The present study investigated the speaking module of TOEFL iBT with an emphasis on the dichotomy of independent and integrated tasks. The potential differences between the two speaking conditions were intended to be explored based on the oral performance elicited from a group of Iranian test takers. To collect the required data, a simulated…

The research note focuses on the alignment aspect of English language proficiency (ELP) assessments, one of the required types of validity evidence for the federal peer review process of states' assessment systems. A basic tenant of current U.S. education policy is the alignment between what a test assesses and what content has been determined as…

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 Paper-Based Field Tests. School administrators must be thoroughly familiar with the contents of the manual, and the policies and procedures must be followed as written…

This study examines the predictive validity of the TOEFL iBT with respect to academic achievement as measured by the first-year grade point average (GPA) of Chinese students at Purdue University, a large, public, Research I institution in Indiana, USA. Correlations between GPA, TOEFL iBT total and subsection scores were examined on 1990 mainland…

In Gargani and Strong (2014), we describe The Rapid Assessment of Teacher Effectiveness (RATE), a new teacher evaluation instrument. Our account of the validation research associated with RATE inspired a review by Good and Lavigne (2015). Here, we reply to the main points of their review. We elaborate on the validity, reliability, theoretical…

Background: As a comprehensive measure for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the Psychoeducational Profile -- Third Edition (PEP-3) has been validated and widely used in the United States. This study attempted to investigate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the PEP-3 (CPEP-3) Caregiver Report. Method: A total of…

Literature on "Thin Slice" ratings indicates that a number of personality characteristics and behaviors can be accurately predicted by ratings of very short segments (<5?min) of behavior. This study examined the utility of Thin Slice ratings of young children with autism spectrum disorder for predicting developmental skills and…

This study explored the effect of tertiary teachers' goal orientations for teaching on their commitment, with a particular focus on the mediating role of teacher engagement. The results of a survey of 597 Chinese tertiary teachers indicated that teacher commitment was positively predicted by ability approach, mastery and relational goals, but was…

This article describes the development and validation of a survey instrument, the "Writing Strategies for Motivational Regulation Questionnaire" ("WSMRQ"), designed to measure Chinese university students' reported use of motivational regulation strategies in writing in English as a second/foreign language (L2). Conceptualized…

This executive summary highlights findings from the full report (published separately) which analyzes construct and predictive validity of a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Competency Survey. Students' SEL skill ratings were correlated with other measures of SEL skills and other outcomes of interest. A separate research brief also was…

It is often assumed that parents completing behavior rating scales during the assessment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can deliberately manipulate the outcomes of the assessment. To detect these actions, items designed to detect over-reporting or under-reporting of results are sometimes embedded in such rating scales. This…

We examine a commonly suggested proof construction strategy from the mathematics education literature--that students first produce a graphical argument and then work to construct a verbal-symbolic proof based on that graphical argument. The work of students who produce such graphical arguments when solving proof construction tasks was analyzed to…

How we choose to use a term depends on what we want to do with it. If "validity" is to be used to support a score interpretation, validation would require an analysis of the plausibility of that interpretation. If validity is to be used to support score uses, validation would require an analysis of the appropriateness of the proposed…

Naomi Gafni, director of Research and Development, National Institute for Testing and Evaluation, Jerusalem, Israel, has devoted a substantial part of her career to the development of admissions tests and other educational tests and to the investigation of their validity. As such she is keenly aware of the complexities involved in this process.…

The Watson-Glaser™ II Critical Thinking Appraisal (Watson-Glaser II; Watson & Glaser, 2010) is a revised version of the "Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal®" (Watson & Glaser, 1994). The Watson-Glaser II introduces a simplified model of critical thinking, consisting of three subdimensions: recognize assumptions, evaluate…