The present study aimed to examine the relations of early numeracy activities and skills to mathematics dispositions, engagement, and achievement among 26,859 fourth graders in the United Arab Emirates who took part in the sixth cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2015. The study also explored the mediating effects of mathematics dispositions and engagement

The study of the territorial difference in educational achievement is a widely debated topic, in particular in Italy for the presence of the well-known strong regional disparities. National and international large scale assessments confirmed that the main characteristic of the Italian school system is the geographical cleavage between North and South. Policymakers have pressing needs to find solutions

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

The idea of using low-stakes assessment results is often mentioned when designing educational system reforms. However, when tests have no consequences for the students, test takers may not make enough effort when completing the test, and their lack of engagement may negatively affect the validity of the conclusions of the studies that use such tests. This article presents analyses of student test-taking

This paper introduces a new method to measure school-level inequality based on Item Response Theory (IRT) models. Categorical data collected by large-scale assessments poses diverse methodological challenges hinder measuring inequality due to data truncation and asymmetric intervals between categories. I use family possessions data from PISA 2015 to exemplify the process of computing the measurement

Low examinee effort is a major threat to valid uses of many test scores. Fortunately, several methods have been developed to detect noneffortful item responses, most of which use response times. To accurately identify noneffortful responses, one must set response time thresholds separating those responses from effortful ones. While other studies have compared the efficacy of different threshold-setting

Studies demonstrate that occupational optimism can boost adolescents’ academic attainment and perseverance in education. To contribute to this literature, we consider two hypotheses. The first posits that bilingual immigrants are remarkably resourceful and determined. Thus, they are more occupationally ambitious than their peers. The second proposes that immigrant students engage in “strategic adaptation”

Standard methods for analysing data from large-scale assessments (LSA) cannot merely be adopted if hierarchical (or multilevel) regression modelling should be applied. Currently various approaches exist; they all follow generally a design-based model of estimation using the pseudo maximum likelihood method and adjusted weights for the corresponding hierarchies. Specifically, several different approaches

Evaluations of effectiveness of educational reforms are often based on the level of improvement in student performance from one cycle of a particular assessment to the next. However, improvements in overall performance do not necessarily translate to improved equality. Indeed, improvements that favour certain subgroups of students can exacerbate educational performance gaps and thus, inequality. This

Large-scale international assessment studies such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) or Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provide researchers and policy makers the opportunity to conduct secondary analyses to answer questions related to educational outcomes and compare the impact of certain inputs on student outcomes across countries. These comparisons

This study investigates civic and citizenship education in a unique post-Communist context–in the bilingual education system of Estonia. Estonia continues to have a bilingual school system where there are Estonian and Russian language schools in parallel. While Estonian language school students are ranked very high in international comparisons, there is a significant difference between the achievement

In 2017, the mathematics assessments that are part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) program underwent a transformation shifting the administration from paper-and-pencil formats to digitally-based assessments (DBA). This shift introduced new interactive item types that bring rich process data and tremendous opportunities to study the cognitive and behavioral processes that underlie

This paper presents the concepts and observations in the author’s keynote address at the May 2019 “Opportunity versus Challenge: Exploring Usage of Log-File and Process Data in International Large-Scale Assessments” conference in Dublin, Ireland. This paper recaps briefly some key points that emerged at the December 2018 ETS symposium on process data in Washington, DC, and suggests some common terminology

Socioeconomic status (SES) is considered a major predictor of student and school achievement. In most cases, SES is not malleable or available for manipulation to improve students’ learning and achievement. Therefore, we explored other student and school-related factors that may be malleable to reduce achievement differences between students and schools in Turkey. We used the TIMSS 2015 fourth-grade

The development of international surveys on children’s learning like PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS—delivering comparable achievement measures across educational systems—has revealed large cross-country variability in average performance and in the degree of inequality across social groups. A key question is whether and how institutional differences affect the level and distribution of educational outcomes

In Germany, three large-scale surveys–the Level One Study (LEO), the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), and the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS)–provide complementary data on adults’ literacy skills that can be harnessed to study adults with low literacy. To ensure that research on low-literate adults using these surveys arrives at valid and robust conclusions

Due to the increasing use of information and communication technology, computer-related skills are important for all students in order to participate in the digital age (Fraillon, J., Ainley, J., Schulz, W., Friedman, T. & Duckworth, D. (2019). Preparing for life in a digital world: IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2018 International Report. Amsterdam: International Association

Using an unanticipated policy reform in Mexico that shifted 4 months the cutoff date for elementary school eligibility in 2006 and information on academic performance of 15-year-old students from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 survey, who entered first grade in 2006, this paper estimates the effects of starting first grade without having reached 6 years of age on middle-run

Mounting concerns about the levels and distributions of human capital, as well as how they are associated with outcomes for individuals and societies, have contributed to an increase in the number of national and international surveys. These surveys not only examine skills among school-age and adult populations, they also facilitate evaluation of the relationships among these skills and various background

The ongoing digitalization poses new challenges for schools concerning students’ digital skills. In this context, the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (IEA-ICILS 2018) has identified substantial social disparities concerning computer and information literacy of grade 8 students. Furthermore, it has been observed that many schools, especially those located in socioeconomically challenged

This article reviews the history of the measure of socio-economic status in PISA and identifies theoretical underpinnings of the index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS). It then highlights multiple changes in the instruments and scaling methods used by PISA over time, and suggests ways of resolving the tensions behind some of these changes and thereby stabilise the measure of ESCS. A stable

During this digital era, France, like many other countries, is undergoing a transition from paper-based assessments to digital assessments in education. There is a rising interest in technology-enhanced items which offer innovative ways to assess traditional competencies, as well as addressing problem solving skills, specifically in mathematics. The rich log data captured by these items allows insight

As a relevant cognitive-motivational aspect of ICT literacy, a new construct ICT Engagement is theoretically based on self-determination theory and involves the factors ICT interest, Perceived ICT competence, Perceived autonomy related to ICT use, and ICT as a topic in social interaction. In this manuscript, we present different sources of validity supporting the construct interpretation of test scores

The item responses of examinees who rapid-guess, who do not spend enough time reading and engaging with an item, will not reflect their true ability on that item. Rapid-disengagement refers to rapidly selecting a response to multiple-choice items (i.e., rapid-guess), omitting items, or providing short-unrelated answers to open-ended items in an unreasonably short time. Such rapid responses need to

The concept of school climate has received much attention as a predictor of educational outcomes, including students’ well-being, academic achievement, and motivation. To measure this concept, international large-scale assessments often rely on students’ perceptions of its different dimensions, such as their sense of belonging, teacher support, and disciplinary climate. However, students may perceive

Family-related factors, like parent’s educational level, their values and expectations have a significant impact on child’s early skills and later educational outcomes. Further, parents provide their child, alongside with other learning environments, a broad mathematical and early literacy input. This study investigates the relationship between family-related socio-economic and other factors like,

Recent literature shows that younger cohorts have lower levels of literacy ceteris paribus in Canada, the United States, Norway and other developed countries. Very few explanations are provided to justify the existence of this negative cohort effect. Yet this decline has serious implications for the economy, education system and society. In this paper, we focus on Canada and replicate the results published

Previous research on the relationship between students’ home and school Information and Communication Technology (ICT) resources and academic performance has shown ambiguous results. The availability of ICT resources at school has been found to be unrelated or negatively related to academic performance, whereas the availability of ICT resources at home has been found to be both positively and negatively

Understanding why women are consistently underrepresented in STEM fields has been a constant puzzle, with a consistent feature of the puzzle being performance in math. This study uses data from TIMSS exams to investigate cross-national gender differences in math-related affect, more precisely liking mathematics, confidence in mathematics, and valuing mathematics. We compared fourth and eighth graders

International large-scale assessments like international computer and information literacy study (ICILS) (Fraillon et al. in International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), 2015) provide important empirically-based knowledge through the proficiency scales, of what characterizes tasks at different difficulty levels, and what that says about students at different ability

Potential differences in achievement between female and male students have always been an interesting topic in educational research, as well as having policy and economic implications. This study provides an overview of the so-called “gender gap” in mathematics and science knowledge, based on an in-depth analysis of both extremes of student ability distributions. Evidence underpinning debate on gender

Contemporary communication mediums in isolation have reached a technological plateau, proximal communication is no longer limited by spatial or technological constraints. However, integration of communication mediums and their application in pedagogy do not appear to receive the attention they deserve outwith marketing and social psychology research. This is to the determinant of AEC industries where

Immigrants and their children are the fastest-growing demographic group in the United States, and schools are often the first social institution young immigrants engage with on a sustained basis. As such, the academic achievement of immigrant students can be viewed as an indicator of their incorporation and a predictor of educational and employment outcomes in adulthood. In this study, we examined

Promoting tolerance is an important goal of European education policies focused on education for democratic citizenship and human rights. In this article, we argue that cross-cultural comparability must be empirically assessed and ensured for the measurement of highly relevant indicators that serve to monitor inter-European and international differences in young people’s tolerant attitudes toward immigrants

Item position effects have been a common concern in large-scale assessments as changing the order of items in booklets may have an undesired effect on test performance. If every test taker would be affected by the effect in the very same way, comparisons between groups of individuals would still be valid. However, research has shown that in addition to a general fixed effect of item positions, the

The purpose of this research is to gather empirical evidence for attribution theory (Weiner in J Educ Psychol 71(1):3–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.71.1.3 , 1979) to explain students’ feelings of helplessness when learning mathematics. The relationships between mathematics literacy in PISA 2012 and learned helplessness were also observed. Korean and Finnish students’ responses were analyzed

Stakeholders’ interpretations of the findings of large-scale educational assessments can influence important decisions. In the context of educational assessment, standard-setting remains an especially critical element, because it is complex and largely unstandardized. Instruments established by means of standard-setting procedures such as proficiency levels (PL) therefore appear to be arbitrary to

A recent study by Baye and Monseur (Large Scale Assess Educ 4:1–16, 2016) using large, international educational data sets suggest that the “greater male variation hypothesis” is well supported. Males are often over-represented at the tails of the ability distribution despite similarity in measures of central tendency and the gradual closing of the attainment gap relative to females. In this study

In the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015, the educational systems from the Dutch speaking part of Belgium (Flanders), Germany, and Norway included scales capturing three dimensions of instructional quality (INQUA): classroom management, supportive climate, and cognitive activation. With the inclusion of these extra scales, a unique opportunity was created to investigate the various

Smart technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT), have the potential to play a significant role in enabling older people to age in place. Although there has been substantial development of new applications of sensor technology in the home, this has tended to be tele-health focused, and there has been less work done on the role of IoT and ageing in place that more broadly considers caregiving and

Given that the nanoscale regime has been reached, atomistic simulations are being used as predictive tools on a nanoscopic scale in nanoelectronics, materials science, and computational fluid dynamics. These simulations are generally supported by complex and specific simulation engines that require a deep knowledge of the engine as well as the field. The inputs required by these engines are usually

This article provides an overview of the R package lsasim, designed to facilitate the generation of data that mimics a large scale assessment context. The package features functions for simulating achievement data according to a number of common IRT models with known parameters. A clear advantage of lsasim over other simulation software is that the achievement data, in the form of item responses, can

In today’s knowledge-based economy, with its rapidly changing job requirements, cognitive competencies have been identified as a crucial prerequisite for social and economic engagement (OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] 2012). The number of available routine and manual labor tasks is in decline, while the demand for high-level cognitive and information-processing competencies

This paper examines the mediating role of parental literacy and numeracy involvement before the child entered school in the relationship between family socio-economic status (SES) and students’ interest in reading and mathematics. Causal mediation analysis is applied to international assessment data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study-Progress in International Reading Literacy

Beliefs about one’s own abilities and perspective-taking are essential for appropriate behavior in professional and social life, cooperative learning, and situations were conflict is occurring. The social comparison theory and previous research suggested positive relations between school students’ beliefs about one’s own abilities and perspective-taking. The hypotheses were: (1) Beliefs about one’s

TIMSS 2019 is the first assessment in the TIMSS transition to a computer-based assessment system, called eTIMSS. The TIMSS 2019 Item Equivalence Study was conducted in advance of the field test in 2017 to examine the potential for mode effects on the psychometric behavior of the TIMSS mathematics and science trend items induced by the change to computer-based administration. The study employed a counterbalanced

Ever growing population and progressive municipal business demands for constructing new buildings are known as the foremost contributor to greenhouse gasses. Therefore, improvement of energy efficiency of the building sector has become an essential target to reduce the amount of gas emission as well as fossil fuel consumption. One most effective approach to reducing CO2 emission and energy consumption

A successful project delivery based on building information modeling (BIM) methods is interdependent on an efficient collaboration. This relies mainly on the visualization of a BIM model, which can appear on different mediums. Visualization on mediums such as computer screens, lack some degrees of immersion which may prevent the full utilization of the model. Another problem with conventional collaboration

This study aimed to identify motivation and home influence factors that predict reading literacy achievement of grade 4 students in Abu Dhabi It drew on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 data, which placed Abu Dhabi students' results substantially below the international benchmark of 500. Selected items from the PIRLS 2011 student and home questionnaires were analyzed

By providing high-quality, internationally comparable data on the cognitive skills of working-age adults, the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) offers great potential for illuminating the complex interplay of formal qualifications and skills in shaping labor market attainment as well as social inequalities more broadly. I argue that PIAAC can be used to construct

Effect size reporting is crucial for interpretation of applied research results and for conducting meta-analysis. However, clear guidelines for reporting effect size in multilevel models have not been provided. This report suggests and demonstrates appropriate effect size measures including the ICC for random effects and standardized regression coefficients or f2 for fixed effects. Following this,

The gender gap in reading literacy is repeatedly found in large-scale assessments. This study compared girls’ and boys’ text responses in a reading test applying natural language processing. For this, a theoretical framework was compiled that allows mapping of response features to the preceding cognitive components such as micro- and macropropositions from the situation model. In total, $$n = 33,604$$

This paper extends a recent study by Kaplan and Su (J Educ Behav Stat 41: 51–80, 2016) examining the problem of matrix sampling of context questionnaire scales with respect to the generation of plausible values of cognitive outcomes in large-scale assessments. Following Weirich et al. (Nested multiple imputation in large-scale assessments. In: Large-scale assessments in education, 2. http://www.la

Numerous studies have investigated the relationships between various student, home and contextual factors and reading achievement. However, the relationship between such factors and reading attitudes has been investigated far less, despite the fact that theoretical frameworks of large-scale assessments and school effectiveness research emphasize the importance of non-cognitive outcomes. Based on a

Ongoing interest in the relationships between family background and adult outcomes is motivated by concerns regarding the intergenerational transmission of advantage/disadvantage. Currently all countries are far from achieving the ideal that all individuals, irrespective of their starting points or their demographic characteristics, are able to accumulate sufficient human capital so that they can achieve

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an interconnected network of objects which range from simple sensors to smartphones and tablets; it is a relatively novel paradigm that has been rapidly gaining ground in the scenario of modern wireless telecommunications with an expected growth of 25 to 50 billion of connected devices for 2020 Due to the recent rise of this paradigm, authors across the literature use

This paper discusses a framework for analyzing the dependence on mathematical theory in test items, that is, a framework for discussing to what extent knowledge of mathematical theory is helpful for the student in solving the item. The framework can be applied to any test in which some knowledge of mathematical theory may be useful, both within mathematics itself and in other subjects. The relevance

There is a growing literature providing evidence on the importance of non-cognitive skills for life outcomes. However, to date there is limited evidence on the gains from incorporating such measures into large-scale competence surveys. We investigate the relationship between personality traits and eight important life outcomes: educational attainment, labour market participation, employability, wages

Fair comparisons of educational systems in large-scale assessments can be made only if the differences in curricula have little impact on the outcomes. This study investigated the sensitivity of science achievement rankings to varying degrees of curriculum implementation in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Country-specific teacher-reported curriculum implementation

The digital process of Building Information Modeling (BIM) involves the creation and modification of CAD-based building models. The complexity of such models has been increasing steadily within the last few years. BIM Models are usually being exchanged using open and standardized data formats. In this context, the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) are widely used. Therefore, software vendors provide