The impact of the scoring system of a large-scale standardized EFL writing assessment on its score variability and reliability: Implications for assessment policy makers

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 100911 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changhan Zhao ◽  
Jinyan Huang
Keyword(s):  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Scoring System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
Assessment Policy ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Boosting Career and Employability Outcomes Through Multiple Learning Abroad Experiences

2021 ◽  
pp. 102831532110527
Author(s):  
Davina Potts ◽  
Jeongeun Kim
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Program Participation ◽  
Career Outcomes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Large Scale Dataset ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Australian Universities

While participation in learning abroad has increased rapidly over the last decade, short-term programs played an important role in boosting participation and widening access to learning abroad. The current study takes advantage of a new pattern of participation in learning abroad to examine self-reported career outcomes and employability development benefits based on program duration and the number of programs undertaken. Using a large-scale dataset of graduates of Australian universities, the study challenges conventional wisdom that a longer experience is better and explores the impact of multiple short-term program participation as a new intervention in graduate career outcomes. Although this study is based on the Australian higher education context, the results may be informative to educators and policy-makers from countries with comparable learning abroad programs in considering how short-term programs can be used more purposefully to foster positive careers and employability outcomes.

scholarly journals Key factors affecting people’s unwillingness to be confined during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain: a large-scale population study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Alejandro Rabasa ◽  
Xavier Barber ◽  
Kristina Polotskaya ◽  
Kristof Roomp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Scale Population ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPopulation confinements have been one of the most widely adopted non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented by governments across the globe to help contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While confinement measures have been proven to be effective to reduce the number of infections, they entail significant economic and social costs. Thus, different policy makers and social groups have exhibited varying levels of acceptance of this type of measures. In this context, understanding the factors that determine the willingness of individuals to be confined during a pandemic is of paramount importance, particularly, to policy and decision-makers. In this paper, we study the factors that influence the unwillingness to be confined during the COVID-19 pandemic by the means of a large-scale, online population survey deployed in Spain. We perform two types of analyses (logistic regression and automatic pattern discovery) and consider socio-demographic, economic and psychological factors, together with the 14-day cumulative incidence per 100,000 inhabitants. Our analysis of 109,515 answers to the survey covers data spanning over a 5-month time period to shed light on the impact of the passage of time. We find evidence of pandemic fatigue as the percentage of those who report an unwillingness to be in confinement increases over time; we identify significant gender differences, with women being generally less likely than men to be able to sustain long-term confinement of at least 6 months; we uncover that the psychological impact was the most important factor to determine the willingness to be in confinement at the beginning of the pandemic, to be replaced by the economic impact as the most important variable towards the end of our period of study. Our results highlight the need to design gender and age specific public policies, to implement psychological and economic support programs and to address the evident pandemic fatigue as the success of potential future confinements will depend on the population’s willingness to comply with them.

scholarly journals Yet another lockdown? A large-scale study on people's unwillingness to be confined during the first 5 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Alejandro Rabasa ◽  
Xavier Barber ◽  
Kristina Polotskaya ◽  
Kristof Roomp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
The Impact

Population confinements have been one of the most widely adopted non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented by governments across the globe to help contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While confinement measures have been proven to be effective to reduce the number of infections, they entail significant economic and social costs. Thus, different policy makers and social groups have exhibited varying levels of acceptance of this type of measures. In this context, understanding the factors that determine the willingness of individuals to be confined during a pandemic is of paramount importance, particularly, to policy and decision-makers. In this paper, we study the factors that influence the unwillingness to be confined during the COVID-19 pandemic by means of a large-scale, online population survey deployed in Spain. We apply both quantitative (logistic regression) and qualitative (automatic pattern discovery) methods and consider socio-demographic, economic and psychological factors, together with the 14-day cumulative incidence per 100,000 inhabitants. Our analysis of 109,515 answers to the survey covers data spanning over a 5-month time period to shed light on the impact of the passage of time. We find evidence of pandemic fatigue as the percentage of those who report an unwillingness to be in confinement increases over time; we identify significant gender differences, with women being generally less likely than men to be able to sustain long-term confinement of at least 6 months; we uncover that the psychological impact was the most important factor to determine the willingness to be in confinement at the beginning of the pandemic, to be replaced by the economic impact as the most important variable towards the end of our period of study. Our results highlight the need to design gender and age specific public policies, to implement psychological and economic support programs and to address the evident pandemic fatigue as the success of potential future confinements will depend on the population's willingness to comply with them.

The impact of food fortification on stunting in Zimbabwe: Does gender of the household head matter? 

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrence Kairiza ◽  
George Kembo ◽  
Asankha Pallegedara ◽  
Lesley Macheka
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Household Head ◽  
Food Fortification ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Children Under Five ◽  
Under Five ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Female Headed Households ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background: High prevalence of stunting in children under five years poses a major threat to child development in developing countries. It is associated with micronutrient deficiency arising from poor diets fed to children under five years. Food fortification is amongst the interventions focused at reducing the incidence of stunting in children under five years. Methods : Using a large-scale household data from Zimbabwe, we investigated the gender-based importance of household adoption of food fortification on the proportion of stunted children in the household. We employed propensity score matching to mitigate self-selection bias associated with household adoption of food fortification. Results: We offer three major findings. Firstly, we find statistically weak evidence that female headed households are more likely to adopt food fortification than their male counterparts. Secondly, food fortification reduces the proportion of stunted children in the household. Finally, in comparison to non-adopters, female headed households that adopt food fortification are more able to reduce the proportion of stunted children in their households than their male counterparts.Conclusion: The results highlight the need for policy makers to actively promote food fortification, as such interventions are likely to contribute to the reduction of stunting and to involve men in fortification interventions to improve on their knowledge and appreciation of fortified foods and the associated benefits.

scholarly journals The impact of food fortification on stunting in Zimbabwe: Does gender of the household head matter?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrence Kairiza ◽  
George Kembo ◽  
Asankha Pallegedara ◽  
Lesley Macheka
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Household Head ◽  
Food Fortification ◽  
Fortified Foods ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Female Headed Households ◽  
The Impact

Abstract High prevalence of stunting in under 5 children poses a major threat to child development in developing countries. It is associated with micronutrient deficiency arising from poor diets fed to under 5 children. Food fortification is amongst the interventions focused at reducing the incidence of stunting in under 5 children. Using a large scale household data from Zimbabwe, we investigated the gender based importance of household adoption of food fortification on the proportion of stunted children in the household. We employed propensity score matching to mitigate self-selection bias associated with household adoption of food fortification. We offer three major findings. Firstly we find little evidence for gender differences in the adoption of fortified foods. Secondly, household adoption food fortification reduces the proportion of stunted children in the household. Finally, vis-à-vis non adopters, female headed households that adopt food fortification reduce a larger proportion of stunted children in their households than their male counterparts who adopt food fortification. These results highlight the need for policy makers to actively promote food fortification programmes to involve men in fortification programmes to improve their knowledge and appreciation of fortified foods and the associated benefits.

Multi-Track Year-Round Schooling as Cost Saving Reform: Not Just a Matter of Time

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 300-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Graves ◽  
Steven McMullen ◽  
Kathryn Rouse
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Summer Learning Loss ◽  
Learning Loss ◽  
Summer Learning ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Year Round School ◽  
School Calendars ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Impact

In the face of school crowding and fears about inequality-inducing summer learning loss, many schools have started to adopt multi-track year-round school calendars, which keep the same number of school days, but spread them more evenly across the calendar year. This change allows schools to support a larger student population by rotating which students are on break at any point in time. While year-round schooling can save money, the impact on academic achievement is uncertain and only recently have large-scale studies become available for policy makers. This brief examines research on the effects of multi-track year-round schooling, focusing on two rigorously executed case studies. This research gives little support for claims that year-round schooling will boost student achievement. Except as a remedy for highly over-crowded schools, year-round schooling seems to have little impact on achievement, and has even been shown to decrease achievement, especially among the most high-risk student populations.

scholarly journals The Impact of Assessment Training on EFL Writing Classroom Assessment: Voices of Mexican University Teachers

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-124
Author(s):  
Elsa Fernanda González
Keyword(s):  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Classroom Assessment ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Efl Writing ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Assessment Training ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Writing Scores ◽  
Teaching Of Writing

The extent to which writing assessment training (WAT) impacts writing scores has been widely explored in L2 testing contexts. However, little is known of the benefits of WAT to classroom assessment of writing. This paper analyzes the impact of two WAT sessions on the classroom assessment of writing of eleven EFL Mexican university teachers. Twenty-two interview transcripts suggested an impact in three main areas: classroom teaching of writing, classroom assessment of writing, and teacher self-awareness. The category of teacher self-awareness displayed the most impact. The paper proposes a categorization of impact on writing assessment.

Exercise and Cognition—2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip D. Tomporowski
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Translational Research ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Physical Activity Intervention ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
School Settings ◽  
Academic Settings ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

Physical activity is purported to promote children’s brain health and enhance mental development (1). Three studies were selected for review because of their focus on issues that challenge translational research applications in exercise pediatric science. While some disagreement exists concerning the definition of translational research, most suggest that translational interventions focus on the uptake, implementation, and sustainability of research findings within standard care (2). Translational researchers typically highlight differences that exist between efficacy experiments, which provide evidence that a specific intervention works, and effectiveness experiments, which show that the intervention will reap benefits under real-world conditions. Results obtained from laboratory-based efficacy studies that have examined the relation between exercise and cognition led researchers (3,4) and policy makers to consider the importance of physical activity in school settings. Large-scale studies that assess the impact of various types of school based physical activity intervention on children’s cognitive and academic performance have begun. The initial results have been uneven and suggestive of a lack of benefit for children in authentic school settings. Before drawing such conclusions, however, it will be important for researchers and practitioners to recognize the methodological and measurement issues that challenge attempts to employ laboratory methodologies to academic settings.

The Impact of Nutritional Interventions on Child Health and Cognitive Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 345-366
Author(s):  
Christian Bommer ◽  
Nitya Mittal ◽  
Sebastian Vollmer
Keyword(s):  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Complex Problem ◽  
Cognitive Outcomes ◽  
Nutritional Deficiencies ◽  
Double Burden ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Nutritional Interventions ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Impact

Despite growing policy commitment and decades of extensive research, nutritional deficiencies remain a key challenge for health systems worldwide. In addition to causing significant personal costs for those affected, indirect effects, such as reduced overall human capital accumulation or losses in labor productivity, can impose substantial obstacles for the achievement of economic development goals. This review provides an overview of the impact of key interventions aiming to improve nutritional intake in order to reach better physical health and cognitive outcomes among children in developing countries. We argue that, although promising interventions exist, malnutrition is a complex problem, likely requiring a stronger focus on multifactorial approaches. Moreover, more research is necessary to maximize compliance and sustainability if interventions are to successfully transform into large-scale policy programs. We further discuss the emerging double burden of malnutrition as a key challenge for policy makers in resource-poor settings.

scholarly journals Yet another lockdown? A large-scale study on people's unwillingness to be confined during the first 5 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Alejandro Rabasa ◽  
Xavier Barber ◽  
Kristina Polotskaya ◽  
Kristof Roomp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Important Variable ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Economic Support ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Population confinements have been one of the most widely adopted non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented by governments across the globe to help contain the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While confinement measures have been proven to be effective to reduce the number of infections, they entail significant economic and social costs. Thus, different policy makers and social groups have exhibited varying levels of acceptance of this type of measures. In this context, understanding the factors that determine the willingness of individuals to be confined during a pandemic is of paramount importance, particularly, to policy and decision-makers. In this paper, we study the factors that influence the unwillingness to be confined during the COVID-19 pandemic by means of a large-scale, online population survey deployed in Spain. We apply both quantitative (logistic regression) and qualitative (automatic pattern discovery) methods and consider socio-demographic, economic and psychological factors, together with the 14-day cumulative incidence per 100,000 inhabitants. Our analysis of 109,515 answers to the survey covers data spanning over a 5-month time period to shed light on the impact of the passage of time. We find evidence of pandemic fatigue as the percentage of those who report an unwillingness to be in confinement increases over time; we identify significant gender differences, with women being generally less likely than men to be able to sustain long-term confinement of at least 6 months; we uncover that the psychological impact was the most important factor to determine the willingness to be in confinement at the beginning of the pandemic, to be replaced by the economic impact as the most important variable towards the end of our period of study. Our results highlight the need to design gender and age specific public policies, to implement psychological and economic support programs and to address the evident pandemic fatigue as the success of potential future confinements will depend on the population's willingness to comply with them.

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