We introduce the test-set equilibrium refinement of Nash equilibrium and apply it to three well-known auction games, comparing our findings to similar ones previously obtained by ad hoc equilibrium selections. We also introduce a theory of high stakes versions of games, in which strategies are first proposed and then subjected to a potentially costly review-and-revise process. For finite games,...

American schools are awash in standardized testing. Students are spending more and more time on state-mandated, high-stakes tests linked to state standards. There are variations among the states in terms of how often they test students, what subjects they test, whether their exams are normor criterion-referenced, and whether multiple-choice questions are supplemented by other question types. Bu...

I review the literature on the impact on student achievement of high-stakes testing. Its popularity as a mechanism for holding educators accountable has triggered studies to examine whether its promise to increase student learning has been fulfilled. The review concludes there is no consistent evidence to suggest high-stakes testing leads to increases in student learning. Some evidence suggests...

In this study, we used the Rasch measurement to investigate fairness of listening section a national computerized high-stakes English test for differential item functioning (DIF) across gender subgroups. The format inspired us whether items measure comprehension differently females and males. Exploring novel task types including multimodal materials such as videos pictures was especially intere...

Two laboratory and two randomized field experiments tested a psychological intervention designed to improve students' scores on high-stakes exams and to increase our understanding of why pressure-filled exam situations undermine some students' performance. We expected that sitting for an important exam leads to worries about the situation and its consequences that undermine test performance. We...