Spaced Retrieval Practice Increases College Students’ Short- and Long-Term Retention of Mathematics Knowledge

Educational Psychology Review - A major challenge college students face is retaining the knowledge they acquire in their classes, especially in cumulative disciplines such as engineering, where...     

Are We Ready to Recommend a College Readiness Index? A Reply to Gaertner and McClarty (2015)

In an article published in Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Gaertner and McClarty (2015) discuss a college readiness index based, in part, on nonacademic or noncognitive factors measured in middle school. Such an index is laudable as it incorporates important constructs beyond academic achievement measures that may be important in assessing college readiness. It also holds potential in identifying areas of need at a critical time and can theoretically inform important interventions that may be necessary prior to the later stages of high school. However, one of the noncognitive factors—motivation—appeared to be theoretically incomplete, underrepresented, and contained items irrelevant to the construct of academic motivation. We offer our concerns about the validity of this factor as measured by the index and the associated implications about the consequences of using this to inform educational interventions. Through this commentary, we hope to offer constructive feedback on future research that can build upon Gaertner and McClarty's important work.     

Thoughts on a Multidimensional Middle School Index of College Readiness

The findings of the Gaertner and McClarty article (2015) raised awareness on two extremely important topics related to college readiness: First, to effect change, we must measure students' progression towards college readiness throughout their K‐12 career rather than just at the culmination of high school. Second, college readiness encompasses more than academic preparation, and indices can be designed to weight additional factors according to their prediction of readiness. The reply by Lazowski, Barron, Kosovich, and Hulleman (this issue) added to the conversation by raising important issues around the measurement of motivation. In this reply, we provide our own thoughts on college and career readiness and offer ideas for additional work to further the development of college and career readiness indices.     

Hybrid Computerized Adaptive Testing: From Group Sequential Design to Fully Sequential Design

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and multistage testing (MST) have become two of the most popular modes in large‐scale computer‐based sequential testing.  Though most designs of CAT and MST exhibit strength and weakness in recent large‐scale implementations, there is no simple answer to the question of which design is better because different modes may fit different practical situations. This article proposes a hybrid adaptive framework to combine both CAT and MST, inspired by an analysis of the history of CAT and MST. The proposed procedure is a design which transitions from a group sequential design to a fully sequential design. This allows for the robustness of MST in early stages, but also shares the advantages of CAT in later stages with fine tuning of the ability estimator once its neighborhood has been identified. Simulation results showed that hybrid designs following our proposed principles provided comparable or even better estimation accuracy and efficiency than standard CAT and MST designs, especially for examinees at the two ends of the ability range.     

Technology,Learning Communities and Young People: The Future Something Project

The Future Something Project (FSP), a two‐year action research project, was devised to nurture the creative and technological talent of small groups of young people at risk by creating a structured network, mentored and driven by creative professionals exploring innovative ways for the two distinct target groups to work together. The project practice is located within the new field of interaction design and takes a social and critical approach to art and design pedagogy. The external research team found that one valuable way of looking at the FSP enterprise was through the social theory of communities of practice (CoPs) developed in the 1990s by Lave and Wenger. The creation of a learning community as a pedagogical strategy is central to the conception and practice of this project. This article, therefore, sets out to apply an existing theory to a new art and design context together with more general thoughts on learning communities. It explores the potential of new technologies and different settings to effect learning within structured networks and local and virtual communities of practice.