Determining the Overall Impact of Interruptions During Online Testing

With an increase in the number of online tests, interruptions during testing due to unexpected technical issues seem unavoidable. For example, interruptions occurred during several recent state tests. When interruptions occur, it is important to determine the extent of their impact on the examinees’ scores. There is a lack of research on this topic due to the novelty of the problem. This article is an attempt to fill that void. Several methods, primarily based on propensity score matching, linear regression, and item response theory, were suggested to determine the overall impact of the interruptions on the examinees’ scores. A realistic simulation study shows that the suggested methods have satisfactory Type I error rate and power. Then the methods were applied to data from the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress‐Plus (ISTEP+) test that experienced interruptions in 2013. The results indicate that the interruptions did not have a significant overall impact on the student scores for the ISTEP+ test.     

The Psychology of Delivering a Psychological Service: Self‐organised learning as a model for consultation

The article describes how one Educational Psychology Service in the UK developed a service delivery based on self‐organised learning (SOL). This model is linked to the paradigms and discourses within which educational psychology and special educational needs work.

The work described here is dedicated to the memory of Brian Roberts, academic, close friend of Steve and a source of inspiration to both the authors.