Explore the vast range of titles available.

Background Residential instability and neighborhood conditions may shape children’s health and development, but it is unclear whether all residential moves are equally destabilizing, and the extent to which moving to neighborhoods with different conditions can improve children’s outcomes. Most studies estimating causal effects of these factors on children’s health or development use smaller, geographically constrained, urban cohorts. Objective In a racially/ethnically and socioeconomically diverse statewide cohort including urban and rural communities, we investigate effects of residential instability, neighborhood deprivation, and their intersection on childhood educational outcomes. Methods We construct a statewide dataset that links North Carolina birth records (2002–2005) with lead testing data (2003–2015) and 4th grade standardized test scores (2013–2016). A composite census tract-level neighborhood deprivation index (NDI) is linked with individuals based on residence at birth, lead testing, and 4th grade. Outcomes of interest are 4th grade test scores in reading and mathematics. We use multinomial propensity scores to estimate effects of residential instability and neighborhood deprivation on test scores. Results Children who moved between only high deprivation neighborhoods had lower reading test scores (-0.29 [95% CI: -0.59, -0.015]) compared to children who resided in high deprivation neighborhoods but did not move. Children who resided in a high deprivation neighborhood at birth and subsequently moved to a low deprivation neighborhood(s) had higher test scores compared to those who moved between only high deprivation neighborhoods (1.59 [0.90, 2.28]). Additionally, children who move from high to low deprivation neighborhoods earlier had larger improvements. Conclusion Being residentially stable, even while residing in a high deprivation neighborhood, is associated with improved educational outcomes. However, there is also a larger positive effect of moving from high to low deprivation neighborhoods. Our findings have important implications, particularly given the increasing segregation of neighborhoods by socioeconomic status and the housing affordability crisis in the United States. Partnerships between housing programs, early childhood education and services, and health care providers, which address evictions and broader issues, may help address health inequalities rooted in childhood exposures and experiences.

The article analyses knowledge control and evaluation methods in higher education, focusing on both standardized and non-standardized testing. It explores fundamental quality criteria and the perspectives of lecturers and students on the roles of these methods in assessing knowledge. The study evaluates attitudes towards both testing types, considering factors such as efficiency, usability, reliability, objectivity, accuracy, and content relevance. The findings suggest that combining standardized and non-standardized tests with problem-solving tasks significantly enhances knowledge assessment in technical disciplines, demonstrating the methods’ interdependence and complementarity. Data shows that both testing types achieve high scores, with standardized tests receiving an integral index of 0.72 and non-standardized tests scoring 0.69. Respondents positively evaluate the effectiveness and convenience of standardized tests, attributing their reliability, objectivity, accuracy, and practical orientation. Although there is a clear preference for standardized tests among participants, the benefits of non-standardized tests are also acknowledged. The study thus recommends a balanced approach, incorporating both methods to ensure an effective and high-quality assessment and knowledge control strategy in higher education.

Human–Machine Interfaces (HMIs) in autonomous driving technology have recently gained significant research interest in public transportation. However, most of the studies are biased towards qualitative methods, while combining quantitative and qualitative approaches has yet to receive commensurate attention in measuring user acceptance of design outcome evaluation. To the best of our knowledge, no standardized test procedure that combines quantitative and qualitative methods has been formed to evaluate and compare the interrelationships between different designs of HMIs and their psychological effects on users. This paper proposes a practical and comprehensive protocol to guide assessments of user acceptance of HMI design solutions. We first defined user acceptance and analyzed the existing evaluation methods. Then, specific ergonomic factors and requirements that the designed output HMI should meet were identified. Based on this, we developed a protocol to evaluate a particular HMI solution from in- and out-of-vehicle perspectives. Our theoretical protocol combines objective and subjective measures to compare users’ behavior when interacting with Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) in a virtual experimental environment, especially in public transportation. Standardized testing procedures provide researchers and interaction designers with a practical framework and offer theoretical support for subsequent studies.

Background/Objectives: Language impairments are highly prevalent in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In preschoolers (3–6 years), language development predicts future social outcomes. Despite the availability of standardized tests for typically developing children, few studies have specifically examined language impairments in preschool-aged children with ASD using these tools. This study aimed to comprehensively assess receptive and expressive lexicon, receptive comprehension, phonology and articulation using standardized tools, and to evaluate their feasibility. A secondary goal was to compare the results obtained with standardized tests to those from developmental batteries and hetero-assessments (caregiver reports). Methods: Forty-seven children with ASD aged 4 to 6 years participated. Assessments included standardized language tests, developmental batteries and hetero-assessments. The dichotomous Rasch model evaluated feasibility and item performance of standardized tests. Concordance across methods was analyzed via Pearson correlations and stepwise linear regression. Results: Standardized assessments were feasible for most participants despite wide variability in language abilities. Partial but non-equivalent concordance was found among assessment methods, each providing complementary insights into language profiles. Conclusions: Combining multiple assessment methods is crucial to capture the complexity of language development in children with ASD. Standardized tests can be adapted and provide more precise profiles than developmental batteries or hetero-assessments alone. A multimodal approach is essential to accurately identify language strengths and therapeutic targets in preschool-aged children with ASD.

Research on external human–machine interfaces (eHMIs) has recently become a major area of interest in the field of human factors research on automated driving. The broad variety of methodological approaches renders the current state of research inconclusive and comparisons between interface designs impossible. To date, there are no standardized test procedures to evaluate and compare different design variants of eHMIs with each other and with interactions without eHMIs. This article presents a standardized test procedure that enables the effective usability evaluation of eHMI design solutions. First, the test procedure provides a methodological approach to deduce relevant use cases for the evaluation of an eHMI. In addition, we define specific usability requirements that must be fulfilled by an eHMI to be effective, efficient, and satisfying. To prove whether an eHMI meets the defined requirements, we have developed a test protocol for the empirical evaluation of an eHMI with a participant study. The article elucidates underlying considerations and details of the test protocol that serves as framework to measure the behavior and subjective evaluations of non-automated road users when interacting with automated vehicles in an experimental setting. The standardized test procedure provides a useful framework for researchers and practitioners.

Using longitudinal data from nearly all U.S. public school districts, I estimated average learning rates (within cohort change) and improvement rates (between cohort change) in mathematics for Black students using standardized test scores. Results reveal substantial district-level variation. In about 11% of districts reporting Black student outcomes, Black student learning rates exceeded the national average for all students. Around 47% of districts showed above-average improvement in Black student achievement. However, only 3% of districts had mean Black student achievement exceeding the national average for all students. These findings highlight wide variability in Black student success across districts and suggest a need to examine how districts can better structure themselves to support widespread academic success.

  For decades we've been studying, experimenting with, and wrangling over different approaches to improving public education, and there's still little consensus on what works, and what to do. The one thing people seem to agree on, however, is that schools need to be held accountable—we need to know whether what they're doing is actually working. But what does that mean in practice?   High-stakes tests. Lots of them. And that has become a major problem. Daniel Koretz, one of the nation's foremost experts on educational testing, argues in The Testing Charade that the whole idea of test-based accountability has failed—it has increasingly become an end in itself, harming students and corrupting the very ideals of teaching. In this powerful polemic, built on unimpeachable evidence and rooted in decades of experience with educational testing, Koretz calls out high-stakes testing as a sham, a false idol that is ripe for manipulation and shows little evidence of leading to educational improvement. Rather than setting up incentives to divert instructional time to pointless test prep, he argues, we need to measure what matters, and measure it in multiple ways—not just via standardized tests. Right now, we're lying to ourselves about whether our children are learning. And the longer we accept that lie, the more damage we do. It's time to end our blind reliance on high-stakes tests. With The Testing Charade, Daniel Koretz insists that we face the facts and change course, and he gives us a blueprint for doing better.  

We examine the influence of exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) in ambient air over the previous 6 years on the average standardized test score performance in math, English language arts (ELA), and overall for sixth graders at a sample of California public school districts from 2015 through 2018. Public health research suggests that children exposed to localized air pollution may suffer from cognitive impairment during testing or chronic conditions such as asthma that could influence their academic performance. After controlling for the appropriate confounding variables, our findings indicate that a 1-unit increase (or an equivalent one-third increase in the standard deviation) in the average amount of particulate matter observed over the past 6 years in a school district reduces the average standardized test score by about 4%. In addition, a typical student in a California school district in the two highest quintiles of PM 2.5 exposure (controlling for other causal factors) exhibits standardized test scores closer to the fifth-grade equivalency level than the sixth. These results support the benefits of indoor air pollution mitigation as a likely cost-effective intervention to improve student academic success in primary school. Plain language summary: Why was the study done? Previous researchers found that local air pollution impacts children’s development, health, and learning ability and that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) in ambient air can harm performance on standardized tests. This paper offers a novel approach by estimating the cumulative impact of average district-wide PM 2.5 exposure over the previous 6 years on California sixth graders’ math, English, and overall test scores. What did the researchers do? Our model connects average test scores from California public school districts to PM 2.5 concentrations measured by Census tract within the district. We include district demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic data to increase confidence that the effect is causal and minimize bias from variables correlated with PM 2.5. Data from multiple years enables the detection of long-term effects and allows us to control for district and year-specific effects. We also test the robustness of our findings to adjusted model designs and compare the effect size to prior studies. What did the researchers find? We find that an average school district in California that experiences a 1-unit increase in PM 2.5 concentration, holding other control variables constant, could expect overall grade equivalency for sixth graders to fall by about 4%. Dividing PM 2.5 exposure into five sequential levels, we find an increasingly negative effect that levels off when moving from the lowest to the highest levels. This cumulative effect is larger than prior measures of PM 2.5 impacts only on test day or over the school year. What do the findings mean? California’s primary school students have likely experienced a drop in standardized test score performance from sustained exposure to fine particulate matter. The effect size warrants policy consideration, as some paths to pollution mitigation (such as air filters in classrooms) may produce equitable and cost-effective test score gains.

The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected people’s mental health all over the world. This review aims to present a comprehensive overview of the literature related to the effects of COVID-19 lockdown measures and COVID-19 infection on cognitive functioning in both healthy people and people with neurological conditions by considering only standardized tests. We performed a narrative review of the literature via two databases, PUBMED and SCOPUS, from December 2019 to December 2022. In total, 62 out of 1356 articles were selected and organized into three time periods: short-term (1–4 months), medium-term (5–8 months), and long-term (9–12 months), according to the time in which the tests were performed. Regardless of the time period, most studies showed a general worsening in cognitive performance in people with neurological conditions due to COVID-19 lockdown measures and in healthy individuals recovered from COVID-19 infection. Our review is the first to highlight the importance of considering standardized tests as reliable measures to quantify the presence of cognitive deficits due to COVID-19. Indeed, we believe that they provide an objective measure of the cognitive difficulties encountered in the different populations, while allowing clinicians to plan rehabilitation treatments that can be of great help to many patients who still, nowadays, experience post-COVID-19 symptoms.

This study aims to analyze the alignment between Physics National Volume I test questions and physics curriculum standards as well as establishing a method of evaluating college entrance examination physics test questions using the Evaluation-Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (E-SEC) model. Firstly, Physics National Volume I from 2011 to 2020 was analyzed using the E-SEC model and compared with the physics curriculum standard (2003 and 2017 edition) to calculate the Porter alignment index separately and identify problems. Secondly, the evaluation indexes of test questions were established through the Delphi method, and based on the scoring of the importance of the indexes by education and teaching experts, the Kendall coefficient was applied to test the consistency of the indexes. Then the final evaluation indexes were determined through the single-sample t -test. Finally, 112 high school physics teachers from different regions were selected as the research sample. Data were generated from the questionnaire on teachers' perceptions on college entrance examination physics tests determined by the evaluation index. After collecting the data, descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze. It was found that there is no statistically significant alignment between physics National Volume I and physics curriculum standard. In addition, teachers scored higher on academic achievement ( M  = 1.906, SD  = 0.429) than other dimensions. The findings of this study can be used to compare the alignment between different countries’ science curriculum standards and standardized tests, and can provide insights into the improvement of science education from an international perspective.