With the concurrent emphasis on accountability, prevention, and early intervention, curriculum-based measurement of reading (R-CBM) is playing an increasingly important role in the educational process. This study investigated the differences in diagnostic accuracy and utility between commercial norms and local norms when making high-stakes, local…

We examined the performance of English language learners (ELLs) and non-ELLs on Grade 4 and Grade 5 mathematics content knowledge (CK) and academic language (AL) tests. CK and AL items had different semiotic loads (numbers of different types of semiotic features) and different semiotic structures (relative frequencies of different semiotic…

When do item adaptations veer from their intent and, instead of increasing access, modify the construct being measured? This study analyzed early elementary student achievement data from a statewide field test containing both standard and adapted science items. Four student groups were included in this analysis: English language learners, students…

A primary goal of standards-based statewide achievement tests is to classify students into achievement levels that enable valid inferences about student content area knowledge and skill. Explicating how knowledge and skills are expected to differ in complexity in achievement level descriptors, and how that complexity is related to empirical item…

Guided by evidence that teachers contribute to student achievement outcomes, researchers have been reexamining how to study instruction and the classroom opportunities teachers create for students. We describe our experience measuring students' opportunities to develop analytic, text-based writing skills. Utilizing multiple methods of data…

Multiple-choice (MC) reading comprehension test items comprise three components: text passage, questions about the text, and MC answers. The construct validity of this format has been repeatedly criticized. In three between-subjects experiments, fourth graders (N[subscript 1] = 230, N[subscript 2] = 340, N[subscript 3] = 194) worked on three…

This article presents a study of ethnic Differential Item Functioning (DIF) for 4th-, 7th-, and 10th-grade reading items on a state criterion-referenced achievement test. The tests, administered 1997 to 2001, were composed of multiple-choice and constructed-response items. Item performance by focal groups (i.e., students from Asian/Pacific Island,…

Students' ability to participate in scientific discourse and to appropriately use empirical evidence to support beliefs or conclusions has been consistently stated as a core goal of science education. In the present study, we analyzed the quality of scientific reasoning in elementary school science classrooms, using the Evidence-Based Reasoning…

This study investigates the extent to which the factors included in the dynamic model of educational effectiveness are associated with student achievement gains in six different European countries. At classroom level, the dynamic model refers to eight factors relating to teacher behavior in the classroom: orientation, structuring, questioning,…

The importance of formative assessment in facilitating student learning has been well established in the literature. However, defining and implementing formative assessment in classroom settings is a rather complicated task. The aim of this study is to explore formative assessment, as implemented in primary classrooms in Cyprus, and develop a…

Current thinking encourages teachers to incorporate a range of assessment practices that are responsive to student thinking and promote student learning. At the same time, teachers are situated in a landscape of accountability, where they are often seen as technicians who implement prescribed curriculum, policies, and procedures with success…

In this three-state study, the authors estimate the magnitudes of achievement gaps between English learner (EL) students and their non-EL peers, while avoiding typical caveats in cross-sectional studies. The authors further compare the observed achievement gaps across three distinct dimensions (content areas, grades, and states) and report…

The purpose of the present study is to examine the language characteristics of a few states' large-scale assessments of mathematics and science and investigate whether the language demands of the items are associated with the degree of differential item functioning (DIF) for English language learner (ELL) students. A total of 542 items from 11…

This study compared performance of both English language learners (ELLs) and non-ELL students in Grades 4 and 8 under accommodated and nonaccommodated testing conditions. The accommodations used in this study included a computerized administration of a math test with a pop-up glossary, a customized English dictionary, extra testing time, and…

We investigated language variation and score variation in the testing of English language learners, native Spanish speakers. We gave students the same set of National Assessment of Educational Progress mathematics items in both their first language and their second language. We examined the amount of score variation due to the main and interaction…