ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Senior Medical Student Attitudes towards Patient Communication and Their Development across the Clinical Elective Year -- A Q-Methodology Study
Author: Schick, Kristina
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Medical Education,Medical Students,Patients,Interpersonal Communication,Communication Skills,Student Attitudes,Communication Strategies,Physician Patient Relationship

To be proficient in communicating with patients, physicians need specified knowledge, skills and attitudes. Until now, medical educators have mostly focused on undergraduate students' communication knowledge and skills in training and assessment. Attitudes towards communication with patients have been researched less frequently, but it is plausible that they also influence physicians' behaviours in many ways. The present study investigates the communication-focused attitudes of senior medical students and their development through the clinical elective year using an innovative approach based on Q-methodology. We conducted a Q-methodology study using statements from the Kalamazoo Communication Skills Assessment Form. A total of 47 final-year medical students documented their attitudes towards communication by sorting these statements in regard to their importance into a normal distribution grid in medical interviews. Our innovative approach included three time points during the elective year at which these statements were sorted, with only a slight decrease of participants. We applied a Q-factor analysis and found three attitude profiles that were structurally stable over time. Attitude profile #1 focused on providing information and fostering shared decision making; profile #2 focused on the patients' concerns and emotions while meeting the patients' demands for sufficient information. Finally, the focus of attitude profile #3 was on using appropriate conversation techniques to structure communication and gather sufficient information. Overall, the respondents assigned increasing importance to building good relationships and making shared decisions with patients over time. Statements about structuring conversations and communication techniques were evaluated as less important by the end of the clinical elective year.
Preliminary Evidence on Measurement Characteristics for the Foundational Assessment of Competencies for Teaching Performance Tasks. Research Report. ETS RR-20-27
Author: Phelps, Geoffrey
Date: 2020-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Competency Testing,Performance Based Assessment,Preservice Teachers,Teacher Certification,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Scoring,Test Reliability,Elementary Education,Test Validity,Scores,Student Attitudes

In this report we provide preliminary evidence on the measurement characteristics for a new type of teaching performance assessment designed to be combined with complementary assessments of teacher content knowledge. The resulting test, which we refer to as the Foundational Assessment of Competencies for Teaching (FACT), is designed for use as part of initial teacher licensure. Twenty elementary FACT performance tasks (10 for mathematics [MATH] and 10 for reading language arts [RLA]) were developed and then administered to 59 teacher candidates. The results from the pilot indicate that the performance tasks function as designed with candidates completing the tasks on average in approximately 3.5 min. Human raters were able to score the tasks quickly and accurately. All score points were well represented for all the scored tasks. Total scores for all tasks combined and subscores for reading language arts RLA and MATH had respective alpha reliabilities of 0.86, 0.77, and 0.79, with the scores well distributed across the scale. A large majority of teacher candidates participating in the study strongly endorsed the FACT tasks as authentic, assessing valuable competencies, and suitable for use as part of teacher licensure. These preliminary results indicate that the FACT performance tasks show great promise for use in large-scale, high-stakes testing programs that seek to provide evidence of both the knowledge and skills needed for effective teaching.
Uncommon Measures Revisited. Research Report. ETS RR-20-04
Author: Dorans, Neil J.
Date: 2020-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: State Programs,Testing Programs,National Competency Tests,College Entrance Examinations,Alignment (Education),Educational Assessment,Achievement Tests

This report, which is based on an invited presentation given at the 2015 meeting of the Association of Test Publishers, is a response to the continuing proliferation of scale linking studies that have occurred since the publication of &quot;Uncommon Measures&quot; in 1999.The report has four parts. First, I restate the conclusions made in &quot;Uncommon Measures&quot; about linking the scales of state assessments to the National Assessment of Educational Progress scale and summarize points made by Thissen with respect to such linkages. Then I reiterate the important role played by the features of testing situations on the type of linkages made by Kolen and note how these features interact with the taxonomy of score linkages provided by Holland and Dorans. Next, I summarize findings from a 2010 National Council on Measurement in Education symposium that described the linkage studies conducted in 2008 to update the concordances between the 2005 version of the SAT® test and the ACT, and I discuss their implications for linking score scales in general. Finally, I offer some concluding advice pertaining to linkages in general.
An Interdisciplinary Facebook Incorporated STEM Education Strategy in Teaching and Learning of Dynamic Ecosystems
Author: Khozali, Noor Badari
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Interdisciplinary Approach,Social Media,STEM Education,Teaching Methods,Learning Strategies,Ecology,Secondary School Students,Scores,Outcomes of Education,Instructional Effectiveness,Scientific Concepts,Foreign Countries

Ecology involves learning the multiple processes that occur in an ecosystem in a non-linear manner. For students to understand the complexity of an ecosystem and the processes, an interdisciplinary teaching and learning strategy is essential. Crossing the four disciplines that constitute STEM education, characterizes STEM education as an interdisciplinary approach. This study prescribes Facebook incorporated STEM education to conduct the lessons on a dynamic ecosystem, and the effects are reported. Mixed method research encompassing experimental research and qualitative interviews conducted with From Four students (equivalent to grade 9) revealed that the new strategy, Facebook incorporated STEM education fostered students understanding of ecosystems. The paired sample t-test analysis indicated significant differences between the pre and post understanding scores. The qualitative interview analysis informed how Facebook incorporated STEM education resulted in students acquiring better understandings. The study entails an interdisciplinary strategy is essential for effective teaching of a complex process such as the ecosystem.
Origami and GeoGebra Activities Contribute to Geometric Thinking in Second Graders
Author: Klemer, Anat
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Grade 2,Elementary School Students,Intervention,Teaching Methods,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Geometric Concepts,Geometry,College Students,Semitic Languages,Knowledge Level,Program Effectiveness,Gender Differences,Language Usage,Mathematics Instruction,Mathematics Achievement

This article describes the beneficial effects of an intervention program, based on the computerized Origametria program and the GeoGebra environment, for acquiring geometric concepts in the second grade. Eighty-eight second-graders, from both Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking schools, were instructed in groups by eighteen Hebrew and Arabic-speaking college students, respectively. The groups met for twenty-three 45-minute sessions throughout the schoolyear, undergoing different activities in Origametria and GeoGebra about the concepts of triangle, quadrilateral, square, rectangle, right angle and reflectional symmetry. The pupils' geometric knowledge was compared pre and post intervention to that of twenty-nine pupils in the control group. Pre-intervention, the experimental group's geometric knowledge was significantly lower than that of the control group and there were differences in knowledge between pupils from the Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking school. Post-intervention, a considerable improvement was noted in the experimental group, to the point that group differences were no longer significant. Differences between Hebrew and Arabic-speakers in knowledge of most concepts were also eliminated. Due to the intervention program, the knowledge gap between low and high achieving pupils in the pre-intervention test was closed. Thus, all pupils were brought to a similar level of geometric knowledge. There were no gender differences pre or post-intervention.
A Systematic Process for Assessing Assessment
Author: Elturki, Eman
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Second Language Programs,English (Second Language),Student Evaluation,Test Reliability,Test Validity,Language Tests,Formative Evaluation,Summative Evaluation,Test Construction,Grading,Testing,Data Analysis

Accrediting agencies for English language programs, such as the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA), require a plan in writing for monitoring and reviewing assessment practices. Nonetheless, web-search queries such as &quot;assessing assessment,&quot; &quot;how to assess assessment,&quot; &quot;assessing assessment reliability and validity,&quot; and so on do not yield results that provide a systematic process for assessing assessments. Eman Elturki's multiple search attempts resulted in articles related to, for example, classroom strategies for assessing students, the use of rubrics, areas to be considered when developing assessments, and explanations of assessment-related concepts such as validity and reliability. These are valuable resources for assessment but do not suffice for what he wanted: a comprehensive assessment framework that guides the phases of the assessment cycle, from pre-assessment creation to post-assessment analyses. This article is a result of research on how to revitalize assessment practices in a universitybased intensive English language program in order to maximize validity and reliability and meet accreditation requirements. This includes standardized measures and guidelines for teachers to draw upon (1) prior to constructing an assessment, (2) when constructing the assessment, (3) while administering the assessment, (4) when grading the assessment, and (5) after grading the assessment. Programs as well as individual teachers can adapt this assessment framework to enhance their assessment practices and fulfill accreditation requirements.
Peculiarities of Math Students Adaptation to Temporary Forced Isolation or Quarantine
Author: Cherdymova, Elena I.
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mathematics Education,Student Adjustment,Social Adjustment,Social Environment,Social Isolation,Stress Variables,Stress Management,Undergraduate Students,Late Adolescents,Gender Differences,Anxiety,Depression (Psychology),Foreign Countries,COVID-19,Pandemics

The relevance of this article is determined by the need to study the difficulties facing young people in the process of social adaptation during quarantine on the back of the coronavirus pandemic. Due to their worldview that is often in conflict with the surrounding social environment, as well as their life attitudes and inability to adapt to the situation, young people may not be able to cope with all the processes of social adaptation that occur every now and then in everyday life. In the context of the quarantine announced to curb the spread of coronavirus, some young people may experience increased social maladaptation and develop psychosocial fears. This article is aimed at identifying the specifics of the relationship between adaptation strategies and disorders caused by social stresses in college students in the situation of temporary involuntary isolation (under quarantine). We used a questionnaire survey as a research methodology to identify both social adaptation strategies of math students and disorders associated with social stresses that they may develop in the situation of temporary involuntary isolation. The article has revealed strategies for the social adaptation of math students in the situation of quarantine. The article analyses the relationship between the social adaptation strategy and social stress disorders of math students during the coronavirus pandemic. The data obtained in this research can be used in social psychology, pedagogy, age psychology, medical psychology, as well as for further theoretical development of this problem.
Developing a Bilingual Thematic Vocabulary Workbook
Author: Balderston, Genevieve
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Secondary Education,High School Teachers,Language Teachers,Teacher Developed Materials,Bilingual Instructional Materials,Vocabulary,Workbooks,Models,Student Developed Materials

In Madagascar, secondary and adult English as a foreign language (EFL) classes commonly have limited resources and inadequate teacher preparation. Schools often have few or no textbooks and dictionaries. Computers with Internet access are a rare luxury. Teachers themselves may be underprepared, with no English teaching credential, minimal training, and limited English proficiency. Compounding these challenges, both teachers and students might not have any opportunities to engage with English outside the classroom and may have multiple primary and instructional languages--Malagasy and French, in the case of Madagascar. This was the situation for one of the authors, Sahondranirina, as a high school English teacher in Madagascar. Her students could not afford to buy a dictionary. Even if Sahondranirina had managed to convince the school principal to buy some French-English dictionaries, they would not have been much help because her students were not fluent in French--their first language is Malagasy. She therefore decided to help herself, her fellow English teachers, and her students by developing a bilingual Malagasy-English vocabulary workbook based on themes from the Madagascar national English secondary-school curricula. To help teachers facing similar challenges, this article explains the rationale and strategies to create useful vocabulary workbooks for multilingual students.
Test-Based Accountability Systems: The Importance of Paying Attention to Consequences. William H. Angoff Memorial Lecture Series. Research Report. ETS RR-20-02
Author: Lane, Suzanne
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Accountability,Achievement Tests,Test Results,Educational Legislation,Test Validity,Alternative Assessment,Performance Based Assessment,Federal Legislation,Federal Aid,Federal Programs,Elementary Secondary Education,College Entrance Examinations,Value Judgment,Educational Change

The impetus for test-based accountability systems is to improve the educational opportunities afforded to all students so as to improve their learning; therefore, integral to the validity argument of these systems is the appraisal of test-based inferences and decisions in terms of their consequences. Both positive and negative consequences of test-based decisions have different effects on different groups of students and in different schools, and these differential effects need to be examined as part of the validity argument and in addressing fairness issues. This paper addresses intended and potentially unintended consequences of test-based accountability systems in the validity argument. Legislation for test-based accountability systems, as well as studies evaluating their consequences, is discussed. A conceptual framework that provides a principled approach for evaluating both intended and unintended consequences of assessment and accountability systems, including those that arise due to using tests as policy levers for educational change, is provided. [This lecture was presented at the William H. Angoff Memorial Lecture at the National Press Club (17th, Washington, D.C., Dec 16, 2019).]
Let&apos;s Talk about It: Strategies for Integrating Writing and Speaking in the Classroom
Author: Dupont, Andrew
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Writing Skills,Speech Skills,Writing Instruction,Language Skills,Interdisciplinary Approach,Learning Activities,Student Centered Learning,Cooperative Learning,Communicative Competence (Languages),English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Student Role,Peer Teaching,Pictorial Stimuli

Each of the four language skills--reading, writing, speaking, and listening--plays an important role in language learning, and successful teaching can benefit from including a combination of these skills in the classroom. This article shares strategies for integrating speaking into a writing-focused course, with the goal of improving students' competency in both language skills. Instructors have the potential to include speaking through a variety of activities, creating a student-centered classroom that incorporates communicative language teaching and task-based cooperative learning.
The Development of a Content Assessment of Basic Electronics Knowledge. Research Report. ETS RR-20-28
Author: Steinberg, Jonathan
Date: 2020-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Knowledge Level,Skill Development,Psychometrics,Student Evaluation,Engineering Education,Electronics,Performance Factors,Scores,Simulation,Cooperative Learning,Teamwork,Problem Solving,Difficulty Level,Correlation,Undergraduate Students,Student Characteristics,Teacher Characteristics,Two Year Colleges,Minority Serving Institutions,Gender Differences,Racial Differences

This study discusses the development of a basic electronics knowledge (BEK) assessment as a pretest activity for undergraduate students in engineering and related fields. The 28 BEK items represent 12 key concepts, including properties of serial circuits, knowledge of electrical laws (e.g., Kirchhoff 's and Ohm's laws), and properties of digital multimeters. This paper first discusses a psychometric evaluation of the BEK assessment to understand its basic measurement properties and to examine various group-level differences based on demographic, institutional, and instructor characteristics. Subsequently, the relationship between BEK scores on the 23 retained items and performance on an existing complex collaborative simulation-based electronics task is discussed. Results demonstrated that basic content knowledge alone may not be sufficient for students to demonstrate knowledge of electronics skills on more complex tasks. The research also carries great importance given ongoing concerns about improving the overall state and diversity of the engineering workforce and its associated pipeline to meet the demands of the national economy.
The Redesigned &quot;TOEIC Bridge&quot;® Tests: Relations to Test-Taker Perceptions of Proficiency in English. Research Report. ETS RR-20-07
Author: Schmidgall, Jonathan
Date: 2020-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Language Tests,Second Language Learning,English (Second Language),Foreign Countries,Test Construction,Language Proficiency,Listening Comprehension Tests,Reading Tests,Test Interpretation,Scores,Writing Tests,Correlation,Self Evaluation (Individuals)

The redesigned four-skills &quot;TOEIC Bridge&quot;® tests were designed to measure the listening, reading, speaking, and writing proficiency of beginning to low--intermediate English learners in the context of everyday life. In this paper, I describe two studies that were conducted to investigate claims about the meaningfulness of redesigned TOEIC Bridge test scores by comparing them to self-assessments of listening, reading, speaking, and writing proficiency. In Study 1, test takers who participated in the redesigned TOEIC Bridge field test in Japan and Taiwan completed an online self-assessment survey of their speaking and writing proficiency. In Study 2, test takers who participated in pretesting for the redesigned TOEIC Bridge Listening and Reading test in Japan and Taiwan completed a paper-based self-assessment survey of their listening and reading proficiency. Both studies were designed with the same research questions in mind in order to evaluate claims about the meaning of redesigned TOEIC Bridge test scores and to enhance the interpretation of test scores by relating them to test takers' self-assessed ability to perform a variety of related tasks. The results indicated that self-assessments had medium correlations with redesigned TOEIC Bridge Listening test scores (r =.55), Reading test scores (r =0.54), Speaking test scores (r =0.51), and Writing test scores (r =0.46). These results compare favorably with the results of similar studies of the relationship between test scores and self-assessments of language proficiency and provide evidence to support claims about the meaningfulness of TOEIC Bridge test scores. In addition, the pattern of results across TOEIC Bridge test proficiency levels and can-do statements taken from language proficiency standards suggests that the tests meaningfully differentiate test-takers' proficiency levels, an important consideration of test design.
Reflections on Equity-Centered Design. Research Report. ETS RR-20-22
Author: Oliveri, María Elena
Date: 2020-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Culture Fair Tests,Guidelines,Test Use,Test Construction,Student Evaluation,Evidence Based Practice,Decision Making,Evaluation,Student Diversity,Minority Group Students,Equal Education,Teaching Methods,Test Content,Scoring,Cultural Relevance

This report discusses frameworks and assessment development approaches to consider fairness, opportunity to learn, and consequences of test use in the design and use of assessments administered to diverse populations. Examples include the integrated design and appraisal framework and the sociocognitively based evidence-centered design approach. The report also provides an overview of approaches that have been used before to increase the utility, relevance, and authenticity (verisimilitude) of assessments to inform various decisions made from the use of assessments administered to diverse populations. These considerations are important as the test-taker populations engaging in assessment situations become increasingly more diverse at the national and international levels.
Variance Estimation with Complex Data and Finite Population Correction--A Paradigm for Comparing Jackknife and Formula-Based Methods for Variance Estimation. Research Report. ETS RR-20-11
Author: Qian, Jiahe
Date: 2020-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computation,Sampling,Data,Statistical Analysis,Probability,National Competency Tests,Science Tests,Grade 8,Error of Measurement,Sample Size

The finite population correction (FPC) factor is often used to adjust variance estimators for survey data sampled from a finite population without replacement. As a replicated resampling approach, the jackknife approach is usually implemented without the FPC factor incorporated in its variance estimates. A paradigm is proposed to compare the jackknifed variance estimates with those yielded by the delta method because the delta method has the effect of the FPC factor implicitly integrated. The goal is to examine whether the grouped jackknife approach properly estimates the variance of complex samples without incorporating the FPC effect, in particular for data sampled from a finite population with a high sampling rate. The investigation focuses on the data drawn by two-stage sampling with probability proportional to size of schools and with simple random sampling of students. Moreover, the Hájek approximation of the joint probabilities is used in the delta method for a Horvitz-Thompson (H-T) estimator. Samples of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) state science assessments are used in the analysis.