Considerations for Equating Alternate Assessments: Two Case Studies of Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards

The development of alternate assessments for students with disabilities plays a pivotal role in state and national accountability systems. An important assumption in the use of alternate assessments in these accountability systems is that scores are comparable on different test forms across diverse groups of students over time. The use of test equating is a common way that states attempt to establish score comparability on different test forms. However, equating presents many unique, practical, and technical challenges for alternate assessments. This article provides case studies of equating for two alternate assessments in Michigan and an approach to determine whether or not equating would be preferred to not equating on these assessments. This approach is based on examining equated score and performance-level differences and investigating population invariance across subgroups of students with disabilities. Results suggest that using an equating method with these data appeared to have a minimal impact on proficiency classifications. The population invariance assumption was suspect for some subgroups and equating methods with some large potential differences observed.     

Evaluating the Impact of a Performance‐Based Methodology on Transfer of Training

Transfer of training is the degree to which trainees can apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes gained in training to the job. Currently only between 5% and 20% of what is learned in training is ever applied on the job. At this time, little is known about the effects of work environment factors, such as support, feedback, and goal setting, on training transfer. We utilized a quasi‐experimental between‐groups design using surveys, interviews, and behavioral measures to evaluate the impact of performance‐based work environment factors on training transfer. Results indicated that participants in the experimental group reported a higher level of training transfer than those in the control group. These findings suggest that a performance‐based approach to training can be an effective method to increase the likelihood that employees transfer training knowledge to the job context.     

Diversity among Spanish-speaking English language learners: profiles of early literacy skills in kindergarten

This study explored heterogeneity in literacy development among 2,300 Hispanic children receiving English as a Second Language (ESL) services at the start of kindergarten. Two research questions guided this work: (1) Do Spanish-speaking English language learners receiving ESL services in the fall of kindergarten demonstrate homogeneous early literacy skills, or are there distinct patterns of achievement across measures of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and orthography? and (2) if there are distinct profiles, to what extent do they predict literacy achievement at the end of kindergarten and the beginning of first grade? Using cluster analysis, the authors identified four distinct literacy profiles derived from fall kindergarten measures of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and phonetic spelling. These profiles were found to be associated with literacy outcomes in spring of kindergarten and fall of first grade. The two profiles that were associated with greater success on later measures of concept of word in text, letter sound knowledge, word reading, and spelling were the two that included stronger performance on orthographic skills (i.e., alphabet knowledge and phonetic spelling). These findings demonstrated that there is heterogeneity among Hispanic ESL students at kindergarten entry and suggested that literacy instruction must be differentiated from the very beginning in order to meet students’ individual needs. The findings also suggested that orthographic skills should be assessed and taught early on. While phonological awareness may be a necessary precursor to reading, phonological awareness in the absence of orthographic skills may not be sufficient.     

Evidence for the early emergence of the simple view of reading in a transparent orthography

The main aim of the present study was to empirically test the emergence of the Simple View of Reading (SVR) in a transparent orthography, and specifically in Greek. To do so, we examined whether the constituent components of the SVR could be identified in young, Greek-speaking children even before the beginning of formal reading instruction. Our investigation focused on Kindergarten children and examined the dissociation of decoding-related and language comprehension skills using Exploratory Factor Analysis. All children were administered a battery of decoding-related and comprehension measures. The analysis demonstrated that comprehension and decoding-related measures loaded as distinct factors in young Greek-speaking children and that the two factors were weakly correlated. The present findings provide important support for the validity of the SVR framework as a model of reading skills acquisition in a language with a transparent orthography, such as Greek.     

Comparing Class- and Task-Level Measures of Achievement Goals

Models of achievement goals suggest that different tasks and contexts influence the goals students adopt at a given time. However, many studies of achievement goals rely on measures assessed at the class level, analyze results with a variable-centered approach, and employ self-report questionnaires, which may reduce understanding of the contextual factors that arise as students interact with tasks. We compared a behavioral, task-level measure of middle school students' achievement goals to a self-reported, class-level measure and analyzed both measures' relations to task performance and quarterly grades using both variable-centered and person-centered approaches. Task-level goals predicted task performance but not quarterly grades, while class-level goals predicted grades but not task performance. The two measures of achievement goals were not related. This work demonstrates the importance of measuring goals at multiple levels and suggests opportunities for changing students' behaviors and achievement through motivation at the task level.     

Learning from Organizations: Mobilizing and Sustaining Teacher Change

Peter Senge's (1990) theory of organizational change includes teams that perceive the whole of the organization; grow professionally; navigate short- and long-term organizational experiences through exposed mental models; share a vision; and hear each voice in an ongoing communal learning process. The Margaret Sue Copenhaver Institute for Teaching and Learning is changing teacher education and professional development by employing Senge's model of learning organizations.

When you ask people what it is like being part of a great team, what is most striking is the meaningfulness of the experience. People talk about being part of something larger than themselves, of being connected, of being generative. It becomes quite clear that, for many, their experiences as part of truly great teams stand out as singular periods of life lived to the fullest. Some spend the rest of their lives looking for ways to recapture that spirit. (Senge 1990, 13)     

Attributions of deception as a function of reward value: A test of two explanations

Nonverbal expectancy violations theory and a cognitive heuristics approach were used to generate predictions regarding attributions of deception directed toward a message source. The appearance of a message source was manipulated to be either higher or lower in attractiveness while engaging in stereotypically deceptive or truthful behavior. A heuristic approach would suggest a main effect for attractiveness on deceptiveness attributions while a nonverbal expectancy violations approach would predict an interaction between the attraction and deception manipulations. An apparent main effect suggested that the more socially attractive message source was perceived to be less deceptive. However, the effect was driven by an interaction that showed the discrepancy in deception attributions between levels of attractiveness was highest in the deceptive behavior condition, as predicted by nonverbal expectancy violations.     

The Peters Projection and the Latitude and Longitude of Recolonization

In 1973, German historian Arno Peters unveiled the “Peters projection,” a map that challenged the Eurocentric Mercator style by redrawing the so-called “Third World” to appear more prominent on the global landscape. The projection sparked intense debate among cartographers about the overt use of ideology in mapping, while simultaneously championed by international groups (from the UN to church organizations) as a corrective against the marginalization of developing nations. This essay addresses how the Peters map became a rhetorical emblem for an internationalist identity within the contentious spatial conceptions constraining the Cold War. Ultimately, the Peters projection, despite its radicalism, constituted a “recolonization” that supported logics of Western liberal development in the Third World.