Copyright (c) 2009 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters Recent documents in Prof. Geoff Masters en-us Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:57:04 PDT 3600 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/119 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/119 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:20:30 PDT Geoff Masters http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/118 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/118 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:14:12 PDT Geoff Masters http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/117 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/117 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:06:58 PDT High item discrimination can be a symptom of a special kind of measurement disturbance introduced by an item that gives persons of high ability a special advantage over and above their higher abilities. This type of disturbance, which can be interpreted as a form of item bias, can be encouraged by methods that routinely interpret highly discriminating items as the best items on a test and may be compounded by procedures that weight items by their discrimination. The type of measurement disturbance described and illustrated in this paper occurs when an item is sensitive to individual differences on a second, undesired dimension that is positively correlated with the variable intended to be measured. Possible secondary influences of this type include opportunity to learn, opportunity to answer, and test wiseness. Geoff Masters http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/116 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/116 Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:59:24 PDT This report provides advice on the collection and reporting of information about the performances of Australian schools. The focus is on the collection of nationally comparable data. Two purposes are envisaged: use by education authorities and governments to monitor school performances and, in particular, to identify schools that are performing unusually well or unusually poorly given their circumstances; and use by parents/caregivers and the public to make informed judgements about, and meaningful comparisons of, schools and their offerings. Our advice is based on a review of recent Australian and international research and experience in reporting on the performances of schools. This is an area of educational practice in which there have been many recent developments, much debate and a growing body of relevant research. Geoff N. Masters http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/115 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/115 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:24:39 PDT This paper argues that valid measures of achievement require the prior consideration and specification of: the kinds of knowledge, understanding, and skill to be developed in particular areas of the school curriculum; the levels of performance to be expected of all students at particular stages in the schooling process. These two considerations together define a set of standards against which student performance can be assessed and monitored. It also argues that, at least in school education, the attempt to build an assessment system around yes/no decisions about the achievement of outcomes is unlikely to provide reliable measures of achievement that can be compared meaningfully. An alternative approach to assessing student achievement against performance standards is to begin with a growth model of learning and to construct an assessment system for estimating individuals' locations on an achievement map. Geoff Masters http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/114 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/114 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:57:31 PDT The analyses, publications and reports of quantitative data in education and the social sciences usually omit basic information on the construct measured. Probabilistic models for test data make it possible to delineate coherent and richly described measurement continua that facilitate interpretation of student achievement. The potential of conjoint measurement to bring about fundamental advances in educational testing practice lies in part in the opportunities it provides to build useful maps of learning domains and to use those maps in communicating student achievements. This chapter presents two applications of conjoint measurement aimed at constructing and describing achievement variables, developing insights into the structure of learning domains, and providing descriptive interpretations of students' levels of achievement within those domains. Both applications are taken from work of the Australian Council for Educational Research in Melbourne. Geoff Masters http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/111 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/111 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:23:19 PDT A unidimensional latent trait model for responses scored in two or more ordered categories is developed. This "Partial Credit" model is a member of the family of latent trait models which share the property of parameter separability and so permit "specifically objective" comparisons of persons and items. The model can be viewed as an extension of Andrich's Rating Scale model to situations in which ordered response alternatives are free to vary in number and structure from item to item. The difference between the parameters in this model and the "category boundaries" in Samejima's Graded Response model is demonstrated. An unconditional maximum likelihood procedure for estimating the model parameters is developed. Geoff Masters http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/110 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/110 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:57:26 PDT Recent research in cognitive psychology has drawn attention to the important role that students' personal understandings and representations of subject matter play in the learning process. This chapter briefly reviews some of this research, and contrasts the kind of learning that results in an individual's changed conception or view of a phenomenon with the more passive, additive kind of learning assessed by most traditional achievement tests. To be consistent with a view of learning as an active, constructive process, educational tests are required that focus on key concepts in an area of learning, and that take into account the variety of types and levels of understanding that students have of those concepts. In these tests, scoring responses right and wrong is likely to be less appropriate than using students' answers to infer their levels of understanding. This will require not only imaginative new types of test items, but statistical models that permit inferences about students' understandings once their responses have been observed. Psychometric approaches are sketched to construct measures of achievement from such tests. Geoff Masters http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/109 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/109 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:46:27 PDT D G. Beswick http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/108 http://works.bepress.com/geoff_masters/108 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:36:15 PDT Future levels of educational attainment in Australia will be key determinants of individual, social and economic prosperity. Policies that deliver an increase in education and training levels will have wide-ranging benefits for individuals, standards of living and social cohesion. Over recent decades there have been steady increases in the education levels of young Australians. Future generations will be much more highly educated as current levels of educational achievement flow through the age structure over time. However, despite generally increasing education levels, Australia has one of the lowest secondary school completion rates among comparable countries. Australia's future economic competitiveness will depend on increasing the numbers of young people who complete 12 years of school or equivalent. And, while young Australians perform well on average, large numbers of young people leave school with unacceptably low levels of school achievement. This paper focuses on two specific concerns: first, the significant proportion of young people who become disengaged during their school years, achieve only minimal educational outcomes and have limited subsequent engagement in work or further learning; and second, the shortage of young people with the knowledge and skills required for effective participation in the Australian workforce. Five strategies are identified for addressing these concerns. Geoff Masters