Readability has long been regarded as a significant aspect in English language teaching as it provides the overall picture of a text's difficulty level, especially in the context of teaching and testing. Readability is a practical consideration when making decisions on materials to match a text with target readers' proficiency. However, few…

Background: There is unrealized potential in higher education for greater use of performance assessment, particularly in support of teaching and learning: Well-designed performance tasks can elicit evidence regarding what students know and can do with respect to complex learning objectives. At the same time, there is some pressure, at least in the…

The purpose of the current study is to develop the Adolescent Happiness Scale (AHS). A systematic approach was utilized for developing the scale. In this study, the data were collected from 1136 adolescents including 490 females and 646 males between 11-17 years of age. The psychometric properties of AHS were analyzed by means of item analysis,…

Online testing is a popular practice for tertiary educators, largely owing to efficiency in automation, scalability, and capability to add depth and breadth to subject offerings. As with all assessments, designs need to consider whether student cheating may be inadvertently made easier and more difficult to detect. Cheating can jeopardise the…

For many years, reading comprehension in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was measured via paper-based assessment (PBA). In the 2015 cycle, computer-based assessment (CBA) was introduced, raising the question of whether central equivalence criteria required for a valid interpretation of the results are fulfilled. As an…

Following employers' criticisms and recent societal developments, policymakers and educators have called for students to develop a range of generic skills such as critical thinking ("twenty-first century skills"). So far, such skills have typically been assessed by student self-reports or with multiple-choice tests. An alternative…

This study investigated the effects of imposing task- or process-oriented reading behaviors on reading comprehension assessment performance. Students in grades 5-8 (N = 275) were randomly assigned to hear multiple-choice items read aloud before or after reading a test passage and when they were and were not allowed access to the passage while…

"Mathematical knowledge for teaching" is a concept indicating the requirement for a specific kind of knowledge required to teach mathematics. Mathematical knowledge for teaching necessitates a more complex structure than what is required to carry out mathematical tasks and the knowledge to do that. The purpose of this study is to realize…

The use of internal assessment within GCSE qualifications has always aroused controversy, primarily because of concerns about the authorship of students' work. This has led to tighter controls and a reduction in its use over the last decade. The paper argues that the focus on the authentication of student work has neglected other aspects of…

PISA [Programme for International Student Assessment] will be in the news again this year. The 2018 results are due to be released at the end of 2019 and they usually generate media interest. This Rangahau Whakarapopoto is a research brief which outlines things to watch out for as you think about what the results might mean.

Research has found that the "a"-stratified item selection strategy (STR) for computerized adaptive tests (CATs) may lead to insufficient use of high a items at later stages of the tests and thus to reduced measurement precision. A refined approach, unequal item selection across strata (USTR), effectively improves test precision over the…

Healthism is both an ideological and a regulative discourse that manifests as a tendency to conceive health as a product of individual choice. Healthism represents a collection of taken-for-granted assumptions, positioned at the intersection of morality, blame and health, that can lead to a privileging of 'healthy' and 'productive' individuals. It…

Universal screening of social-emotional deficits in preschool children is a promising avenue for detecting children in need of early intervention. Due to the enormity of this task, it is vital that the instruments used in universal screening be brief, inexpensive, and capable of accurately measuring social-emotional development. The Ages and…

To address student misconceptions and promote student learning, use discussion questions as an alternative to reviewing assessments. This article describes how using discussion questions as an alternative to going over the test can address student misconceptions and can promote student learning.

The purpose of this research is to develop measurement instrument of scientific reasoning tests for biology education students. The research method used the development stage of the instrument based on the test development procedure according to Oriondo & Dallo-Antonio including: (1) design of test, (2) trial test, (3) determination of…