for examining secondary students' T-STEMP competence. According to the T-STEMP assessment framework proposed in our previous study, we developed items and…

Predicting student performance in international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) is crucial for understanding educational outcomes on a global scale. ILSAs, such as the Program for International Student Assessment and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, serve as vital tools for policymakers, educators, and researchers to…

Teachers who demonstrate academic optimism actively design suitable pedagogical approaches, exhibit proficient classroom management skills, and effectively engage students in the learning process. Nevertheless, the current measurement tools used to assess teachers' academic optimism are constructed solely from the teachers' perspective and fail to…

This study aims to examine the psychometric properties of a scale developed to measure teachers' ability to use artificial intelligence tools in education. The scale was originally proposed as having 33 items across 5 sub-dimensions by Chat GPT-4, an AI system. To establish content validity, the scale form was submitted to expert review. An…

Student participation in Indonesia in activities that develop research skills, such as OPSI ("Olimpiade Penelitian Siswa Indonesia" or Indonesian Student Research Olympiad), remains low. A preliminary study to gather teachers' perceptions regarding research skills was also conducted by the author using a questionnaire; the results…

This study incorporates a random forest (RF) approach to probe complex interactions and nonlinearity among predictors into an item response model with the goal of using a hybrid approach to outperform either an RF or explanatory item response model (EIRM) only in explaining item responses. In the specified model, called EIRM-RF, predicted values…

The development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has started a conversation on its possible uses and inherent difficulties in the field of education. It becomes essential to understand the perceptions of pre-service teachers about the integration of this technology into teaching practices as AI models including ChatGPT, Claude, and…

Ineffective use of resources and suboptimal management at the school level can detrimentally affect human resource development and labour market outcomes. Therefore, efficiently managing human and physical resources is crucial to transforming school inputs into improved educational outcomes. This study assesses the effectiveness of educational…