MWERA 2007 Highlights

Annual Meeting Highlight

Contemporary Treatment of Reliability and Validity in Educational Assessment

MWERA 2009 Presidential Addres

Multimethod Analysis of Mathematics Achievement Tests

Multimethod analysis of mathematics achievement tests is illustrated by combining psychometric and statistical methods in the analysis of results from the California Achievement Test-Mathematics administered to seventh-graders from North-East Ohio

Summer Preview of the 2007 Annual Meeting October 24-27, 2007

Summer Preview of the Annual Meetin

Mid-Western Educational Research Association 2007 Annual Meeting, October 24-27, 2007

Call for Proposal

Group Comparisons on Cognitive Attributes Using the Least Squares Distance Model of Cognitive Diagnosis

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 62P15.As the cognitive operations are hypothesized according to a cognitive theory in the context of a study, they are latent (hidden) in nature and cannot be measured and scored directly from the test. The least squares distance model (LSDM) of cognitive diagnosis uses estimates of the item parameters under a specific item-response theory (IRT) model to provide estimates of the probability of a person to process correctly any cognitive attribute given the person’s location on the IRT logit scale. In this paper a methodology for comparing two (or more) groups of individuals, according to their performance on a given set of cognitive attributes is presented

Psychometric Features of the General Teacher Test under the D-Scoring Model: The Case of Teacher Certification Assessment in Saudi Arabia

The teachers’ knowledge and skills on general standards under the Saudi National Professional Teacher Standards is assessed with the use of the General Teacher Test (GTT) administered by the National Center for Assessment (NCA) in Saudi Arabia. This paper examines the psychometric features of the GTT in the framework of a new approach to test scoring, referred to as D-scoring model, which is used with assessments at the NCA. The stability of such features across four test forms of the GTT is also examined. The study findings provide valuable information about the accuracy of the GTT scores and the validity of their interpretation and decisions regarding the licensure of teachers

Revising the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) and Testing for Factorial Invariance

In this study, we revised the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI), a self-report instrument designed to assess students’ awareness of reading strategies when reading school-related materials. We collected evidence of structural, generalizability, and external aspects of validity for the revised inventory (MARSI-R). We first conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the MARSI instrument, which resulted in the reduction of the number of strategy statements from 30 to 15. We then tested MARSI-R for factorial invariance across gender and ethnic groups and found that there is a uniformity in student interpretation of the reading strategy statements across these groups, thus allowing for their comparison on levels of metacognitive processing skills. We found evidence of the external validity aspect of MARSI-R data through correlations of such data with a measure of the students’ perceived reading ability. Given that this journal is oriented to second language learning and teaching, our article also includes comments on the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS), which was based on the original MARSI and was designed to assess adolescents’ and adults’ metacognitive awareness and perceived use of ESL reading strategies. We provide a copy of the MARSI-R instrument and discuss the implications of the study’s findings in light of new and emerging insights relative to assessing students’ metacognitive awareness and perceived use of reading strategies

Revising the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) and testing for factorial invariance

In this study, we revised the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI), a self-report instrument designed to assess students’ awareness of reading strategies when reading school-related materials. We collected evidence of structural, generalizability, and external aspects of validity for the revised inventory (MARSI-R). We first conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the MARSI instrument, which resulted in the reduction of the number of strategy statements from 30 to 15. We then tested MARSI-R for factorial invariance across gender and ethnic groups and found that there is a uniformity in student interpretation of the reading strategy statements across these groups, thus allowing for their comparison on levels of metacognitive processing skills. We found evidence of the external validity aspect of MARSI-R data through correlations of such data with a measure of the students’ perceived reading ability. Given that this journal is oriented to second language learning and teaching, our article also includes comments on the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS), which was based on the original MARSI and was designed to assess adolescents’ and adults’ metacognitive awareness and perceived use of ESL reading strategies. We provide a copy of the MARSI-R instrument and discuss the implications of the study’s findings in light of new and emerging insights relative to assessing students’ metacognitive awareness and perceived use of reading strategies

Indagine sulle percezioni e sull’efficacia dei docenti in formazione verso un agire didattico inclusivo

This paper presents a study on the implicit dimensions that influence teacher agency and is aimed at investigating the teachers’ sentiments, attitudes, concerns and perceived levels of efficacy to implement inclusive practices. The sample comprised in two groups: the first included 221 pre-service teachers undergoing training to teach in secondary schools and the second were 131 in-service teachers following a course to obtain the learning support teachers’ warrant.The TEIP and the SACIE-R scales were administered to conduct the study. Results showed that the future learning support teachers had generally higher scores than the pre-service teachers. The positive attitude of the former group towards inclusive practices, however, seemed not to be linked to their greater teaching experience but more likely to the characteristics of their course of education.Questo lavoro presenta uno studio sulle dimensioni implicite che influenzano l’agire didattico finalizzato ad indagare i sentimenti, gli atteggiamenti, le preoccupazioni, e i livelli di percezione dei docenti circa la propria efficacia nell’implementare pratiche inclusive. Il campione è stato suddiviso in due gruppi, il primo comprendente 221 corsisti del Tirocinio Formativo Attivo e il secondo costituito da 131 partecipanti al corso di specializzazione per insegnanti di sostegno. Per condurre l’indagine sono state somministrate due scale: la scala TEIP e la scala SACIE-R. I risultati hanno mostrato che i futuri insegnanti di sostegno del campione raggiungono generalmente punteggi più alti. Tuttavia, sembrerebbe che l’atteggiamento positivo di questi docenti non risulti essere legato alla loro esperienza di insegnamento,bensì alle caratteristiche dei percorsi della loro formazione