Lifelong education: a test of the accumulation hypothesis

A path model of the lifelong education cycle is developed and estimated, using data relevant to a Swedish cohort of men and the method of linear structural relations analysis. The estimates are used to address the question as to whether adult education, by offsetting differences in educational backgrounds, has reduced the gap in educational attainment between the initially poorly‐educated and well‐educated groups comprising the sample studied. The results show that a cycle of accumulation is in operation, so that the quality of earlier experiences of education predict the quality and amount of educational experiences subsequently gathered. Hence, as the expansion of adult education has served to reinforce inequality of educational attainment, at least for the group of Swedish men studied, the accumulation hypothesis is supported. However, because the stability coefficients found in the model are only of modest size, it is concluded that there is room for interventionist policy designed to influence the social distribution of adult education resources.     

Study time and test performance as a function of test expectations

Study time and test performance change as a function of subjects expecting either open questions or a multiple-choice test on the contents of a history text. After studying a first history text, the subjects immediately received a test consisting of either open questions or multiple-choice items. They were led to expect the same type of test on a second text. Study time on Text 2 was self-paced, and the type of test was either the expected or unexpected one (either open questions or a multiple-choice test). The main hypothesis was confirmed that subjects consider open questions a more demanding test than a multiple-choice test. Accordingly, subjects expecting open questions on Text 2 used more study time and performed better on both types of test than did subjects expecting a multiple-choice test. Internal analyses revealed that the differences on study time and test achievement between the two expectation conditions occurred only when the subjects were thoroughly acquainted with the processing requirements of the learning material and its expected test.     

Influence of reaction piles on test pile response in a static load test

This work presents a new analytical method to analyze the influence of reaction piles on the test pile response in a static load test.In our method,the interactive effect between soil and pile is simulated using independent springs and the shear displacement method is adopted to analyze the influence of reaction piles on test pile response.Moreover,the influence of the sheltering effect between reaction piles and test pile on the test pile response is taken into account.Two cases are analyzed to verify the rationality and efficiency of the present method.This method can be easily extended to a nonlinear response of an influenced test pile embedded in a multilayered soil,and the validity is also demonstrated using centrifuge model tests and a computer program presented in the literature.The present analyses indicate that the proposed method will lead to an underestimation of the test pile settlement in a static load test if the influence of the presence of reaction piles on the test pile response is neglected.     

Will that be on the test? Perceived task demands and test performance in a classroom context

Departing from a realistic classroom context, this study focuses on the relationship between students’ perception of task demands and their learning performance. History teachers (N=20) and their 11th-grade students (N=375) rated the relative importance of sections of an instructional text on which teachers would be giving a test. In addition, test grades were collected. It was hypothesized that the degree of correspondence between ratings of individual students and those of their teacher would reflect the accurateness of students’ perception of task demands and therefore would be positively related with test grade. Multilevel analysis revealed partly support for this hypothesis. Students with higher grades more consistently showed a relative close correspondence with their teacher than students with lower grades. Nonetheless, a substantial number of students who showed a relatively close correspondence with their teacher, obtained a low test grade. This suggests that a more accurate perception of task demands did not guarantee a higher test performance.     

Sex-related differences in response to practice on a visual-spatial test and generalization to a related test

93 first graders (mean age 6.5 years) were given a pretest and posttest on half of the items from the Children's Embedded Figures Test. Half of the children were randomly assigned to a training condition and received a brief training procedure on visual-spatial disembedding prior to the administration of the posttest. Children in the control condition received no training. The performance of girls improved significantly more from pretest to posttest than the performance of boys. Boys and girls showed similar beneficial effects of training in addition to the benefit of direct practice. The tendency that was observed for boys to perform higher than girls on the pretest, p less than .10, was not evident on the posttest. Scores on the pretest predicted scores on a different measure of visual-spatial ability only for children in the control group. The results are interpreted in terms of current theories of sex differences in visual-spatial perception.     

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.     

Positive reframing and the test performance of test anxious children

The present study tested whether the paradoxical technique of positive reframing, presented in the form of test instructions, could be used to reduce the cognitive experience of worry and thereby improve the arithmetic test performance of highly test anxious third-and fourth-grade children. Thirty high test anxious and thirty low test anxious children were assigned randomly to receive one of three types of instructions prior to taking an arithmetic word problem test: neutral instructions, reassuring instructions, and positive-reframing instructions, which encouraged the children to view worry as a positive attribute. The results indicated that the type of instructions given had no significant effect upon subsequent test performance. However, both high and low test anxious children who received positive reframing scored significantly higher on a state anxiety measure given post test. These findings suggest that, although positive reframing may have an emotional impact, it is ineffective in improving the arithmetic test performance of highly test anxious children.     

Development of a test of experimental problem-solving skills

The emphasis given to experimental problem-solving skills in science curriculum innovation has not been matched by the development of comparable assessment tools. Multiple-choice tests were constructed for seven skills using learning hierarchies based on expert-novice differences. The instruments were refined in three phases of field testing. The reliabilities of the tests are sufficient for making judgments of group performance, but are insufficient in a single administration for individual assessment. Evidence of the validity of the tests is presented and their worth is discussed within the framework of a theory of instruction.     

A comparison of the peabody individual achievement test,the metropolitan achievement test,and the otis-lennon mental ability test

In order to clarify the concurrent validity of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) and the Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT), product-moment correlations were computed for all subscores and total scores for 26 normal-range public school third-grade girls and boys. The reading comprehension subtests correlated.81, spelling.88, and PIAT Mathematics with MAT Total Math.64. Correlations were computed for the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test and the PIAT General Information subtest as.77, and the Otis-Lennon and the PIAT Total Test scores as.79. Concurrent validity of the PIAT with both tests is tentatively considered adequate except in the area of mathematics, in which the PIAT, relative to the MAT, appears to be reflecting ability to handle math concepts (.68) more accurately than math computation (.41) or math problem solving (.56). Correlations with IQ partialed out suggest the PIAT Total Test, and PIAT and MAT reading and spelling measures, are relatively uninfluenced by IQ variations, whereas with IQ held constant, the weak positive correlations between the PIAT and MAT math subtests became essentially random relationships.     

The effect of test expectations on study strategies and test performance: a metacognitive perspective

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether university students can adjust their study strategies to meet the cognitive demands of testing; a metacognitive self‐regulatory skill. One hundred and fifty undergraduates attended three lectures as part of a course on the psychology of individual differences. These participants were then assigned randomly to each of two groups. In the first group, the participants were instructed to study for a test that required deep‐level cognitive processing. In the second group, the participants were instructed to study for a test that required surface‐level cognitive processing. Results of the study showed that university students do adjust their study strategies so that they are in line with the cognitive processing demands of testing. It was also found that study strategies mediated the relationship between the type of test items expected and the test performance.     

Processes and effects of test preparation for writing tasks in a high-stakes admission test in China: Implications for test takers

This study investigated the processes and effects of test preparation for a high-stakes English admission test in the context of tertiary education. A total of 623 Chinese college students who were preparing for the writing tasks of the Graduate School Entrance English Examination (GSEEE) responded to the questionnaire survey. In terms of the processes for test preparation, five components emerged: memorization, test familiarization, comprehensive learning, skill development, and drills. With regard to the effects of test preparation, regression analysis of 161 GSEEE writing scores revealed that test takers’ language proficiency and individual preparation efforts had a significantly positive effect on test scores. The findings highlight two specific preparation activities that produce positive test outcomes and cast doubt on the effects of prevailing memorization practices, which consist of the memorization of all-purpose sentence patterns. The implications of these results for improving test preparation for test takers are discussed.