Test-Retest Reliability of Individual Student Acquisition and Retention Rates as Measured by Instructional Assessment
type: CreativeWork
description: Statement of the problem. Research on Instructional Assessment is in its infancy. To date, no studies regarding its psychometric properties have been published, but the need for using technically sound assessment methods is prominent in education. Therefore, demonstrated technical adequacy is crucial. The lack of psychometric data for Instructional Assessment is especially noteworthy since it is one of the few educational assessment techniques that includes assessment of performance and cognitive learning theory, both of which have been linked to improved student achievement. Method. Ninety-six students from Grades 1, 3, and 5 were individually taught a series ofwords from the Esperanto International Language using the Incremental Rehearsal technique until they reached a defined level of interference. The number of words learned before interference occurred was recorded as the rate of acquisition, and the students were tested for retention 1 to 3 days later. After an interval of 14 days, the same students were again individually taught different words from the Esperanto list using the Incremental Rehearsal technique until interference occurred, and they were again tested for retention 1 to 3 days later. The acquisition rates, rates of retention expressed in terms of the number of words remembered, and rates of retention expressed as a percentage of the acquisition rate were all correlated using the Pearson r . The two different approaches to retention rates were compared using a t -test. Results. The results of the study listed test-retest coefficients for the rates of acquisition that ranged from .756 to .931. The coefficients for the rates of retention described as the number of words retained fell between .679 and .919, while the reliability coefficients for the retention rates listed as a percentage of the acquisition rate fell between .342 and .848. The test-retest reliability of rates of acquisition and retention fell above a standard minimum level necessary t…
abstract: Statement of the problem. Research on Instructional Assessment is in its infancy. To date, no studies regarding its psychometric properties have been published, but the need for using technically sound assessment methods is prominent in education. Therefore, demonstrated technical adequacy is crucial. The lack of psychometric data for Instructional Assessment is especially noteworthy since it is one of the few educational assessment techniques that includes assessment of performance and cognitive learning theory, both of which have been linked to improved student achievement. Method. Ninety-six students from Grades 1, 3, and 5 were individually taught a series ofwords from the Esperanto International Language using the Incremental Rehearsal technique until they reached a defined level of interference. The number of words learned before interference occurred was recorded as the rate of acquisition, and the students were tested for retention 1 to 3 days later. After an interval of 14 days, the same students were again individually taught different words from the Esperanto list using the Incremental Rehearsal technique until interference occurred, and they were again tested for retention 1 to 3 days later. The acquisition rates, rates of retention expressed in terms of the number of words remembered, and rates of retention expressed as a percentage of the acquisition rate were all correlated using the Pearson r . The two different approaches to retention rates were compared using a t -test. Results. The results of the study listed test-retest coefficients for the rates of acquisition that ranged from .756 to .931. The coefficients for the rates of retention described as the number of words retained fell between .679 and .919, while the reliability coefficients for the retention rates listed as a percentage of the acquisition rate fell between .342 and .848. The test-retest reliability of rates of acquisition and retention fell above a standard minimum level necessary t…
author: Burns, Matthew K.
keywords: Education, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
date published: 1999-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:53:34Z
provider: Andrews University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Andrews University