Recently there has been an increasing level of interest in subtest scores, or subscores, for their potential diagnostic value. Haberman (2008) suggested a method to determine if a subscore has added value over the total score. Researchers have often been interested in the performance of subgroups--for example, those based on gender or…

In this article, we investigate the creation of comparable score scales across countries in international assessments. We examine potential improvements to current score scale calibration procedures used in international large-scale assessments. Our approach seeks to improve fairness in scoring international large-scale assessments, which often…

This paper introduces a special issue of "Cognitive Science" initiated on the 25th anniversary of the publication of "Parallel Distributed Processing" (PDP), a two-volume work that introduced the use of neural network models as vehicles for understanding cognition. The collection surveys the core commitments of the PDP…

Agamben's notion of the "paradigm" has far-reaching implications for educational thinking, curriculum design and pedagogical conduct. In his approach, examples--or paradigms--deeply engage our powers of analogy, enabling us to discern previously unseen affinities among singular objects by stepping outside established systems of…

The contemporary interest in researching student agency in science education reflects concerns about the relevance of schooling and a shift in science education towards understanding learning in science as a complex social activity. The purpose of this article is to identify problems confronting the science education community in the development…

A growing interest in spirituality in higher education has been accompanied by a range of responses to the challenge of defining the term. These responses include avoiding the problem by leaving it undefined; stipulating a particular and often context-specific definition of spirituality; and practising a kind of ad hoc eclecticism. This article…

School mathematics tends to have developed from the major cultures of Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe. However, indigenous cultures in particular may have distinctly different systematic ways of referring to space and thinking mathematically about spatial activity. Their approaches are based on the close link between the environment and…

Theorists have speculated about the symbolic underpinnings of theory of mind (ToM), but no study has examined them across the main developmental span of ToM. Here, the onset of symbolic understandings in three domains (pretend play, language, and understanding representations) and ToM was examined. Fifty-eight children were tested on batteries of…

This article addresses validity and fairness in the testing of English language learners (ELLs)--students in the United States who are developing English as a second language. It discusses limitations of current approaches to examining the linguistic features of items and their effect on the performance of ELL students. The article submits that…

Recent gender retheorisation has drawn on Mikhail Bakhtin's literary and linguistic theories of monoglossia and heteroglossia to reconcile seemingly contradictory gender discourses. Thus, girls/women and boys/men as they are biologically sexed might be discussed within a poststructural gender theory discourse that disconnects gender from the…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an individualized, systematic language intervention on the personal narratives of children with autism. Method: A single-subject, multiple-baseline design across participants and behaviors was used to examine the effect of the intervention on language features of personal…

Purpose: In this article, the author comments on aspects of Kamhi's (2014) article, which caused the author to think more deeply about definitions of language, theories of learning, and how these two core components of intervention prepare clinical scientists as they search the literature for new knowledge. Interprofessional collaborative…

The growing diversity in schools dictates alternative approaches to meeting the need of all students. In particular, the changing demographics coupled with the increase in linguistically diverse student populations pose a challenge for teachers and educators alike. Thus, teacher education programs must integrate necessary ingredients to prepare…

This article examines anti-racist strategies employed in Finnish children's literature. The examples from four stories illustrate that certain physical characteristics and cultural markers can become strong signifiers of nationality, that is Finnishness. The characters in these stories have to cope with experiences of exclusion and loneliness…

This study used a questionnaire to survey ethnic identity among 329 ethnic minority no-fee preservice students at Southwest University. The results indicated that: (1) Ethnic minority no-fee students have a relatively strong sense of identity with both their ethnicity and the Chinese nation, and the correlation between the two is positive. Their…