This chapter asserts that data are more likely to improve learning when assessment focuses on sensemaking conversations among students, faculty, and student affairs administrators, rather than on advanced statistical techniques.

Person-fit assessment (PFA) is concerned with uncovering atypical test performance as reflected in the pattern of scores on individual items on a test. Existing person-fit statistics (PFSs) include both parametric and nonparametric statistics. Comparison of PFSs has been a popular research topic in PFA, but almost all comparisons have employed…

This article reports on the results of a pilot study exploring whether and how the meal situations of persons with intellectual disabilities (PWIDs) in need of help and support during meal situations were affected by an eating aid. This article also analyzes how PWIDs and their assistants perceived their experiences of using an eating aid during…

Recent research has proposed a criterion to evaluate the reportability of subscores. This criterion is a value-added ratio ("VAR"), where values greater than 1 suggest that the true subscore is better approximated by the observed subscore than by the total score. This research extends the existing literature by quantifying statistical…

The constructs that currently animate today's dispositions movement are grit and growth mindset. However, the evidence for the reliability and instructional uses of such noncognitive factors in K-12 schools--and of the surveys and tools that attempt to measure them--is thin. After a look at the "logic of assessment" with its focus on…

Research-led teaching is an area that has gained attention and prominence within higher education. This article reviews two teaching resources developed from archived research data and demonstrates how this type of data reuse helps teachers establish a clear connection between research and teaching. The two teaching resources, developed by the…

Photographic images allow data to be captured from an alternative perspective. Traditional, manual cameras are the most common method of recording photographic data, however, innovative technology is changing the way in which photographs can be collected. Wearable cameras enable a vast amount of photographic images to be captured, automatically,…

We still know relatively little about how researchers use qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) such as ATLAS.ti and NVivo. We conducted a discourse analysis of 763 empirical articles published from 1994 to 2013 that explored the language used by researchers when reporting QDAS use. We found that most researchers provided few details of their…

We address the challenging task of "computational natural language inference," by which we mean bridging two or more natural language texts while also providing an explanation of how they are connected. In the context of question answering (i.e., finding short answers to natural language questions), this inference connects the question…

When Superintendent Dennis Vespe came to Somerdale Park School District, he was very interested in strengthening teachers' capacity to track student growth and progress. To do this, he knew the district needed to enhance its "ability to accurately assess and accurately drive instruction." But years of experience had taught him that new…

During Phase III of the State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP), states will assess progress on implementing their SSIPs. This assessment entails evaluating and reporting on progress toward short-term and long-term outcomes as well as the SiMR. The purpose of this interactive self-assessment tool is to lead those within a state responsible for…

Fifty years of research has found great potential for peer assessment as a pedagogical approach. With peer assessment, not only do students receive more copious assessments; they also learn to become assessors. In recent decades, more educational peer assessments have been facilitated by online systems. Those online systems are designed…

This qualitative study identified those factors that influence the perceived effectiveness of traditional IA control frameworks. The key factors examined in this study are risk management, governance, access control, privacy protection, integrity, availability, reliability, and usability. The researcher endeavored to determine how the…

This research aims to make a methodological contribution to the mixed methods literature by investigating the value-added of empirical studies that are explicitly framed with the purpose of interrogating divergent findings. Case studies introduce the role philosophical paradigms can play in reconciliation process and reveal the potential to…

Using my own practice as a researcher, this case seeks to demonstrate how the use of participatory arts-based methods is not just a way to collect data or answer predefined thesis questions, but can actually shape research questions and theses in ways one may not have initially considered. Initially, my PhD research focused primarily on the…