美国《联邦宪法》生效问题刍议

美国宪法草案对自身的生效方式有明确的规定,后来学者基于不同的观察视角,对这部宪法的生效方式、生效时间有着不同的认定,从而导致在美国宪法生效问题上歧见纷呈的局面。文章在梳理各种观点的基础上,提出生效空间这一概念,认为美国宪法生效经历了一个在不同空间渐次生效的过程。     

Policy and evidence: a critical analysis of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check in England

“This paper aims to present a critical analysis of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check (PSC), with special focus on the relationship between the UK Department for Education's policy‐making and the evidence considered in the process of developing and evaluating the PSC. The reports from the in‐house Standards and Testing Agency and from commissioned external organisations with limited remits have been analysed, with emphasis on how the screening check findings have been used in DfE decision‐making. My conclusion is that the department has overestimated both the validity and the reliability of the check: partly because important sources of measurement error have not been explored, and partly because the available evidence has not been analysed in sufficient depth — or perhaps simply been ignored by the department. The whole phonics screening check seems to be the product of policy‐based evidence, rather than evidence‐based policy‐making. This has, in my view, seriously undermined the value of the PSC as a screening instrument, and one must wonder whether it is ‘fit for purpose’.     

Penn State Worry Questionnaire: structure and psychometric properties of the Chinese version

The Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) is a measure of worry phenomena and has been demonstrated valid in cross-cultural populations. The present study examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Chinese version of PSWQ (Ch-PSWQ) in a Chinese college sample (n=1243). Exploratory factor analysis of the Ch-PSWQ revealed a two-factor solution (engagement of worry and absence of worry). Confirmatory factor analysis and model comparison supported that the model of one factor with method effect provided the best fit to the data. The Ch-PSWQ and its factors evidenced good internal consistency and both convergent and discriminate validity. The present study supports the opinion that the second factor of PSWQ not only contains the component of evaluating pathological worry, but also might represent other traits.     

HSK（改进版）[中级]的构想效度研究

本文通过对HSK（改进版）[中级]的三份主试卷进行因素分析,认为HSK（改进版）[中级]主试卷考查了综合运用语言的一般能力,较好地体现了HSK的改进理念,符合语言能力本身的特点和语言测验的发展趋势,具有较高的构想效度。     

Development and initial validation of an instrument to assess the motivational qualities of music in exercise and sport: The Brunel Music Rating Inventory

Equivocal results of the psychophysical effects of music have been explained in part by the insensitivity of researchers to important personal and situational variables when selecting music. The aim of the present study was to operationalize a conceptual framework for the prediction of psychophysical responses to music into a music rating inventory to assess the motivational qualities of music in exercise and sport environments. An initial item pool was developed and administered to 334 aerobics instructors. Exploratory factor analysis produced a 13-item, four-factor structure (association, musicality, cultural impact and rhythm response), which accounted for 59.2% of the variance. This model demonstrated acceptable fit indices when tested using confirmatory factor analysis on 314 exercise-to-music participants, and was better than an alternative two-factor model. When cross-validated using multisample confirmatory factor analysis, the model also showed an acceptable fit overall, although some invariance in the rhythm response factor was evident that can be attributed to the exclusive use of synchronous music by aerobics instructors. The Brunel Music Rating Inventory appears to be a valid and reliable tool for both researchers and practitioners to assess the motivational qualities of music in exercise and sport environments.     

Smarandache对偶函数的一个猜想

对于正整数n，设S^*(n)是，n的Smarandache对偶函数．该文证实了有关S^*(n)的一个猜想．     

Constructing validity arguments for test combinations

The argument-based approach to validation has been widely adopted in validation theory. However, this approach aims to validate the intended interpretation and use of a single test or assessment. This article proposes an extension of the argument-based approach for validation of multiple tests. This extension is illustrated with the validation of a competency assessment program (CAP). This CAP was validated in collaboration with a quality manager of an educational program. In this case study, it became apparent that this approach fosters an in-depth evaluation of the assessment program and that the approach appears suitable for validation efforts of competency assessment programs. The approach guides validation research from a more general perspective, but also guides more detailed validation efforts.     

Development and validation of the sources of parental anxiety in children’s education scale

Parental anxiety in children’s education is closely related to children’s developmental and educational outcomes. The current study reported the development and validation of a self-report instrument to evaluate the Sources of Parental Anxiety in Children’s Education (SPACEs). Qualitative analyses suggested that the construct of parental anxiety in children’s education was multidimensional, representing learning performance anxiety, educational environment anxiety, educational input anxiety, and educational outcome anxiety as four primary sources. The results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported this four-factor structure comprising 17 items to capture this multidimensional construct. The scale also demonstrated adequate internal consistencies, convergent validity, discriminant validity, criterion-related validity, and test-retest reliability. A series of multi-group tests across age, locality, and children’s grades provided evidence of measurement invariance. Overall, the SPACE scale appear to be a reliable and valid tool to measure educational anxiety in parents in the Chinese context.     

关于阶乘多项式

本文概括叙述阶乘多项式的某些性质,推导了阶乘多项式差分的Telescopeing Sums和Summation by Parts公式,并给出在解差分方程、级数求和及概率论中的应用实例。     

Building the field’s knowledge of teaching and learning: Centering the socio-cultural contexts of observation systems to ensure valid score interpretation

The articles in a special issue of this journal, Merits and Limitations of Researching Teaching Quality More Synergistically, grapple with the assertion that the field does not share a common language or structural decomposition of teaching and that the current range of frameworks and observation systems used by researchers jeopardizes the accumulation of knowledge in the field. We analyze these arguments from a socio-cultural perspective, theorizing that teaching and the improvement of teaching occur in socially situated contexts that give meaning to all research frameworks and measurement tools. Rather than asking whether a common framework of teaching might be useful, we ask when such a framework might be useful, when can such efforts be limiting, and why? Building on contemporary validity theory, we bring the role of context back into the current conversation. We suggest that while there are important affordances of a unified framework of teaching quality, such a framework will be unable to fully address some of the issues identified in this special issue. For practical, theoretical, empirical, and socio-cultural reasons, researchers will require multiple frameworks and associated observation systems to support the study and improvement of teaching across contexts.