The current investigative study uses a multiple-indicator, latent-growth modelling (MLGM) approach to examine the longitudinal achievement construct and its invariance for MAP Growth.
Topics: Measurement & scaling, Growth modeling
Making teacher goal setting more powerful
Most of us believe that when individuals have goals, their performance improves, and this belief is being put to the test in schools today. In an effort to create alignment between district and school improvement efforts, teachers are more likely than ever to have formal performance goals.
Topics: Empowering educators, High-growth schools & practices
The potential of adaptive assessment
In this article, the authors explain how CAT provides a more precise, accurate picture of the achievement levels of both low-achieving and high-achieving students by adjusting questions as the testing goes along. The immediate, informative test results enable teachers to differentiate instruction to meet individual students’ current academic needs.
Topics: Innovations in reporting & assessment, Measurement & scaling, Student growth & accountability policies
The phantom collapse of student achievement in New York
When New York state released the first results of the exams under the Common Core State Standards, many wrongly believed that the results showed dramatic declines in student achievement. A closer look at the results showed that student achievement may have increased.
Topics: Measurement & scaling
The utility of adaptive testing in addressing the problem of unmotivated examinees
This integrative review examines the motivational benefits of computerized adaptive tests (CATs), and demonstrates that they can have important advantages over conventional tests in both identifying instances when examinees are exhibiting low effort, and effectively addressing the validity threat posed by unmotivated examinees.
Topics: Measurement & scaling, Innovations in reporting & assessment, School & test engagement
Evaluating content alignment in computerized adaptive testing
This article describes the decisions made in the development of CATs that influence and might threaten content alignment. It outlines a process for evaluating alignment that is sensitive to these threats and gives an empirical example of the process.
Topics: Measurement & scaling
Is Moneyball the next big thing in education?
Predictive analytics in education can offer a benefit as long as educators heed the differences between how the tools are used in industry and how they should be used differently in schooling. Perhaps most important, teachers already know a great deal about their students — far more than an investor knows about a stock or a baseball scout about an up-and-coming pitcher.
