This three-article dissertation aims to address three methodological challenges to ensure comparability in educational research, including scale linking, test equating, and propensity score (PS) weighting. The first study intends to improve test scale comparability by evaluating the effect of six missing data handling approaches, including…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted school, work, and daily life on a global scale. In the wake of this unprecedented health crisis, schools across the United States were forced to abruptly adapt their educational delivery models. Understanding how student learning trajectories shifted throughout the ongoing pandemic is critical for equipping…

In order to ensure content validity by covering a broad range of content domains, the testing times of some educational large-scale assessments last up to a total of two hours or more. Performance decline over the course of taking the test has been extensively documented in the literature. It can occur due to increases in the numbers of: (a)…

Classroom observational protocols, in which raters observe and score the quality of teachers' instructional practices, are often used to evaluate teachers for consequential purposes despite evidence that scores from such protocols are frequently driven by factors, such as rater and temporal effects, that have little to do with teacher quality. In…

The current literature on test equating generally defines it as the process necessary to obtain score comparability between different test forms. The definition is in contrast with Lord's foundational paper which viewed equating as the process required to obtain comparability of measurement scale between forms. The distinction between the notions…

Students who have graduated from nursing school and licensed nurses have a formidable responsibility to provide quality and compassionate nursing care to their patients. However, after graduation, nursing students must study very hard in the hope to pass the National Council License Examination (NCLEX). In recent years, Atlantic Technical College…

This quantitative study investigated the relationship between institutional control and NCLEX first-time pass rates during 2017-2021 for BSN, ADN, and LVN programs in the United States while controlling for school and program level characteristics. The study included five years of data gathered from nursing regulatory agencies and the Integrated…

The Flynn effect, which advocated that there was a rise in the global IQ score, was widely accepted by the relevant scientific community. However, there are recent research findings that this effect has been reversed. In this study, both Flynn and anti-Flynn effects were investigated. The purpose of this study is to analyze students' general,…

Measurement invariance (MI) is a psychometric property of an instrument indicating the degree to which scores from an instrument are comparable across groups. In recent years, there has been a marked uptick in publications using MI in intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) samples. Our goal here is to provide an overview of why MI is…

This article is based on my 2023 NCME Presidential Address, where I talked a bit about my journey into the profession, and more substantively about comparable scores. Specifically, I discussed some of the different ways 'comparable scores' are defined, highlighted some areas I think we as a profession need to pay more attention to when considering…

In many psychological and educational applications, it is imperative to obtain valid and reliable score estimates of multilevel processes. For example, in order to assess the quality and characteristics of high impact learning processes, one must compute accurate scores representative of student- and classroom-level constructs. Currently, there…

The harm to student learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has been well documented and an incredible influx of resources--including $260 billion in federal government investment--has been dedicated to support schools' recovery. Much of this money has been spent developing and expanding academic recovery efforts such as after-school tutoring and…

Most individuals who take, interpret, design, or score tests are aware that examinees do not always provide full effort when responding to items. However, many such individuals are not aware of how pervasive the issue is, what its consequences are, and how to address it. In this digital ITEMS module, Dr. James Soland will help fill these gaps in…

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a widely used technique for studies involving latent constructs. While covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM) permits estimating the regression relationship among latent constructs, the parameters governing this relationship do not apply to that among the scored values of the constructs, which are needed for…

Propensity score matching and weighting methods are applied to balance covariates and reduce selection bias in the analysis of observational study data, and ultimately estimate a treatment effect. We wish to evaluate the impact of a Supplemental Instruction (SI) program on student success in an Introductory Statistics course. In such student…