Rater Effects on Essay Scoring: A Multilevel Analysis of Severity Drift,Central Tendency,and Rater Experience

This study examined rater effects on essay scoring in an operational monitoring system from England's 2008 national curriculum English writing test for 14‐year‐olds. We fitted two multilevel models and analyzed: (1) drift in rater severity effects over time; (2) rater central tendency effects; and (3) differences in rater severity and central tendency effects by raters’ previous rating experience. We found no significant evidence of rater drift and, while raters with less experience appeared more severe than raters with more experience, this result also was not significant. However, we did find that there was a central tendency to raters’ scoring. We also found that rater severity was significantly unstable over time. We discuss the theoretical and practical questions that our findings raise.     

Current trends in college cheating

The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency, methods, and correlates of college cheating. A questionnnaire measuring 7 subject variables and 33 specific behaviors was administered to 200 students. The finding that about 75% of those surveyed had cheated in college was interpreted as supporting an hypothesized trend toward increasing dishonesty. Data on approval and guilt, reasons for cheating, reactions to cheating, and specific techniques were included. It was found that sex, year in shcool, grade point average, academic major, fraternity-sorority membership, and extracurricular participation were significantly related to cheating. The conclusions supported the importance of traditional explanatory variables and suggested an interpretation based on attribution theory.     

Pulse-width-modulated speed control of d.c. motors

This paper deals with the analytical and experimental investigations of an open-loop pulse-width-modulated d.c. motor speed control system. The analysis is carried out by two different approaches, circuit approach and the lattice function approach. From the circuit approach, the relationship between the current-ripple-factor and the pulse width is obtained. The lattice function approach yields the relationship between pulse width and the speed variation. There is good correlation between the experimental and theoretical results.     

The SES equity gap and the reform from modular to linear GCSE mathematics

This article addresses whether the introduction of end-of-course, linear General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations changed the socio-economic equity gap in England. The GCSE is a national examination offered in a wide range of subjects and taken by almost the entire 16-year-old age cohort. Between the years 2007 and 2014, it underwent a number of reforms to both the underlying curriculum and the examination structure. At the beginning of the period, examinations were primarily modular in structure where the course was decomposed into discrete units tested in a staged manner. By 2014, all GCSE examinations were linear and the whole course content was tested simultaneously when study was complete. These structural changes and the curriculum reforms mean that the impact of modular and linear testing on the performance of students has been the focus of recent interest. Some educational commentators suggested that modular examinations are more suitable for lower-performing students, including those with lower socio-economic status (SES). This research has been conducted to monitor the socio-economic equity gap in the light of the structural changes. It focuses on GCSE mathematics and concludes that, although there is still a clear gap in attainment between disadvantaged students and their peers, this gap does not seem to be exacerbated by the examination structure. In other words, the linearisation of GCSE mathematics is unlikely to have increased inequity between students of high and low SES.     

Departmental Publication Productivity and Reputational Quality: Disciplinary differences

Using US national data, this study examines the levels and interactions between reputational rankings, average publications, citations, and external research support across 30 disciplines. The analyses show great variation among the disciplines in average and range of publications, citations, and external research support. They also show that the intercorrelations among the measures vary greatly by discipline. For example, the correlation between average publication level and reputational rankings was substantial in chemistry (.87), but weak in industrial engineering (.20); the correlation between the level of research support and reputation was strong in psychology (.74), but very small in astronomy (.14). Comparison of departments ranked in the top 10 with those ranked near the bottom showed that it was possible for departments to rank very high in a discipline but have publication, citation, and support levels below departments ranked near the bottom. The implications for quality and increasing status in higher education are discussed.     

Pioneering the Use of Polyurethane Adhesive in Library Binding

Adhesives have been used for years in library binding. This article reports on the use of polyurethane (PUR) adhesive being introduced into the library binding process. This glue has been used in the publishing industry for years, and technology has now made it viable for library binding. Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc. has performed significant testing on PUR adhesive, and has demonstrated that it conforms to the ANSI/NISO/LBI Z39-78-2000 Standard for Library Binding.