Psychometric properties and optimizing of the Bracken School Readiness Assessment

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - The Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) has been used in large studies such as the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Important...     

Home activities and cognitive skills in relation to early literacy and numeracy: testing a multifactorial model in preschoolers

The aim of the present study was to test environmental and cognitive variables as possible cross-domain predictors of early literacy and numeracy skills. One hundred forty-eight preschool children (mean age = 64.36 months ± 3.33) were enrolled in the study. The battery included a home literacy and home numeracy questionnaire, measures and phonological and visuo-spatial working memory, tasks tapping response inhibition, and predictors of literacy (vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter knowledge) and numeracy (magnitude comparison, number knowledge) skills. The structural equation model indicated that verbal working memory and, to a lesser extent, inhibition represented cross-domain predictors, whereas home numeracy activities and visuo-spatial working memory explained additional variance only for early numeracy skills. Implications for parents and educators are discussed.

     

Effects of Population Heterogeneity on Accuracy of DIF Detection

Heterogeneity within English language learners (ELLs) groups has been documented. Previous research on differential item functioning (DIF) analyses suggests that accurate DIF detection rates are reduced greatly when groups are heterogeneous. In this simulation study, we investigated the effects of heterogeneity within linguistic (ELL) groups on the accuracy of DIF detection. Heterogeneity within such groups may occur for a myriad of reasons including differential lengths of time residing in English-speaking countries, degrees of exposure to English-speaking environments, and amounts of English instruction. Our findings revealed that at high levels of within-group heterogeneity, DIF detection is at the level of chance, implying that a large proportion of DIF items might remain undetected when assessing heterogeneous populations potentially leading to developing biased tests. Based on our findings, we urge test development organizations to consider heterogeneity within ELL and other heterogeneous focus groups in their routine DIF analyses.     

Mathematics professional development for elementary teachers: Building trust within a school-based mathematics education community

Despite increased attention in professional development to building communities of teachers, few studies have investigated the development of trust in these communities. This paper presents issues related to trust in a professional development project at an elementary school. The project aimed for school-based elementary teachers and university-based mathematics educators to work together to improve mathematics instruction at the school by developing a mathematics education community of learners, where learners were conceived of as both the teachers and the mathematics educators. This paper addresses the following question: What factors in the project supported the development of trust among mathematics educators and teachers as the community was formed? More specifically, the paper is about one aspect of trust, namely, building school-based elementary teachers’ trust in the university-based mathematics educators. We point to three factors that helped the development of trust and we use care theory to further understand and discuss these factors in the context of in-service teacher education initiatives.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Modelling-Oriented Workshops for Engineering Undergraduates in the Field of Thermally Activated Phenomena

Research in Science Education - Two 20-h modelling-based workshops focused on the explanation of thermally activated phenomena were held at the University of Palermo, Italy, during the Academic...     

Towards learning analytics adoption: A mixed methods study of data-related practices and policies in Latin American universities

In Latin American universities, Learning Analytics (LA) has been perceived as a promising opportunity to leverage data to meet the needs of a diverse student cohort. Although universities have been collecting educational data for years, the adoption of LA in this region is still limited due to the lack of expertise and policies for processing and using educational data. In order to get a better picture of how existing data-related practices and policies might affect the incorporation of LA in Latin American institutions, we conducted a mixed methods study in four Latin American universities (two Chilean and two Ecuadorian). In this paper, the qualitative data were based on 37 interviews with managers and 16 focus groups with 51 teaching staff and 45 students; the quantitative data were collected through two surveys answered by 1884 students and 368 teachers, respectively. The findings reveal opportunities to incorporate LA services into existing data practices in the four case studies. However, the lack of reliable information systems and policies to regulate the use of data imposes challenges that need to be overcome for future LA adoption.     

Multicultural Libraries' services and social integration: The case of public libraries in Montreal Canada

Montreal is a multicultural city, with a high percentage of immigrants where great value is given to culture. The city has a network of public libraries, which are located in the different districts. The provincial government has just opened the new Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec, which combines a national library service with those of a public library. The Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec and the public libraries in Montreal have set a goal to facilitate the integration of immigrants into Montreal society. In this context, the objective of this research is to find out to what extent the public libraries in Montreal are facilitating the integration of immigrants into society and to discover what important role the libraries actually play in this process.     

Energy balance of locomotion with pedal-driven watercraft

Abstract

In this study, we examined the mechanics and energetics of locomotion with a paddle-wheel boat and a water bike. Power output ([Wdot] _tot) was measured directly on the water bike by means of an instrumented chain-ring. The simultaneous assessment of oxygen uptake ([Vdot]O₂) allowed the computation of the “overall” efficiency of locomotion (η _o = [Wdot] _tot / [Vdot]O₂). Mean η _o was 0.27 (s = 0.02), which was unaffected by the speed, and was assumed to be the same for the two boats as both are semi-recumbent bicycles. For the paddle-wheel boat, [Wdot] _tot was then obtained from η _o and measures of [Vdot]O₂. The power to overcome (passive) drag was calculated as [Wdot] _d = D · v (where D is the force measured by means of a load cell when towing the boats at given speeds). Propelling efficiency was calculated as η _p = [Wdot] _d / [Wdot] _tot, which was lower with the paddle-wheel boat (mean 0.35, s = 0.01) than with the water bike (mean 0.57, s = 0.01). The observed differences in η _p and [Wdot] _d explain why at the highest speed tested (～3 m · s^?1), the energy required to cover a unit distance with the water bike is similar to that required to move the paddle-wheel boat at 1.3 m · s^?1.     

Analyzing Fairness Among Linguistic Minority Populations Using a Latent Class Differential Item Functioning Approach

ABSTRACT

Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses have been used as the primary method in large-scale assessments to examine fairness for subgroups. Currently, DIF analyses are conducted utilizing manifest methods using observed characteristics (gender and race/ethnicity) for grouping examinees. Homogeneity of item responses is assumed denoting that all examinees respond to test items using a similar approach. This assumption may not hold with all groups. In this study, we demonstrate the first application of the latent class (LC) approach to investigate DIF and its sources with heterogeneous (linguistic minority groups). We found at least three LCs within each linguistic group, suggesting the need to empirically evaluate this assumption in DIF analysis. We obtained larger proportions of DIF items with larger effect sizes when LCs within language groups versus the overall (majority/minority) language groups were examined. The illustrated approach could be used to improve the ways in which DIF analyses are typically conducted to enhance DIF detection accuracy and score-based inferences when analyzing DIF with heterogeneous populations.