...Describe the APA's levels of test user competence and your professional future goals regarding testing. The American Psychological Association (APA) founded the Task Force on Test User Qualifications (TFTUQ) to develop guidelines for those administering psychological test (Turner, 2001). The guidelines became effective in 2000 and apply to users, individuals, training programs, regulatory and credentialing bodies and the public to promote professional standards in the use of these types of test (Turner, 2001). Prior to guidelines being establish there was prevalent misuse of such test, the TFTUQ were task to create rules to provide a framework, which provide a space for professionals to work under. The guidelines to standardize test that...
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...I grew up Loudoun County, one of the richest counties, where education was extremely important. My education was centered around being the best we could be, which often meant getting good grades and passing standardized exams. Throughout my schooling, we took approximately thirty-four standardized exams beginning in 3rd grade. At the time, I never thought anything of it, it was the usual. After taking this course, I began to reflect upon my education and realized how much the accountability movement impacted my education, specificity high-stakes testing. The goal of the accountability movement was to create equitable education for students, specifically set by the No Child Left Behind Act. High-stakes testing is the main element of the accountability movement because...
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...relevance to present-day practices. Psychological assessment refers to scientific techniques psychologists often use to identify the human personality. Psychological assessment is a process that involves the integration of information from multiple sources, such as tests of normal and abnormal personality, tests of ability or intelligence, tests of interests or outlooks, as well as information from interviews (Framingham, J. 2011). Psychological assessment is one of the most important parts in applied psychology. In this paper writer will explore the historical roots of psychological assessment, explain why the event is significant, and how it has affected the development of psychological testing in the 21st century. Psychological Testing is the core of Clinical Psychology focusing on the measurement of traits, human abilities, and characteristics. Psychologists primarily use the various tests to measure cognitive, intelligence, and personality traits (Framingham, J. 2011). For example, the civil service selection system in China is used to recruit officials according to merits rather than political or family association. Exams were introduced in the Han dynasty. This played a very important role in Chinese intellectual and social life from as early as 2200 B.C.E. (Cohen and Swerdlik, 2010). Passing the exams, which were centered on philosophy and classical literature, became a highly coveted status in the affluent intellectual culture in China. In general, proficiency in endeavors...
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...An outcomes-based approach to education clearly specifies what students are expected to learn and arranges the curriculum such that these intended outcomes are achieved (Harden, 2007). Learning outcomes provide the base for an effectively aligned and integrated curriculum, where instructional activities and assessment strategies are explicitly linked to course-specific and degree-level learning outcomes, which are tied to institutional and provincially-defined graduate degree level expectations (DLEs). Learning outcomes provide a powerful framework upon which to structure curricula. According to Harden et al., (1999; 2007a) learning outcomes: * help to provide clarity, integration and alignment within and between a sequence of courses; * promote a learner-centred approach to curriculum planning; * encourage a self-directed and autonomous approach to learning, as students can take responsibility for their studies, and are able to actively gauge their progress; * promote a collegial approach to curriculum planning, as instructors collaborate to identify gaps and redundancies, * ensure that decisions related to the curriculum and learning environment are streamlined; * foster a philosophy of continual monitoring, evaluation and improvement; and, * help to ensure accountability and assure quality of our education programs. An aligned curriculum organizes structures and sequences courses around the intended learning outcomes. In order for this approach...
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...| Developing Effective Diabetes Care Interventions in Rural Populations Salem International University Traci L French May 20, 2013 Abstract: Diabetes mellitus wreaks a high toll on Americans in regards to shortened life expectancy, decreased quality of life and staggering health care expenses. Prevalence of this disease in some populations can reach nearly 30%, with 11.3% of the total population affected in 2010 (Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, TX). In Arkansas, prevalence rates of the illness in some counties exceed 20% (Bradley, 2010). Recent statistics show that annual direct expenditures on diabetes care total $116 billion dollars per year with an additional $58 billion per year in indirect costs due to lost productivity and increased mortality (Texas Diabetes Institute, San Antonio, TX). The goal of this paper is to assess the development and implementation of current interventional strategies for diagnosing diabetes mellitus in affected populations in the southeastern United States. Outcomes of current programs will then be evaluated on a local, regional and national level. The final area of study will examine possible improvements to existing programs using culturally sensitive methodology to increase access to care within these populations and improve clinical outcomes while following evidence-based care guidelines. Diabetes mellitus is a costly illness, both in the number of lives affected as well as actual expenditures on health care and lost wages...
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...Critical Review of Cizek, Gregory J. (2005). High-Stakes Testing: Contexts, Characteristics, Critiques, and Consequences In Richard Phelps (Ed.), Defending Standardized Testing (pp. 23-54). New York, New York: Psychological Press. By Cheryl LeBlanc-Weldon When I decided to delve into the issue of high-stakes testing, I purposefully set out to find its defenders. Critical thinking is important to me and part of the process of thinking critically is to view a variety of perspectives on an issue in order to obtain an informed understanding and from that, an opinion. As an experienced educator, I have participated in standardized testing in a variety of ways. I have administered and graded tests in both Mathematics and Language Arts. I believe that currently in Nova Scotia we don’t have the type of high-stakes testing they have in the USA and other parts of the world. Our students do not need to achieve a certain level of achievement on the standardized tests they take in order to grade and teachers are not fired or have their salaries docked when students fail to achieve the benchmarks. Still, the provincial tests our students write do have a degree of importance in that the results are published for media and public consumption (which directly affects the opinion people form of the health of our education system) and certain resources are channeled into schools with the weakest performance. In addition, the way students view themselves and their abilities are affected...
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...following Creative Commons Licence conditions. For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ COMPUTER ASSISTED TESTING OF SPOKEN ENGLISH: A STUDY TO EVALUATE THE SFLEP COLLEGE ENGLISH ORAL TEST IN CHINA Xin Yu and John Lowe Computer Assisted Testing of Spoken English: A Study to Evaluate the SFLEP College English Oral Test in China Xin Yu and John Lowe University of Bath Introduction ‘If you want to encourage oral ability, then test oral ability’ (Hughes, 1989:44) Since its opening up to the outside world in the 1980s and the introduction of economic reforms that have involved engagement with the global economy and wider community, the Chinese government has become determined to promote the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language among its citizens. In particular, it has mandated the study of English for all college and university students and has made the passing of the College English Test (CET) at Band 4 level a requirement for obtaining a degree. With some ten million candidates annually (and rising) CET Band 4 has become the world’s largest language test administered nationwide (Jin and Yang, 2006). In a deliberate attempt to harness the backwash effect of examinations on teaching and learning, the Ministry of Education has insisted that all college and university students (generally when in their second year of study) must sit the CET Band 4 written papers that test reading, writing and...
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...Standardized Testing: Reduce the Reliance In the year of 1845, Horace Mann proposed the idea of written exams, as opposed to the traditional oral exam. Mann wanted to achieve the discovery of new and innovative teaching methods to ensure that students were receiving the best education, as well as equal opportunities in school. Despite the educational pioneer’s suggestion of promising unsurpassed schooling through written exams, these standardized assessments became something much more intense than what Mann had planned (Gershon). From students receiving one-hundred and thirteen standardized assessments throughout their entire schooling career to spending twenty to twenty-five hours of wasted classroom time taking these assessments, education...
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...within their normal everyday environment. Each child had a treatment plan that was put in place by their psychologist and my duty was to help implement it. So I accompanied the children on my caseload to school, home and/or their after school program. Each child had been diagnosed with some sort of emotional, behavioral, and/or learning disorder and it was my job to coach them through some of their difficulties. This job actually meant a lot to me because as a child I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Growing up was very difficult for me because I was always being kicked out of schools or put in remedial classes because a lot of schools weren’t adept at handling children with ADHD. So this job became especially important to me which is why I chose the profession of Educational Psychology. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in order to become a school psychologist one must obtain a master’s degree in psychology followed by an ED.s, an education specialist degree which takes about three years plus one full year of full time internship, Upon completing the education requirements, I must then apply for a school...
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...Intelligence Testing Article Analysis PSY 450 May 21, 2012 Joseph Gaines Intelligence Testing Article Analysis In earlier years many of the intelligence test that had been developed were culturally biased. The early intelligence test favored people that were from urban areas and not people from rural areas. The early intelligence test also favored people who were of the middle class status and not those of the lower class status. The earlier intelligence test also favored people who were white rather than people who were black. In this paper the author will review several different articles that are related to intelligence testing. The definition of intelligence may vary among the different cultures (Rogoff, 1990). An example of the differences among cultures and the way they view intelligence is European Americans think of intelligence in technical skills terms whereas people that are from Kenya consider intelligence to be someone who is an active participant in family and social life. Another example of the way culture views intelligence is people from Uganda view someone as being intelligent if they know the right thing to do and then they follow through with the right actions. Another example is the of the variations on how intelligence is viewed from culture to culture is the latmu people that are from Papua New Guinea, they believe people who have the ability to remember 10, 000 to 20,000 clans as intelligent. The people of the Carolina Island people believe that...
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...Grading Systems - SCHOOL, HIGHER EDUCATION Tweet students grades teachers learning ------------------------------------------------- Top of Form Search All U.S. Universities Bottom of Form ------------------------------------------------- Top of Form Bottom of Form SCHOOL Thomas R. Guskey HIGHER EDUCATION Howard R. Pollio SCHOOL Few issues have created more controversy among educators than those associated with grading and reporting student learning. Despite the many debates and multitudes of studies, however, prescriptions for best practice remain elusive. Although teachers generally try to develop grading policies that are honest and fair, strong evidence shows that their practices vary widely, even among those who teach at the same grade level within the same school. In essence, grading is an exercise in professional judgment on the part of teachers. It involves the collection and evaluation of evidence on students' achievement or performance over a specified period of time, such as nine weeks, an academic semester, or entire school year. Through this process, various types of descriptive information and measures of students' performance are converted into grades or marks that summarize students' accomplishments. Although some educators distinguish between grades and marks, most consider these terms synonymous. Both imply a set of symbols, words, or numbers that are used to designate different levels of achievement or performance. They might be letter grades such as A...
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...The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has long been the designated accreditation agency for hospitals and other health care facilities. In 1997, JCAHO added quality measurement requirements to existing requirements for participation in the accreditation process for hospitals and long-term care facilities in an initiative called ORYX. In 2003, The Joint Commission launched project activities to examine Children’s Asthma performance measures for inclusion in the ORYX performance measurement initiative. This work was conducted in collaboration with national children’s health care organizations, particularly, the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI), Child Health Corporation of America (CHCA), and Medical Management Planning, Inc. (MMP). An advisory panel was convened to...
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...What role should standardized testing play in Texas' public education system? The methods by which children are educated and academically measured in Texas have evolved over the past few decades, due to federal and state directed education policies. In an effort to establish accountability and improve the nation's competitiveness on a global scale, standardized testing has become a driving component of curricula nationwide. Almost every state, including Texas, governs its public schools under a national policy directive known as the "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB). The NCLB requires all states to utilize assessments to determine and report if a school has made adequate yearly progress (AYP) in the proficiency levels of all students. This is a relatively recent shift from local control of schools to centralized governance which is intended to improve education and eliminate harmful disparities in education quality (Ricci 342). Instead of school districts determining education standards, the state and federal governments provide the policy direction. One method to assess education performance and compliance with the centralized policy is the use of accountability measures - i.e., standardized tests. The NCLB, coupled with state policy, is intended to decrease inequality and set an objective measurement in place where school districts, schools, teachers, and even students can be held accountable for their progress or lack thereof. However, there are arguments from opponents...
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...Introduction In my homeland country, in the mid 90s there was a general election and according to a particular popular pole and surveys a certain political party would have won a landslide election victory. To everyone's surprise, they lost the election badly. This goes to show that biasness/unreliable data is known to throw things out of perspective and give people false hope. The results of that particular election caused rioting for several weeks. Once this phenomenon comes into the picture of any questionnaire the findings can create profound negative impact. The most frequent and important ways of misconduct in scientific research are falsifying results, plagiarize and over-interpretation. Motives are prestige, money, pressure of time and conflict of interests. The "publish or perish" phenomenon and the sometimes difficult attainable deadlines play an important role. Furthermore, there is a "gray-zone" in which clinical scientific researchers are influenced particularly by the pharmaceutical industry, leading to the writing of tendentious publications. (Verh K Acad Geneeskd Belg. 2004). Over the last 25 years, a small but growing body of research on research behavior has slowly provided a more complete and critical understanding of research practices, particularly in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. The results of this research suggest that some earlier assumptions about irresponsible conduct are not reliable, leading to the conclusion that there is...
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...* * * * * * * * Introduction to Psychological Testing * Melanie Callahan * Psychological Tests and Measurements PSY 475 * Deborah Ford * June 6, 2011 Introduction to Psychological Testing According to a survey of 455 psychologists and counselors form Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, psychological testing is an important part of clinical psychology (Fee, Elkins, & Boyd, 1982). The most recommended tests from this group were the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), and the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) (Fee, Elkins, & Boyd, 1982). Psychological testing provides the clinician with information about the client’s personality structure pertinent for the multifaceted approach to mental health (Fee, Elkins, & Boyd, 1982). In this research paper, test will be defined, major categories of tests will be examined along with their uses and users, and reliability and validity of testing will be compared. * The Definition of Test * The definitions for test given by the Oxford English Dictionary and the glossary of the authoritative Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests are not useful for the purpose of this paper; however, one may take some practical information from these two sources along with the definitions from the textbooks by Anne Anastasi and Lee Cronbach. The Oxford English dictionary does...
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