Search

Measuring learning outcomes on core skills is key to building evidence on which teaching and learning interventions are most effective, and ultimately informing policy that prioritises these skills, amongst early learners. However, developing national or systems-level assessments pose considerable challenges, including implementing an effective translation process from centrally developed tools. In developing nations, limited resources compounded the challenges. This paper investigated the effect of test, classroom, and home (or mother-tongue, MoT) language correspondence on the relationship between numeracy and literacy skills amongst early-grade learners (N = 4032) in high-poverty regions in the Philippines. Results show that language correspondence does not in itself have an effect on numeracy skill but positively moderates (i.e. strengthens) the relationship between literacy and numeracy skills. The findings suggest that targeted translation can effectively remove the effect of test language on the construct being measured, language match still exerts an indirect effect on the strength of relationship amongst the skills being tested together. The finding that language factors have no direct effect is dependent on the effectiveness of the targeted translation process, but also underscores its importance especially in linguistically diverse test settings. Finally, the impact of test language and implications for systems-level testing are discussed.

The relationship between latent trait and test-taking speed is an important area of study in assessment research. In addition to contributions of such studies to psychometrics, the factors that affect both ability and speed have implications for test development and have policy consequences especially if the tests are high stakes. This study investigated the main assessment scale used in gifted education screening in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and focused on the discriminating properties of items across the several cognitive subskills being measured. Under an item response theoretic framework, this study used a lognormal response time model to investigate the discrimination parameter estimates for both ability and speed, with guessing taken into account. Results showed that cognitive subskills do not have uniform discrimination properties across ability and speed, such that some types of items are better at discriminating ability while other types are better at discriminating speed. At a test-level, our results also showed that ability is negatively correlated with speed, such that higher ability students tend to take more time and hence have slower speed. This finding supports other results in the literature. Implications for high-stakes testing and test development are discussed.

Cheating detection is an important issue in standardized testing, especially in large-scale settings. Statistical approaches are often computationally intensive and require specialised software to conduct. We present a two-stage approach that quickly filters suspected groups using statistical testing on an IRT-based answer-copying index. We also present an approach to mitigate data contamination and improve the performance of the index. The computation of the index was implemented through a modified version of an open source R package, thus enabling wider access to the method. Using data from PIRLS 2011 (N=64,232) we conduct a simulation to demonstrate our approach. Type I error was well-controlled and no control group was falsely flagged for cheating, while 16 (combined n=12,569) of the 18 (combined n=14,149) simulated groups were detected. Implications for system-level cheating detection and further improvements of the approach were discussed.

In the current era of more extreme political and religious views coming into the mainstream, this paper investigates whether party affiliation is associated with the concept of religious morality more than political ideology. To answer this research question, we construct an empirical scale of religious morality based on data from opinion polls, which remain among the most efficient and widespread survey methods to capture psycho-social data at large scales. Classification models, using ideology and religious morality as predictors, respectively, were compared on their performance in predicting party affiliation. Response data on just four questions from a national opinion poll were used to demonstrate the viability of constructing a parametric scale using item response modeling approaches. Results show that even with 'small data', a measurement-based and data-driven approach can produce classification models that are both statistically precise and accurate. Finally, we discuss the findings and the implications for both politics and psycho-social measurement.

The world is rapidly changing, and the systemic shifts have the potential to affect the nature of work. To prepare the workforce, it is crucial to develop the skills that will be necessary for the unpredictable landscape of the future. Before these skills can be developed, however, they have to be identified and quantified through some form of valuation. It is important that the approach to skills valuation is empirically defensible. This article presents an approach to skills valuation that focuses on the extent to which a skill facilitates occupational transitions as its measure of value. This valuation metric is then developed using a graph-theoretic approach. Results show that this valuation reflects skills-importance that aligns with existing skills valuation in the literature. Limitations of this approach and its potential extensions are discussed.

There are relatively few studies in Australia and South-East Asian region that combine investigating models of math growth trajectories with predictors such as reasoning ability and reading comprehension skills. Math achievement is one of the major components of overall academic achievement and it is important to determine what factors (especially domain-general factors) predict levels of achievement over time. This study presents large-scale data (N = 5,886) from Australia to examine the trajectories of growth in math achievement and how problem solving (PS) ability and reading comprehension (RC) skills predict this growth among government school students (grades 3-8) in Victoria. Latent growth modelling showed that PS ability predicts growth in math achievement and this relationship is partially mediated by RC skill. Both PS ability and RC skill predict initial status in math achievement, but only PS ability predicts growth. The data also fit a model in which an improvement in general reasoning ability of students allows those with lower initial levels in math achievement to catch up. This can be interpreted as evidence that improving growth rates in PS ability may lift growth rates in math achievement.

This paper discusses issues on cross-cultural gifted screening from a Philippine perspective. Research on gifted education in the Philippines, and Southeast Asia in general, is still nascent. The main focus of this review of literature is on equity of the gifted education screening process across wide socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic differences within the student population. On account of the relative lack of specific literature on Philippine gifted education, this review links the findings in gifted education research from Western-based countries and relates the findings to the Philippine context. For example, although the Philippines do not have as much of an issue of racial inequity in schools as the United States, the same inequity because of socioeconomic factors can be tackled similarly. The implication of alternative assessments, and their utility in cross-cultural gifted education, are also examined.

This paper aims to present an alternative and simple method to improve the filtering of search results so as to increase the efficiency of literature searches, particularly for individual researchers who have limited logistical resources. The method proposed here is scope restriction using an impact-based filter, made possible by the emergence of freely available citation databases in conjunction with new tools to access and process the data efficiently. Results from a simulated search are compared between a conventional date-ranged filtered search and an impact-based filtered search using Publish or Perish as the citation analysis software. The utility and practical implications of this approach are further discussed.

Background: Research on gender differences in intelligence has focused mostly on samples from Western countries and empirical evidence on gender differences from Southeast Asia is relatively sparse. Aims: This article presents results on gender differences in variance and means on a non-verbal intelligence test using a national sample of public school students from the Philippines. Sample: More than 2,700 sixth graders from public schools across the country were tested with the Naglieri Non-verbal Ability Test (NNAT). Methods: Variance ratios (VRs) and log-transformed VRs were computed. Proportion ratios for each of the ability levels were also calculated and a chi-square goodness-of-fit test was performed. An analysis of variance was performed to determine the overall gender difference in mean scores as well as within each of three age subgroups. Results: Our data show non-existent or trivial gender difference in mean scores. However, the tails of the distributions show differences between the males and females, with greater variability among males in the upper half of the distribution and greater variability among females in the lower half of the distribution. Descriptions of the results and their implications are discussed. Conclusions: Results on mean score differences support the hypothesis that there are no significant gender differences in cognitive ability. The unusual results regarding differences in variance and the male-female proportion in the tails require more complex investigations.

This study examines the effect of parental education levels (PELs) on the fluid intelligence of Filipino public school students. The data were drawn from a normative study of a nonverbal intelligence test involving more than 2,700 students sampled across the country. As expected, PELs have a significant impact on fluid intelligence as measured through a nonverbal intelligence test. The results indicate that PELs account for an increase of roughly three IQ points for every increment in PEL. Students with college-graduate parents scored significantly higher (d ratio = 0.66) compared to those with parents who never graduated from elementary. However, a comparison of mean scores between PELs that are adjacent (i.e., high school graduate vs. college graduate) shows relatively small differences (d ratio = 0.23 to 0.25). (Contains 1 figure, 5 tables and 7 notes.)

This is a normative study to investigate the transferability of norms from western-based intelligence tests to Filipino students. More than 2,700 Filipino sixth graders were sampled across the country and administered the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT). Scores were then compared to the US normative sample. The results showed no significant differences in mean scores and the standardized mean difference is small when scaled scores are used in comparison. However, in situations where the test needs to be used for specific portions of the population such as in the context of gifted education, further analysis revealed that the distribution of scores for the Philippine sample differed significantly from the expected values based on the US norms, particularly in the tail ends of the distribution. In these cases, it may not be valid to transfer the US norms directly to Filipino students without any modification.

In the current era of more extreme political and religious views coming into the mainstream, this paper investigates whether party affiliation is associated with the concept of religious morality more than political ideology. To answer this research question, we construct an empirical scale of religious morality based on data from opinion polls, which remain among the most efficient and widespread survey methods to capture psycho-social data at large scales. Classification models, using ideology and religious morality as predictors, respectively, were compared on their performance in predicting party affiliation. Response data on just four questions from a national opinion poll were used to demonstrate the viability of constructing a parametric scale using item response modeling approaches. Results show that even with 'small data', a measurement-based and data-driven approach can produce classification models that are both statistically precise and accurate. Finally, we discuss the findings and the implications for both politics and psycho-social measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses issues on cross-cultural gifted screening from a Philippine perspective. Research on gifted education in the Philippines, and Southeast Asia in general, is still nascent. The main focus of this review of literature is on equity of the gifted education screening process across wide socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic differences within the student population. On account of the relative lack of specific literature on Philippine gifted education, this review links the findings in gifted education research from Western-based countries and relates the findings to the Philippine context. For example, although the Philippines do not have as much of an issue of racial inequity in schools as the United States, the same inequity because of socioeconomic factors can be tackled similarly. The implication of alternative assessments, and their utility in cross-cultural gifted education, are also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present an alternative and simple method to improve the filtering of search results so as to increase the efficiency of literature searches, particularly for individual researchers who have limited logistical resources. The method proposed here is scope restriction using an impact-based filter, made possible by the emergence of freely available citation databases in conjunction with new tools to access and process the data efficiently. Results from a simulated search are compared between a conventional date-ranged filtered search and an impact-based filtered search using Publish or Perish as the citation analysis software. The utility and practical implications of this approach are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]