The calibration of test materials generally involves the interaction between empirical analysis and expert judgement. This paper explores the extent to which scale familiarity might affect expert judgement as a component of test validation in the calibration process. It forms part of a larger study that investigates the alignment of the…

Vocabulary size measures serve important functions, not only with respect to placing learners at appropriate levels on language courses but also with a view to examining the progress of learners. One of the widely reported formats suitable for these purposes is the Yes/No vocabulary test. The primary aim of this study was to introduce and provide…

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have the potential to reduce the workload for the second language (L2) teachers and test developers. We propose two AI distractor-generating methods for creating Chinese vocabulary items: semantic similarity and visual similarity. Semantic similarity refers to antonyms and synonyms, while visual similarity…

Technology-enhanced items (TEIs) are innovative, computer-delivered test items that allow test takers to better interact with the test environment compared to traditional multiple-choice items (MCIs). The interactive nature of TEIs offer improved construct coverage compared with MCIs but little research exists regarding students' performance on…

Acadience Reading (AR) is a screener for early detection of reading problems in elementary students. Limited research exists, however, on its technical adequacy for evaluation of English Learners (ELs). In this study, we tested the long-term predictive validity and diagnostic accuracies of AR and examined the differences between native…

In this qualitative study, I followed four urban early childhood teachers through their participation in a teacher education program designed to enhance their linguistically responsive teaching and into the first four months of the new school year. Using the concept of "take-up" presented by Buehler et al. (2009), I identified what the…

The instructions in this manual explain the responsibilities of school administrators for the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) Grades 3-8 English Language Arts and Mathematics Field Tests, and the Elementary-level (Grade 5) and Intermediate-level (Grade 8) Science Field Tests. School administrators must be thoroughly familiar with the…

Each game within the Ignite by Hatch™ gaming environment belongs to an overall developmental domain and skills-based subdomain and is intended to meet the developmental needs of children at specific skill levels. These skill levels (Beginning, Emerging, Intermediate, Accomplishing, and Proficient+) form an intended developmental pathway. Children…

Research in Indigenous and non-Indigenous education in Australia over the last two decades has begun to turn towards quantitative methods of understanding various factors affecting student outcomes. The current article presents a new measurement instrument, the Multi-Dimensional Student Perceptions of School Questionnaire (MSPSQ), validated with a…

Sports performance testing is one of the most common and important measures used in sport science. Performance testing protocols must have high reliability to ensure any changes are not due to measurement error or inter-individual differences. High validity is also important to ensure test performance reflects true performance. Time-trial…

This commentary summarizes the authors' basic disagreements with the paper, "Rabbit-Ears, VSEPR Sterics, and Other Orbital Anachronisms," which criticizes the authors' usage of the hybrid orbitals for H[subscript 2]O in their book, "A Chemist's Guide to Valence Bond Theory" (Shaik and Hiberty, 2008). The current article shows…

This study investigated the effectiveness of using a social learning programme facilitated by Facebook to develop some creative writing skills and motivation to learn English among secondary-one school students. Seventy students in secondary-one grade in Al-Shahid Hussein A. Abdul-Raouf Mixed Secondary School in Al-Maabda in the second semester of…

The Pennsylvania Department of Education's (PDE's) Office for Safe Schools partnered with REL Mid-Atlantic to conduct a study using data from PDE's school climate survey. This survey, which is available on a voluntary basis to any school in the state, provides a way to track school climate and identify schools that need additional support to…

These are the appendixes for the full report, "Changes in School Climate during COVID-19 in a Sample of Pennsylvania Schools." The REL study analyzed changes in scores from a pre-pandemic year (2018/19) to the 2020/21 and 2021/22 school years, both of which were affected by COVID-19 and related policy changes. These technical appendixes…

This study examined the validity of data collected from a novel online story retell task. The task was specifically designed for use by junior school teachers with the support of speech-language therapists or literacy specialists. The assessment task was developed to monitor children's oral language progress in their first year at school as part…