Emily Lai

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Managing Director at Pearson Inc

This study is a survey of representatives of five different stakeholder groups (teachers, parents, psychometricians, policymakers, and lawyers) rating the relevance of three test use scenarios that vary in terms of stakes (high-stakes for students, low-stakes, and high-stakes for teachers). In the methodology section, we provide an overview of the...

Inferences about student knowledge, skills, and attributes based on digital activity still largely come from whether students ultimately get a correct result or not. However, the ability to collect activity stream data as individuals interact with digital environments provides information about students’ processes as they progress through learning...

We describe an application of the assessment triangle, using a learning progression as the “cognition” vertex. We summarize two studies to evaluate whether evidence of student performance is consistent with our progression. In Study 1, we conducted think alouds using draft assessment activities and evaluated responses in relation to the sequencing...

Collaboration is increasingly identified as an important educational outcome, and most models of twenty-first-century skills include collaboration as a key skill. This report outlines definitions and models of collaboration, teaching of collaboration, skills, assessment methods and a set of recommendations and implications for classroom practice.

In this chapter, we present a framework for evaluating how well theories of learning and cognition inform assessment design and development decisions. We use principled assessment design – represented in practice by approaches such as evidence&;#x02010;centered design, principled design for efficacy, and assessment engineering – as a lens through w...

In this chapter we review five principled approaches to assessment design, development, and implementation: evidence&;#x02010;centered design, cognitive design systems, assessment engineering, the BEAR assessment system, and principled design for efficacy. We propose five foundational elements and an organizing element that can be used to character...

This report summarizes an empirical study that addresses two related topics within the context of writing assessment—illusory halo and how much unique information is provided by multiple analytic scores. Specifically, we address the issue of whether unique information is provided by analytic scores assigned to student writing, beyond what is depict...

For educators seeking to differentiate instruction, cognitive ability tests sampling multiple content domains, including verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning, provide superior information about student strengths and weaknesses compared with unidimensional reasoning measures. However, these ability tests have not been fully evaluated with r...

This study analyzed questionnaire and interview data on teachers' practices and perceptions with respect to test preparation. Questionnaire respondents were asked to rate the ethicality of various test-preparation practices and indicate the extent to which they utilize these practices in their instruction. On the basis of questionnaire results, int...

Abstract ,This study analyzed questionnaire and interview data on teachers’ practices and beliefs with respect to test preparation. Questi onnaire respondents were asked to rate the ethicality of various test-preparationpractices and indicate the extent to which theyutilize these practices in their instruction. On the basis of questionnaire results...

Our field has devised many terms to describe assessments in which examinees demonstrate some type of performance or create some type of product (e.g., performance, performance-based, "authentic," constructed response, open-ended). Whatever you call them, performance-based assessments (PBAs) have a long history in educational measurement with cycles...

In response to test-based accountability (No Child Left Behind, 2001), schools and districts across the country are adopting a variety of supplemental assessments aimed at improving student performance. These interim assessments are administered more than once during the school year for the following purposes: 1) predicting student performance on s...