A General Approach to Measuring Test-Taking Effort on Computer-Based Tests

There has been an increased interest in the impact of unmotivated test taking on test performance and score validity. This has led to the development of new ways of measuring test-taking effort based on item response time. In particular, Response Time Effort (RTE) has been shown to provide an assessment of effort down to the level of individual item responses. A limitation of RTE, however, is that it is intended for use with selected response items that must be answered before a test taker can move on to the next item. The current study outlines a general process for measuring item-level effort that can be applied to an expanded set of item types and test-taking behaviors (such as omitted or constructed responses). This process, which is illustrated with data from a large-scale assessment program, should improve our ability to detect non-effortful test taking and perform individual score validation.     

Visual Attention to and Comprehension of Television in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disordered and Normal Boys

This study examined the effects of distracters on the television viewing of diagnosed ADHD (n = 19) and normal (n = 20) boys who ranged in age from 6 to 12 years. Subjects were videotaped watching four 7-min segments of "3-2-1 Contact," once in the presence and once in the absence of highly appealing toys. The results indicated that, while in the presence of toys, ADHD boys spent one-half as much time as control boys attending to the television. However, when toys were absent, there were no significant differences in visual attention between ADHD and normal boys. The effect of the toy manipulation was most dramatic with younger children of both groups. Recall of didactic content by ADHD boys and normal subjects did not differ significantly, even when the attention of ADHD boys was reduced. These findings suggest that ADHD children, like their normal counterparts, are active and strategic viewers of television.     

Exceptional Children and Youth: What Price Do They Pay For Our Sympathy?

Since the passage of PL 94‐142, nearly every professional in public education is required to enrol in a course of educating exceptional children and youth. This paper is addressed to three audiences: 1) the instructors of such courses; 2) individuals responsible for in‐service training; and 3) teachers and parents of exceptional children and youth. In this brief article, a sixty‐minute group exercise designed to demonstrate the deleterious effects of overprotection is described.     

The effects of different feedback strategies using computer-administered multiple-choice questions as instruction

This study investigated the effects of using different forms of computer-based feedback on high school students' learning of science material. The basic design consisted of two conditions of instructional support (text and questions vs. questions only), two testings (immediate vs. retention), five levels of similarity between lesson and posttest questions, and five feedback conditions: knowledge of correct response (KCR), delayed KCR, answer until correct (AUC), questions only (no feedback), and no questions. Results showed significant benefits for feedback over no feedback, with AUC becoming more advantageous and delayed feedback less so as lesson-posttest question similarity decreased. Also, with decreased question similarity and the availability of supporting text, overall feedback effects tended to decrease. The results are discussed in terms of the information processing effects of the different feedback forms, a factor that CBI designers often fail to exploit in planning feedback conditions.This article is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the faculty of Memphis State University by the first author. Reprint requests should be addressed to Steven M. Ross, Department of Foundations of Education, Memphis State University, Memphis, TN 38152.     

Tending School: A Forum on the Experiences of Refugee and Immigrant Students in the United States System

This article contributes to the investigation of refugee and immigrant education. As one part of a comprehensive qualitative study, it showcases the school experiences of three students: Quincy, a refugee from Afghanistan who came to the United States at age thirteen; Emily, an immigrant from Poland who arrived at age six; and Maung, a political refugee from Burma who arrived at age eighteen. The school experiences of these students mirror those of many children who come from countries and communities outside the dominant culture of the United States.The framework of investigation is based on the notion that school life for minority children, in this case, refugee and immigrant students, can be examined from a critical and political perspective; that is, contextualized socially, economically, and politically (Apple, 1990). Students who are not grounded in the mainstream culture struggle to get along in school settings that are institutionalized according to the moral, social, and cultural dimensions of society. Critical theorists contend that student voice can become an organizing force to negotiate and construct multiple interpretations of school life within the reality of institutionalized ways of being in school. In this study, a focus on finding and developing student voice offers the possibility of passages between private and public (Miller, 1990) to permit the sharing and envisioning of multiple interpretations of school life for students and for those with whom they interact with in school settings.     

MicroObservatory Net: A Network of Automated Remote Telescopes Dedicated to Educational Use

Many students have a deep interest in astronomy, but a limited opportunity to use telescopes to explore the heavens. The MicroObservatory Network of automated telescopes is designed to provide access to classroom teachers who wish their students to conduct projects over the World Wide Web. The intuitive interface makes it easy for even 10-year-olds to take pictures. Telescopes can be remotely pointed and focused: filters, field of view, and exposure times can be changed easily. Images are archived at the website, along with sample challenges and a user bulletin board, all of which encourage collaboration among schools. Wide geographic separation of instruments provides access to distant night skies during local daytime. Since first light in 1995, we have learned much about remote troubleshooting, designing for unattended use, and for acquiring the kinds of images that students desire. This network can be scaled up from its present capability of 240,000 images each year to provide telescope access for all US students with an interest in astronomy. Our WWW address is http://mo-www.harvard.edu/MicroObservatory/     

Scholarly Productivity of Editorial Board Members of Three American Counseling and Counseling Psychology Journals

The scholarly journals in professional and scientific fields serve the function of communicating new knowledge and informed discourse on the major issues affecting the field of counseling, and editorial board members (EBMs) serve as gatekeepers of what information will be communicated. The ability of EBMs to make sound judgments directly affects the quality of research and scholarship published. This study analyzed one important EBM qualification, the scholarly productivity of the editorial board members of three major American counseling journals (The Counseling Psychologist [TCP], the Journal of Counseling Psychology [JCP], and the Journal of Counseling and Development [JCD]). An analysis of the productivity rates of editorial board members on these journals was conducted using the PsycINFO database. The results indicated that editorial board members of JCP have significantly more experience publishing than members of TCP and JCD. The differential publication rates of editorial board members suggest that these three journals place different emphasis on scholarly productivity as part of their selection criteria for editorial board membership and may reflect that the three journals have different missions and serve different clientele. These findings have implications, not only for the profession of counseling in the United States, but also for the international counseling community.This article is dedicated to our esteemed colleague, Stephen G. Weinrach, who died after a long and courageous battle with leukemia on April 24, 2004. This article was the last that Steve was working on prior to his death. It was his brainchild. The contributions that Steve made to the counseling profession over the years are inestimable. He was truly through his numerous writings and professional association activities the “conscience of the couseling profession.” He is dearly missed.     

A Panic about School Choice

It is now widely recognised that Britain's comprehensive system was never truly comprehensive. Families with sufficient financial capital were always able to ensure the entry of their children to particularly prestigious ‘comprehensive’ schools by purchasing a home within the appropriate catchment areas. According to government rhetoric, recent legislation established a market of schools, removed catchment areas and gave parents greater choice of school. This case‐study examines the workings of the local quasi‐market of schools within a prosperous town (Sutton Coldfield, England) which is part of the larger metropolitan area of the West Midlands. Because of a change in the age of entry to secondary education, Sutton Coldfield was first plunged into the market in 1992. This case‐study shows that the new situation initially caused confusion and anger. Some Sutton Coldfield residents were denied places for their children within the town and were instead offered places for their children in Birmingham working‐class estate schools. The article describes the formation and activities of a local pressure group which opposed these changes, and reports the results of a small‐scale study of a sample of parents’ choice‐making processes in 1993. It is shown that access to financial and cultural capital had become more, rather than less, important in the process of allocating children to secondary schools.     

Construct-Irrelevant Variance in High-Stakes Testing

There are many threats to validity in high-stakes achievement testing. One major threat is construct-irrelevant variance (CIV). This article defines CIV in the context of the contemporary, unitary view of validity and presents logical arguments, hypotheses, and documentation for a variety of CIV sources that commonly threaten interpretations of test scores. A more thorough study of CIV is recommended.