The quest for fairness in language testing

The search for fairness in language testing is distinct from other areas of educational measurement as the object of measurement, that is, language, is part of the identity of the test takers. So, a host of issues enter the scene when one starts to reflect on how to assess people's language abilities. As the quest for fairness in language testing is still in its infancy, even the need for such a research has been controversial, with some (e.g., Davies, 2010) arguing that such research is entirely in vain. This paper will provide an overview of some of the issues involved. Special attention will be given to critical language testing (CLT) as it has had a large impact on language testing research. It will be argued that although CLT has been very effective in revealing the ideological and value implications of the constructs of focus in language testing, extremism in this direction is not justified.     

Assessing statistical aspects of test fairness with structural equation modelling

Test fairness and test bias are not synonymous concepts. Test bias refers to statistical evidence that the psychometrics or interpretation of test scores depend on group membership, such as gender or race, when such differences are not expected. A test that is grossly biased may be judged to be unfair, but test fairness concerns the broader, more subjective evaluation of assessment outcomes from perspectives of social justice. Thus, the determination of test fairness is not solely a matter of statistics, but statistical evidence is important when evaluating test fairness. This work introduces the use of the structural equation modelling technique of multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) to evaluate hypotheses of measurement invariance, or whether a set of observed variables measures the same factors with the same precision over different populations. An example of testing for measurement invariance with MGCFA in an actual, downloadable data set is also demonstrated.     

Validity and fairness of a new entry diagnostics test in higher education economics

Research has been focusing increasingly on measuring students’ prior economic knowledge in higher education. However, in German-speaking countries, valid instruments are rare. A diagnostic study investigated the validity and fairness of an internationally established economic knowledge test (adapted German version of TUCE IV and TEL IV) with a representative sample of 7664 students from 46 universities across Germany. Previous findings with the dataset (Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia et al., 2019a) suggest that native language significantly predicts missing answers in the knowledge test. Similar effects can be found for gender. After coding missing answers as incorrect, students with a native language other than German and females are disadvantaged. Using multiple imputation, group differences are still significant but to a lesser extent. This approach is critically discussed in terms of valid diagnostics and assessment in higher education.     

关于我国教育公平问题的几点思考

教育是民族振兴的基石,而教育公平则是社会公平的重要基础。我国宪法规定,每个公民都享有平等接受教育的权利。但近年来,随着城乡差距、贫富差距的逐渐扩大,教育不公平现象也时常发生,阻碍了教育的发展。只有理解教育公平的内涵,结合我国的基本国情指出教育公平的现状和分析原因,然后采取有效的推进教育公平的措施,才能实现最终的教育公平。     

中国高等教育财政政策的公平取向

促进教育公平是中国制定教育政策的基本价值导向。中国高等教育财政政策的基点是增加教育投入,保证机会公平,并已经关注资源利用情况及对过程公平的促进,今后的方向是如何提高产出效率,促进结果公平。对高等教育财政政策的公平取向进行分析,提出构建以公平为取向的高等教育财政政策体系,通过财政政策促进高等教育公平,具有现实性意义。     

试论职业教育公平

职业教育公平是教育公平在职业教育领域的延伸和体现。职业教育公平与社会公平之间存在着必然的联系。职业教育目前之所以存在教育起点、教育过程和教育结果上的不公平,原因在于经济发展水平的差异、政策的偏差、社会因素的影响、职业院校管理的缺陷等。解决职业教育不公平,须正确认识和理解职业教育,加大公共财政的投入,优化职业教育政策。     

论教育制度公正

教育制度是教育发展和人的发展的核心机制,这使得人们对教育制度的公正性问题越来越关注。教育制度公正包括教育制度本身的公正和教育制度运行的公正两个层次。这两个层次之问既相互联系又相互区别的关系对于教育制度创新具有不同的作用。     

An Examination of Classification Accuracy in the Continuous Testing Framework

The continuous testing framework, where both successful and unsuccessful examinees have to demonstrate continued proficiency at frequent prespecified intervals, is a framework that is used in noncognitive assessment and is gaining in popularity in cognitive assessment. Despite the rigorous advantages of this framework, this paper demonstrates that there is significant inflation in false negatives as both passers and failers continually take a test, especially for examinees closer to the passing score. Several passing policies are investigated to control the inflation of false negatives while maintaining low false‐positive rates for fixed‐length tests. Lastly, recommendations are made for testing professionals who wish to utilize the rigorous nature of the continuous testing framework while also avoiding the inflation of qualified examinees failing.     

对亚里士多德公正概念的现代解读

亚里士多德伦理学体系的建构是对他整个思想体系的极大充实,在其著作《尼各马可伦理学》中,他构建了一个德性的体系,公正作为最重要的德性之一得到了重点论述,我们所要做的即是从中获取在现代社会中继续前进的光芒。     

Power restriction and policy overview in educational fairness

Different historical contexts endow educational fairness with different historical missions. The operation of resource allocation powers, the introduction of new elements into strata polarization, and the authoritative allocation of public policies all add to the complexity of interpreting educational fairness. The key problem, however, does not lie in the complexity itself, but in the straight bluntness and the collective unawareness incurred by it. Therefore, only by clarifying the complexity involved in educational fairness and arousing certain awareness of research can educational fairness and its public education policies undertake the double missions of both academic and practical significance. Translated from Jiaoyu Fazhan Yanjiu 教育发展研究 (Exploring Education Development), 2006, (1): 36–41     

我国成就测验的项目功能差异研究述评

本文系统梳理了我国成就测验的项目功能差异研究,主要包括介绍国外的项目功能差异研究的综合介绍性研究、利用我国的成就测验进行DIF检测方法的比较研究和影响因素研究、对我国的各种成就测验进行项目功能差异分析的应用性研究。在此基础上,指出了我国成就测验的项目功能差异研究存在的问题。     

General and Specific Factors in Reading Comprehension

One explanation for why many students routinely choose to do their homework with a radio or TV operating is that this distraction facilitates studying. To investigate the validity of this explanation, the authors carried out two experiments with sixth-grade students who worked on two difficulty levels of individualized mathematics assignments (N = 12) and reading assignments (N = 9) under three distraction conditions: quiet; self-selected, self-regulated radio; and self-selected, self-regulated TV. The data yielded no evidence of sizable distractor effects on students' time spent studying, computational accuracy, reading comprehension, or reading rate. These results generally are consistent with the theoretical conceptualization of attention as flexible and adaptable.     

Reasons for Gender-Related Differential Item Functioning in a College Admissions Test

Gender fairness in testing can be impeded by the presence of differential item functioning (DIF), which potentially causes test bias. In this study, the presence and causes of gender-related DIF were investigated with real data from 800 items answered by 250,000 test takers. DIF was examined using the Mantel–Haenszel and logistic regression procedures. Little DIF was found in the quantitative items and a moderate amount was found in the verbal items. Vocabulary items favored women if sampled from traditionally female domains but generally not vice versa if sampled from male domains. The sentence completion item format in the English reading comprehension subtest favored men regardless of content. The findings, if supported in a cross-validation study, can potentially lead to changes in how vocabulary items are sampled and in the use of the sentence completion format in English reading comprehension, thereby increasing gender fairness in the examined test.     

论社会主义市场经济条件下的效率与公平

效率和公平作为人类社会不懈追求的两大目标，二者本应是辩证统一的关系。然而在现实社会中，效率和公平的关系却很紧张。在我国社会主义市场经济条件下，虽然具备了实现效率和公平辩证统一的优势，但是在社会主义市场经济发展现实中到底该如何处理二者关系，还是一个难题。实行社会主义市场经济以来，我们一直坚持“效率优先，兼顾公平”，目前我国社会出现了比较严重的公平问题，这要求我们从“效率优先，兼顾公平”转向“效率和公平并重”。对当前而言，维护社会公平是当务之急。     

高校研究生招生公平性的影响因素

研究生招生工作是我国高端人才培养的首要关口,其过程的公平性可以反映一所高校的管理水平及管理理念.本文从信息的公开性、招生制度的完善性、招生流程的规范性及选拔方式的合理性、评判标准的一致性、导师及管理人员自身素质等几方面具体分析了影响高校研究生招生公平性的因素,并对进一步改进研究生招生工作提出了建议.     

法理学视野下义务教育的公平性

义务教育是一项公益性事业,是所有适龄儿童、少年必须接受的教育,是由国家统一实施并必须予以保障的。义务教育的公平实现,不仅依赖于义务教育的配套措施的健全,更有赖于义务教育理念的提升。而义务教育理念的提升又依赖于对义务教育本身的理解。从法理学角度来厘清义务教育中的权利、义务,并从法的基本价值角度来理解义务教育的公平性,进而具体探讨实现义务教育的公平性的法理途径。     

Private room as a test accommodation

The effects of a private vs. group test setting were examined on a reading comprehension test for a sample of typical college students. Participants took Forms G and H of the Nelson Denny Reading Comprehension Test in both private and group (classroom) settings. Contrary to expectations, performance was slightly better in the group setting. Performance was also better during the second session, regardless of setting. There was no setting by session interaction. The correlation between scores in the two settings was quite high, indicating that both settings produced similar results. The findings suggest that a private room does not produce a performance advantage for typical students, thus meeting one of the criteria of a valid test accommodation.     

软件配置测试的测试数据生成

本文提出利用多次单因素试验、正交实验设计和均匀设计等常用方法为软件的配置测试产生测试数据, 以确保待测软件可以在不同的配置上正确运行, 并分析比较了这些方法的优缺点. 在此基础上提出使用两两组合覆盖方法来改善正交试验设计方法的不足、使用多因素组合覆盖方法来降低因不完全测试而带来的风险, 并提出一种单因素覆盖方法, 该方法可以产生最少的测试数据, 在覆盖各个系统因素的同时, 尽可能多地覆盖各个因素间的两两组合. 最后, 对这些测试数据生成方法从测试数据集的规模、组合覆盖率、可用性等方面进行了比较.     

学前教育公平的现实困境与出路

教育公平问题一直是教育领域尤其是教育社会学领域内的核心问题。由于历史、地理、传统与现实的诸多因素,实现学前教育公平的目标仍然困难重重。从学前教育公平内涵着手,分析阻碍我国学前教育公平实现的各种现实困境,并提出相应的旨在促进学前教育公平实现的对策,促进我国学前教育在普及中实现公平。     

教育公平:离我们有多远

教育公平是社会公平的基础,同时也是实现社会平等的工具。追求教育公平是我国教育政策的基本选择。本文从现象分析出发,阐述了中国当代教育不公平的三大外在表现,在分析了其原因基础上,对推进中国教育公平提出了建议和对策。