Talent development

Cross Sources:  Development, Institutional management Definition:  A genuine intent to foster the long-term learning or development of others. It includes the ability to judge talent (using a perspective that is detached from one's personal opinions) and capitalize on its potential. Its focus is on the developmental intent, not one's ability or willingness to train. Reference:

Test

Cross Sources:  Performance Definition:  Measurement instrument, procedure or device that require scoreable responses from examinees; includes both selective and constructed response formats Reference:

Test bias

Cross Sources:  Item bias, DIF Definition:  Term used to refer to an instrument, which does not represent the ability or achievement of different groups equally. Biased instruments favor one group or groups over another group or groups even when controlled for ability level. Reference:

Test theory

Cross Sources:  Measurement Definition:  Includes the logic and statistical models that underlie standard practices in test use and design including methods devised to estimate, overcome, or minimize the extent to which extraneous problems or errors influence measurements taken in a given situation. Reference:

Testlet

Cross Sources:  Test Definition:  A group of items within a test that measure the same factor or which relate to the same stimulus. Items that are part of a testlet are not statistically independent. Reference:

Test-retest

Cross Sources:  Reliability Definition:  Indicates how consistently the same examinees respond to a test over time Reference:

Time series analysis

Cross Sources:  Panel data, Longitudinal Definition:  A research design in which behavior of subjects in naturally occurring groups is measured periodically both before and after introduction of a treatment; Multiple repeated measures Reference:

Time-to-degree

Cross Sources:   Definition:  The average number of semesters enrolled between student's first term and the term they graduate (elapsed semesters). Reference:

Tolerance

Cross Sources:  Respect, Open-minded, Cultural, Social, Religious Definition:  Recognition of and respect for the opinions, practices, or behaviors of others. Reference:

Total quality management (TQM)

Cross Sources:  Assessment Definition:  TQM is a management system taken from business and now being applied to higher education. TQM applies concepts of control, quality, process, and customer to management. Marchese (cited in Palomba & Banta, 1999) notes that “the quality movement brings with it a sense of collective responsibility for learning, a habit of listening to the people we serve, a preference for data, an ethic of continuous improvement, a determination to develop fully the talent of every learner, and an acknowledgement that we are professionally accountable to one another and to those we serve for results.” Reference:  Palomba, C.A., & Banta, T.W. (1999).

Trait

Cross Sources:  State Definition:  A relatively stable cognitive, affective or psychomotor characteristic possessed in different amount by different people Reference:

Transcript analysis

Cross Sources:  Student learning and experiences Definition:  Reviewing a student’s transcript file to answer question about a student’s educational experiences and to help faculty examine and understand the patterns of courses that best enhance the learning and development of a student. Reference:

Treatment group

Cross Sources:  Control group, Educational environment, Independent variable Definition:  In a study, the group of subjects who receive the intervention of interest Reference:

Trend

Cross Sources:  Institutional performance Definition:  A trend is a general direction or movement. In statistics, a trend is a statistically detectable change over time. Reference:  Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, (1993).

Triangulation

Cross Sources:  Validity Definition:  The building of multiple sources of information or ideas to support a central finding or theme Reference:

True score

Cross Sources:  Error Definition:  An examinee's true score on a test is a measure without measurement error. It is also the mean of the distribution of observed scores that would result if the examinee took the test an infinite number of times. True score is the observed score minus error. Reference:

Typology theory

Cross Sources:  Student development Definition:  The examination of individual differences in how people view and relate to the world Reference:

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For any comments regarding new terms or suggested definitions for this Dictionary, please write to :   assessment@jmu.edu. Thank you.