bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CONDUCTING DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING (DIF) ANALYSES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES BASED ON PREVIOUS DIF STUDIES
Authors: Buzick Heather , Stone Elizabeth 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to help ensure that strategies for differential item functioning (DIF) detection for students with disabilities are appropriate and lead to meaningful results. We surveyed existing DIF studies for students with disabilities and describe them in terms of study design, statistical approach, sample characteristics, and DIF results. Based on descriptive and graphical summaries of previous DIF studies, we make recommendations for future studies of DIF for students with disabilities.
EXAMINING THE FACTOR STRUCTURE OF A STATE STANDARDS‐BASED SCIENCE ASSESSMENT FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES
Authors: Steinberg Jonathan , Cline Frederick , Sawaki Yasuyo 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThis study examined the scores on a state standards‐based Grade 5 Science assessment obtained by a group of students without learning disabilities who took the standard form of the test and by three groups of students with learning disabilities: one taking the standard form of the test without accommodations or modifications, a second taking the test with accommodations, and a third group taking the test with modifications. The groups received accommodations or modifications that were specified in their 504 or IEP plans. Unlimited time was granted to complete the test. A series of item‐level, then parcel‐level, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses investigated whether or not the assessment demonstrated factorial invariance for the four groups of students studied. The results of this study help substantiate the validity of test scores for students with disabilities who take the test with the particular set of accommodations or modifications that were used in this study. In addition, the results lend support to modifying this state's policy in order to aggregate scores obtained by students without learning disabilities and by students with learning disabilities who have taken the assessment with accommodations or modifications required by their 504 plans or IEPs for AYP purposes.
EVALUATION OF THE E‐RATER® SCORING ENGINE FOR THE TOEFL® INDEPENDENT AND INTEGRATED PROMPTS
Authors: Ramineni Chaitanya , Trapani Catherine S. , Williamson David M. , Davey Tim , Bridgeman Brent 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTScoring models for the e‐rater® system were built and evaluated for the TOEFL® exam's independent and integrated writing prompts. Prompt‐specific and generic scoring models were built, and evaluation statistics, such as weighted kappas, Pearson correlations, standardized differences in mean scores, and correlations with external measures, were examined to evaluate the e‐rater model performance against human scores. Performance was also evaluated across different demographic subgroups. Additional analyses were performed to establish appropriate agreement thresholds between human and e‐rater scores for unusual essays and the impact of using e‐rater on operational scores. Generic e‐rater scoring models were recommended for operational use for both independent and integrated writing tasks. The two automated scoring models were recommended for operational use to produce contributory scores within a discrepancy threshold of 1.5 and 1.0 with a human score for independent and integrated prompts respectively.
ASSESSING QUALITY IN THE TEACHING OF CONTENT TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Authors: Turkan Sultan , Croft Andrew , Bicknell Jerome , Barnes Andwatta 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThis paper offers a chain of evidence collected to identify and verify the domain of teacher knowledge and skills required to teach ELLs content effectively in mathematics, science, reading/English language arts, and social studies. We initially assessed this domain through a review of literature and state standards for nonspecialized teacher certification. We developed a set of 67 evidence statements in 2 categories: pedagogical knowledge and linguistic knowledge. We conducted a national survey of practitioners and teacher educators to validate these statements, receiving 269 responses. A panel of 14 teacher educators and teachers further validated the statements by reaching consensus that the statements support the claims of the assessment under development. We found that the domain of knowledge necessary to teach ELLs in the content areas is insufficiently defined in the standards and literature. However, we identified that across the content areas, teachers should have knowledge and understanding of the register of the particular discipline. Beyond merely understanding the linguistic demands of a given discipline, teachers should also be able to raise ELLs' metalinguistic awareness of effective oral and written communication in the language of the content area.Also, teachers' use of multimodal instructional materials was deemed commonly essential in assessing teacher knowledge. Finally, we acknowledge that the chain of evidence collected in this line of research is a small step taken forward to understanding what should be assessed and how. With that, we offer future directions for research.
THE STABILITY OF THE SCORE SCALES FOR THE SAT REASONING TEST™ FROM 2005 TO 2010
Authors: Guo Hongwen , Liu Jinghua , Curley Edward , Dorans Neil 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThis study examines the stability of the SAT Reasoning Test™ score scales from 2005 to 2010. A 2005 old form (OF) was administered along with a 2010 new form (NF). A new conversion for OF was derived through direct equipercentile equating. A comparison of the newly derived and the original OF conversions showed that Critical Reading and Mathematics score scales have experienced, at most, a moderate upward scale drift (no greater than 5 points on average), and the drift may be explained by an accumulation of random equating errors. The Writing score scale has experienced a significant upward scale drift (11 points on average), which may be caused by sources other than random equating errors.
A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF KEYSTROKE LOG DATA FROM A TIMED WRITING TASK
Authors: Almond Russell , Deane Paul , Quinlan Thomas , Wagner Michael , Sydorenko Tetyana 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThe Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 pilot tests for theCBAL™ Writing assessment included experimental keystroke logging capabilities. This report documents the approaches used to capture the keystroke logs and the algorithms used to process the outputs. It also includes some preliminary findings based on the pilot data. In particular, it notes that the distribution of most of the pause length is consistent with data generated from a mixture of lognormal distributions. This corresponds to a cognitive model in which some pauses are merely part of the transcription (i.e., typing) process and some are part of more involved cognitive process (e.g., attention to writing conventions, word choice, and planning). In the pilot data, many of the features extracted from the keystroke logs were correlated with human scores. Due to the small sample sizes of the pilot studies, these findings are suggestive, not conclusive; however, they suggest a line of analysis for a large sample containing keystroke logging gathered in the fall of 2009.
CHOICE OF TARGET POPULATION WEIGHTS IN RATER COMPARABILITY SCORING AND EQUATING
Authors: Puhan Gautam 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to demonstrate that the choice of sample weights when defining the target population under poststratification equating can be a critical factor in determining the accuracy of the equating results under a unique equating scenario, known as rater comparability scoring and equating. The nature of data collection under rater comparability scoring is such that it results in a very high correlation between the anchor and total score in the new form but only a moderate correlation in the reference form. I demonstrated, using data collected under a rater comparability scoring situation, that this difference in the anchor‐total correlation in the new and reference forms can have a predictable impact on the equating results based on different sample weights (i.e., the equating results are most accurate when the reference form sample is defined as the target population, least accurate when the new form sample is defined as the target population, and somewhere in the middle when the new and reference form samples are equally weighed when defining the target population).
CONTRIBUTIONS OF A NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT ORGANIZATION TO EDUCATION POLICY RESEARCH
Authors: Coley Richard J. , Goertz Margaret E. , Wilder Gita Z. 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTAs part of its mission, Educational Testing Service (ETS) has conducted education policy research focused on promoting equal opportunity for all individuals from early childhood through adulthood. This report provides a sampler of this extensive work in three areas chosen to represent major historical foci:• Analyzing, evaluating, and informing public policy in educational governance, including school finance; teacher policy; and federal, state, and local education policy;• Examining differential access to educational opportunity in three areas of longstanding interest to ETS: the gender gap, advanced placement programs, and graduate education; and• Reporting on the educational outcomes of the U.S. population and describing the contexts for these outcomes and for the gaps in outcomes that exist among segments of the population.
SARA READING COMPONENTS TESTS, RISE FORM: TEST DESIGN AND TECHNICAL ADEQUACY
Authors: Sabatini John , Bruce Kelly , Steinberg Jonathan 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThis paper describes the design, development, and technical adequacy of the Reading Inventory and Student Evaluation (RISE) form of the Study Aid and Reading Assessment (SARA) reading components computer‐delivered assessment. The RISE form, designed for middle‐school students, began through a joint project between the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP), ETS, and a large urban school district, where middle‐school literacy had been identified as an area needing improvement. Educators were interested in understanding more about the component skills of their middle‐school students, particularly their struggling readers, using an efficient and reliable assessment. To date, results from our piloting of the RISE form with middle‐school students have established its technical adequacy. In the future, we plan to expand the RISE to create parallel forms for 6th‐to‐8th graders as well as to explore development of new test forms at other points in the grade continuum.
DEVELOPING ANALYTIC RATING GUIDES FOR TOEFL IBT'S INTEGRATED SPEAKING TASKS
Authors: Jamieson Joan , Poonpon Kornwipa 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTResearch and development of a new type of scoring rubric for the integrated speaking tasks of TOEFL iBT® are described. These analytic rating guides could be helpful if tasks modeled after those in TOEFL iBT were used for formative assessment, a purpose which is different from TOEFL iBT's primary use for admission decisions. Two questions motivated the project: What can be done to make the criteria and standards for good performance clear not only to English language teachers and their students but also to novice raters? How can test‐takers be guided in the steps necessary to improve performance? Previous research, quantitative results of linguistic features present in spoken responses, and qualitative themes of raters' judgments were analyzed. Salient features associated with performance were then synthesized to develop three analytic rating guides, each using a series of yes/no questions. The rating guides expanded the current scoring scales for the three dimensions of delivery, language use, and topic development, so that key features of increasingly proficient speaking performance were described in more detail. Suggestions for future validation studies are provided in terms of an iterative process of trials and revisions.
ETS PSYCHOMETRIC CONTRIBUTIONS: FOCUS ON TEST SCORES
Authors: Moses Tim 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this report is to review ETS psychometric contributions that focus on test scores. Two major sections review contributions based on assessing test scores' measurement characteristics and other contributions about using test scores as predictors in correlational and regression relationships. An additional section reviews additional contributions that integrate test scores' measurement aspects with correlational and regression uses.
COGNITIVE INTERVIEWS AS A TOOL FOR INVESTIGATING THE VALIDITY OF CONTENT KNOWLEDGE FOR TEACHING ASSESSMENTS
Authors: Howell Heather , Phelps Geoffrey , Croft Andrew J. , Kirui David , Gitomer Drew 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThis report provides a description of a cognitive interview study investigating validity of assessments designed to measure content knowledge for teaching (CKT). The report is intended both to provide information on the validity of the CKT measures and to provide guidance to researchers interested in replicating the design. The study takes an argument‐based approach to investigating validity by first articulating interpretive arguments that are central to the CKT measurement theory and then using the cognitive interview data to evaluate these arguments (Kane, 2006). The study is based on 30 interviews of elementary mathematics teachers and 30 interviews of elementary English language arts teachers. Teachers were selected using previous CKT assessment scores to represent high‐ and low‐scoring groups for each subject. The cognitive interviews were conducted separately for each subject and responses were coded and then analyzed to investigate the scoring and extrapolation inferences for the validity argument. Findings strongly support the scoring inference, providing evidence that the item keying for the items is correct. Results also indicate that the participants reasoned about the item in ways that conformed with the reasoning outlined in the task design rationales (TDR) for each item. These TDRs represent what reasoning should look like for each of these items for a respondent drawing on the desired CKT knowledge. As such, conformity with the TDRs supports the extrapolation inference, providing evidence that the reasoning used by the participant represents the underlying knowledge and skill domain we intend to measure through CKT assessments. The study design, instruments, methods, and results are described in detail, with discussion included to support researchers interested in replicating or capitalizing on the study design.
PRELIMINARY READING LITERACY ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK: FOUNDATION AND RATIONALE FOR ASSESSMENT AND SYSTEM DESIGN
Authors: Sabatini John , O'Reilly Tenaha , Deane Paul 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTThis report describes the foundation and rationale for a framework designed to measure reading literacy. The aim of the effort is to build an assessment system that reflects current theoretical conceptions of reading and is developmentally sensitive across a prekindergarten to 12th grade student range. The assessment framework is intended to document the aims of the assessment program, define the target constructs to be assessed, and describe the assessment designs that are aligned with the aims and constructs. This framework report is preliminary in that we are engaged in an iterative process of writing and revising the framework, based on what we learn from efforts to instantiate the ideas in new assessment designs and the results we garner from piloting novel designs. We also anticipate drafting further sections to address issues such as the scoring models and analytic plans once assessments have been designed and piloted.
INVESTIGATING THE SUITABILITY OF IMPLEMENTING THE E‐RATER® SCORING ENGINE IN A LARGE‐SCALE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING PROGRAM
Authors: Zhang Mo , Breyer F. Jay , Lorenz Florian 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTIn this research, we investigated the suitability of implementing e‐rater® automated essay scoring in a high‐stakes large‐scale English language testing program. We examined the effectiveness of generic scoring and 2 variants of prompt‐based scoring approaches. Effectiveness was evaluated on a number of dimensions, including agreement between the automated and the human score and relations with criterion variables. Results showed that the sample size was generally not sufficient for prompt‐specific scoring. For the generic scoring model, automated scores agreed with human raters as strongly as, or more strongly than, human raters agreed with one another for more than 97% of the prompts. The impact of substituting e‐rater for the second human rater made no practically important impact on test takers' scores at both the item and total test score levels. However, neither automated scoring models nor human raters performed invariantly across all prompts or across different test countries/territories. Further investigation indicated homogeneity in the examinee population, possibly nested within test countries/territories as one potential cause of this lack of invariance. Among other limitations, findings may not be generalizable beyond the examinee population investigated in this study.
ASKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT RACE AND ETHNICITY: NEW NEEDS FOR A CHANGING POPULATION
Authors: Klieger David M. , Adler Rachel , Ezzo Chelsea 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTNow is an opportune time to consider new ways to ask registrants for the GRE® General Test about their race and ethnicity. Growth in the percentage of Americans who identify as multiracial suggests the possibility that a sizeable percentage of registrants would self‐report more than one race or ethnicity if given the opportunity to do so; furthermore, racial and ethnic questions currently asked might be inappropriate or insufficient for the increasing number of registrants who are not U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents and continuing to consider Hispanic origin a racial classification might be too restrictive. Because fairness at the group level can reflect only the groups that can be identified, how we ask people to identify their race and ethnicity is fundamental. Using stratified sampling and online questionnaires, we explored U.S.‐style and international‐style questions about race and ethnicity as potential replacements of or supplements to the questions on ETS's current GRE Background Information Questionnaire (BIQ). We investigated the effects of U.S. citizenship, birth country, U.S. permanent residency status, mono‐ and multiraciality, and Hispanic origin on the preferences that survey respondents had for certain question formats and content. Furthermore, we analyzed the qualitative survey responses to determine respondents' major concerns about various question formats. In response to the survey results, we recommend that ETS's current BIQ be amended to include (a) more pluralistic U.S.‐style questions about race and ethnicity that conform to U.S. federal standards and (b) certain international‐style questions.
THE KERNEL LEVINE EQUIPERCENTILE OBSERVED‐SCORE EQUATING FUNCTION
Authors: von Davier Alina A. , Chen Haiwen 
Published: August 2014

ABSTRACTIn the framework of the observed‐score equating methods for the nonequivalent groups with anchor test design, there are 3 fundamentally different ways of using the information provided by the anchor scores to equate the scores of a new form to those of an old form. One method uses the anchor scores as a conditioning variable, such as the Tucker method and poststratification equating. A second way to use the anchor scores is as the middle link in a chain of linking relationships, such as chain linear equating and chain equating. The third way to use the anchor scores is in conjunction with the classical test theory, such as Levine observed‐score equating and the newly created hybrid Levine equipercentile equating and poststratification equating based on true anchor scores. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that with real data, under certain conditions, hybrid Levine equipercentile equating and poststratification equating based on true anchor scores outperform both poststratification equating and chain equating.
Peptide REDV‐modified polysaccharide hydrogel with endothelial cell selectivity for the promotion of angiogenesis
Authors: Wang Wei , Guo Lei , Yu Yanyan , Chen Zhiping , Zhou Rong , Yuan Zhi 
Published: August 2014

AbstractRapid and controlled vascularization of engineered tissues remains one of the key limitations in thick tissue engineering. Although many studies have focused on improving the rapid vascularization through the immobilization of bioactive molecules, the competition in growth between endothelial cells (ECs) and other cell types is to some extent neglected. In this study, we developed a peptide GREDV‐modified scaffold for selective adhesion of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) through the specific recognition of the REDV peptide and integrin α4β1. In vitro studies showed that GREDV‐conjugated alginate (ALG–GREDV) improved HUVEC adhesion, migration and proliferation when compared with a non‐modified group. Furthermore, ALG–GREDV exhibited a superior capability for promoting the proliferation and selective adhesion of HUVEC over that of other peptide (RGD and YIGSR) modified groups (ALG–Pep). In vivo angiogenic assays demonstrated that the ALG–GREDV scaffold induced an angiogenic potential by stimulating new vessel formation and showed the highest blood vessel density among all samples after 21 days of implanting (83.7 vessels/mm2). More importantly, the blood vessel density in cambium fibrous tissue of ALG–GREDV was about 1.5 times greater than other ALG–Pep groups, indicating facilitation of ALG–GREDV on selective angiogenesis in vivo. These results demonstrated that REDV‐conjugated alginate could be a useful scaffold for stimulating and inducing angiogenesis in tissue‐engineered applications. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 103A: 1703–1712, 2015.
Modeling of ethanol separation from continuous solid‐state fermentation coupled with online separation by CO2 gas stripping and heat pump technology
Authors: Chen Hong‐Zhang , He Qin , Ding Wen‐Yong 
Published: August 2014

AbstractBACKGROUNDA self‐made continuous solid‐state fermentation bioreactor coupled with gas stripping and heat pump technology apparently improved the ethanol yield. The confirmation of ethanol separation ability and establishment of a separation model for the equipment was crucial before use and scale‐up.RESULTSThe data calculated by the model was in good agreement with the experimental results, and the correlation coefficient of the fitting equation reached 0.928. The corresponding transfer coefficients of ethanol and water were 0.591 and 0.138 kg m−3 h−1 kPa−1, respectively, calculated by the model, and the equilibrium constant of ethanol was 48.784 kPa in the reported system. The distribution law of ethanol and water throughout the bioreactor showed that the partial pressures of ethanol and water in the circulation gas phase increased with the enhanced height of tower. Further study of the effect of circulation gas flow rate in the ethanol separation process showed that an appropriate gas flow should be greater than 15 kg h−1.CONCLUSIONSA preliminary ethanol separation model was established successfully for the self‐made continuous solid‐state fermentation bioreactor coupled with gas stripping and heat pump technology. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry