The early stage of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) refers to the phase of the trait estimation during the administration of only a few items. This phase can be characterized by bias and instability of estimation. In this study, an item selection criterion is introduced in an attempt to lessen this instability: the D-optimality criterion. A…

Content balancing is an important issue in the design and implementation of computerized adaptive testing (CAT). Content-balancing techniques that have been applied in fixed content balancing, where the number of items from each content area is fixed, include constrained CAT (CCAT), the modified multinomial model (MMM), modified constrained CAT…

A discussion of how informal interviews could replace most psychological testing of children. (HB)

This book provides a general overview of computer based testing (CBT) and aims at an audience of practitioners and graduate students. The book discusses all aspects of BT without going into psychometric detail. This nontechnical and basic book is recommended as a textbook for students or new researchers. (SLD)

The transition from high school to college can be more difficult for some students than others. States continue to report high numbers of students requiring remediation; Minnesota is not exempt from this trend. Examining Minnesota public high school graduates from the Classes of 2007-2013 who enrolled in postsecondary education and those enrolled…

A developmental model of children's understanding of nationality (Nationality Perspective-Taking Ability or NPTA) was proposed and evaluated in this study. The NPTA model expands extant definitions and provides a theoretical foundation for the developmental progression of national identity. Children (Mean age = 9.33 years) from Latin American and…

Evaluation of public service programming is becoming increasingly important with current funding realities. The taxonomy of evaluation competencies compiled by Ghere et al. (2006) provided the starting place for Taxonomy for Assessing Evaluation Competencies in Extension. The Michigan State University Extension case study described here presents a…

In the current era of accountability, U.S. teachers face strict demands from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to ensure that all students' reading achievement meets the requirements of their respective grade levels (Coburn, Pearson, & Woulfin, 2011). These demands are especially stressful when teachers have students who struggle with reading.…

In 2002/03, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools initiated a broad program of accelerating entry into algebra coursework. The proportion of moderately-performing students taking 8th grade algebra increased from less than half to nearly 90%, then reverted to baseline levels, in the span of just six age cohorts. We use this policy-induced variation to…

Redistributing highly effective teachers from low- to high-need schools is an education policy tool that is at the center of several major current policy initiatives. The underlying assumption is that teacher productivity is portable across different schools settings. Using elementary and secondary school data from North Carolina and Florida, this…

Ten years have passed since President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind (NCLB), making it the educational law of the land. A review of a decade of evidence demonstrates that NCLB has failed badly both in terms of its own goals and more broadly. It has neither significantly increased academic performance nor significantly reduced…

Most colleges and universities in the US offer at least some classes online, and a significant number of colleges and universities offer degree programs either all online or predominantly online. Many of the distance learning courses and programs emerge from traditional courses and programs; however, in the past decade we have seen the emergence…

In the early years of online retailing, having an online presence and low prices were believed to be key drivers of success. More recently, electronic service quality has become essential as an online marketing strategy. Online stores provide higher service quality to create online customer loyalty, improve customer satisfaction, and keep a…

Many school districts are using research-based strategies to increase student achievement. The "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001 was created and implemented to assist all students becoming proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014. One strategy many school districts implemented includes an after-school program. One school district…

The aim of this study is to optimize CALL environments as a learning tool rather than a gloss, focusing on the learning of polysemous words which refer to spatial relationship between objects. A lot of research has already been conducted to examine the efficacy of visual glosses while reading L2 texts and has reported that visual glosses can be…