Does the Cognitive Interview Promote the Coherence of Narrative Accounts in Children With and Without an Intellectual Disability?

We examined whether the cognitive interview (CI) procedure enhanced the coherence of narrative accounts provided by children with and without intellectual disabilities (ID), matched on chronological age. Children watched a videotaped magic show; one day later, they were interviewed using the CI or a structured interview (SI). Children interviewed using the CI reported more correct details than those interviewed using the SI. Additionally, children interviewed using the CI reported more contextual background details, more logically ordered sequences, more temporal markers, and fewer inconsistencies in their stories than those interviewed using the SI. However, the CI did not increase the number of story grammar elements compared with the SI. Overall children interviewed with the CI told better stories than those interviewed with the SI. This finding provided further support for the effectiveness of the CI with vulnerable witnesses, particularly children with ID.     

Exploring the Impact of Rater Effects on Person Fit in Rater-Mediated Assessments

Researchers have documented the impact of rater effects, or raters’ tendencies to give different ratings than would be expected given examinee achievement levels, in performance assessments. However, the degree to which rater effects influence person fit, or the reasonableness of test-takers’ achievement estimates given their response patterns, has not been investigated. In rater-mediated assessments, person fit reflects the reasonableness of rater judgments of individual test-takers’ achievement over components of the assessment. This study illustrates an approach to visualizing and evaluating person fit in assessments that involve rater judgment using rater-mediated person response functions (rm-PRFs). The rm-PRF approach allows analysts to consider the impact of rater effects on person fit in order to identify individual test-takers for whom the assessment results may not have a straightforward interpretation. A simulation study is used to evaluate the impact of rater effects on person fit. Results indicate that rater effects can compromise the interpretation and use of performance assessment results for individual test-takers. Recommendations are presented that call researchers and practitioners to supplement routine psychometric analyses for performance assessments (e.g., rater reliability checks) with rm-PRFs to identify students whose ratings may have compromised interpretations as a result of rater effects, person misfit, or both.     

An Instructional Module on Mokken Scale Analysis

Mokken scale analysis (MSA) is a probabilistic‐nonparametric approach to item response theory (IRT) that can be used to evaluate fundamental measurement properties with less strict assumptions than parametric IRT models. This instructional module provides an introduction to MSA as a probabilistic‐nonparametric framework in which to explore measurement quality, with an emphasis on its application in the context of educational assessment. The module describes both dichotomous and polytomous formulations of the MSA model. Examples of the application of MSA to educational assessment are provided using data from a multiple‐choice physical science assessment and a rater‐mediated writing assessment.     

Mexican-Origin Adolescent Mothers’ Economic Contexts,Educational Re-Engagement,and Their Children’s School Readiness

Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of 204 Mexican-origin adolescent mothers, their mother figures, and their children, the current investigation examined (a) adolescent mothers’ educational re-engagement and attainment beginning during their pregnancy and ending when their child was 5 years old; and (b) the influence of the family economic context on adolescent mothers’ educational re-engagement and attainment and their children’s academic and social-emotional outcomes. Findings detailed adolescent mothers’ re-engagement in school after the birth of their child and revealed that family income during adolescents’ pregnancies was directly associated with re-engagement and attainment, and also initiated cascade effects that shaped adolescents’ economic contexts, their subsequent re-engagement and attainment, and ultimately their children’s academic and social-emotional outcomes at age 5.     

The Effects of Incomplete Rating Designs in Combination With Rater Effects

Researchers have explored a variety of topics related to identifying and distinguishing among specific types of rater effects, as well as the implications of different types of incomplete data collection designs for rater‐mediated assessments. In this study, we used simulated data to examine the sensitivity of latent trait model indicators of three rater effects (leniency, central tendency, and severity) in combination with different types of incomplete rating designs (systematic links, anchor performances, and spiral). We used the rating scale model and the partial credit model to calculate rater location estimates, standard errors of rater estimates, model–data fit statistics, and the standard deviation of rating scale category thresholds as indicators of rater effects and we explored the sensitivity of these indicators to rater effects under different conditions. Our results suggest that it is possible to detect rater effects when each of the three types of rating designs is used. However, there are differences in the sensitivity of each indicator related to type of rater effect, type of rating design, and the overall proportion of effect raters. We discuss implications for research and practice related to rater‐mediated assessments.     

Why teachers cooperate: an expectancy-value model of teacher cooperation

European Journal of Psychology of Education - While cooperation among teachers is considered an important indicator of school quality, the empirical evidence on the efficacy of teacher cooperation...     

Hamburg’s Family Literacy project (FLY) in the context of international trends and recent evaluation findings

The authors of this article begin with an introduction to the holistic concept of family literacy and learning and its implementation in various international contexts, paying special attention to the key role played by the notions of lifelong learning and intergenerational learning. The international trends and experiences they outline inspired and underpinned the concept of a prize-winning Family Literacy project called FLY, which was piloted in 2004 in Hamburg, Germany. FLY aims to build bridges between preschools, schools and families by actively involving parents and other family members in children’s literacy education. Its three main pillars are: (1) parents’ participation in their children’s classes; (2) special sessions for parents (without their children); and (3) joint out-of-school activities for teachers, parents and children. These three pillars help families from migrant backgrounds, in particular, to develop a better understanding of German schools and to play a more active role in school life. To illustrate how the FLY concept is integrated into everyday school life, the authors showcase one participating Hamburg school before presenting their own recent study on the impact of FLY in a group of Hamburg primary schools with several years of FLY experience. The results of the evaluation clearly indicate that the project’s main objectives have been achieved: (1) parents of children in FLY schools feel more involved in their children’s learning and are offered more opportunities to take part in school activities; (2) the quality of teaching in these schools has improved, with instruction developing a more skills-based focus due to markedly better classroom management und a more supportive learning environment; and (3) children in FLY schools are more likely to have opportunities to accumulate experience in out-of-school contexts and to be exposed to environments that stimulate and enhance their literacy skills in a tangible way.     

The Attention Window: A Narrative Review of Limitations and Opportunities Influencing the Focus of Attention

Purpose: Visual attention is essential in many areas ranging from everyday life situations to the workplace. Different circumstances such as driving in traffic or participating in sports require immediate adaptation to constantly changing situations and frequently the conscious perception of 2 objects or scenes at the same time. Method: The attention window task, a measure of attentional breadth, in which people must attend to 2 equally attention-demanding stimuli simultaneously, was introduced. This article provides a narrative review of studies using this task and outlines different factors that might influence the attention window. Results: Differences in the spatial distribution of attention result, for example, from effects of age or physical activities as well as from emotional processes and those affected by current motivation, while gender does not have any influence. The window is represented as an ellipse with greater attentional breadth along the horizontal axis than the vertical axis, and it is about 5 to 6 times smaller than the human visual field. Conclusion: Not only everyday occurrences but also situations in sport games—for example, having an overview of the opponent, teammates, and the ball—require the ability to pay visual attention to 2 peripheral objects and continuously changing situations. Therefore, the application or avoidance of different strategies and factors is discussed to improve and adjust behavior in those situations.     

Effiziente Vertr?glichkeitsprüfung und automatische Migration von Workflow-Instanzen bei der Evolution von Workflow-Schemata

Sollen Workflow-Management-Systeme (WfMS) in umfassender Weise für die rechnerbasierte Verwaltung und Steuerung von Gesch?ftsprozessen einsetzbar sein, müssen die von ihnen verwalteten Workflow-Schemata und -Instanzen bei Bedarf rasch anpassbar sein. Dabei müssen die auf Basis eines (alten) Workflow-Schemas erzeugten Instanzen auch nach dessen ?nderung ungest?rt weiterlaufen k?nnen, etwa durch Bereitstellung geeigneter Versionskonzepte. Sehr viel schwieriger wird es, wenn die angewandten Schema?nderungen – wo gewünscht und m?glich – auch auf die bereits (vielleicht in gro?er Zahl) laufenden Workflow-Instanzen übertragen werden sollen. Dies bei Bedarf zu k?nnen – und zwar ohne Inkonsistenzen oder Fehler zu verursachen – ist aber ungemein wichtig, wenn ein WfMS breit und flexibel einsetzbar sein soll. In diesem Beitrag wird ein Ansatz zur effizienten Prüfung der Vertr?glichkeit von Workflow-Instanzen mit einem ge?nderten Workflow-Schema vorgestellt. Durch Einbeziehung aller Beschreibungskonstrukte (z.B. auch Schleifen und Datenflüsse) und damit zusammenh?ngender Fragestellungen wird darüber hinaus zum ersten Mal die Grundlage für ein umfassendes ?nderungsmanagement geschaffen. Au?erdem wird aufgezeigt, wie der Benutzer bei der Migration vertr?glicher Instanzen auf das neue Schema konkret unterstützt werden kann.     

Learning by Doing: Performance Assessment of Information Literacy across the First-Year Curriculum

In the 2011–2012 school year, the instruction librarians at Augustana College, Illinois, changed their assessment approach in the college's required first-year sequence to focus on higher-level information literacy concepts. The librarians replaced a quantitative assessment instrument with performance assessments, which they integrated into their first-year library sessions. Although the sequence is taught by many faculty with diverse assignments, these new assessments could be applied organically across sections yet provide generalizable results. This case study describes that assessment project and its initial findings, analyzes the project's implications, and suggests how other college libraries might adopt similar qualitative assessments.