The Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative (MBLC) is a demonstration project taking place in 47 schools across Washington to help decision makers understand what quality mastery-based (or competency-based) learning looks like, how long it takes to implement, and what resources are necessary. The schools receive funding, coaching, and professional…

Schools across the country are seeking creative ways to meet the high demands of school accountability. For example, in Montgomery (AL) Public Schools, "turnaround specialists" work at the direction of the local system's board of education. The district decided to treat turnaround specialists as partners who work with school principals…

Monthly meetings and a peer-observation program help novice teachers overcome isolation and practice new skills that support improved student learning. Peer observation is not without its difficulties. Above all else, the point of the program is to make teachers more comfortable observing, sharing instructional ideas, and learning from one…

"Building Institutional Capacity for Data-Informed Decision Making" is the third installment of the Cutting Edge series, which aims to help colleges engage faculty, scale successful interventions, and create a strong culture of evidence through use of data to strengthen their institutional change and student success efforts. Though the…

This monograph seeks to inform faculty, staff, administrators, and students about the nature of and structure in doctoral programs that lead to doctoral student development. It is accomplished through succeeding chapters, focusing first on an overview of existing student development theory and then on the structure of doctoral education and its…

This resource document is one of a series of nine resource documents, each of which addresses a separate factor in the "Assessment of School Needs for Low-Achieving Students" survey that can help determine a student's academic success and each of which contains information that responds to specific survey items. This document addresses the factor…

This paper briefly reviews the higher education literature on nonacademic staff evaluation, followed by a description of the development of process of staff performance appraisal being implemented at Atlantic Baptist College (New Brunswick, Canada). Steps in the development process are outlined starting with the writing of a report on compensation…

Evaluation of the clinical competence of medical faculty in teaching hospitals is discussed. Different approaches to clinical assessment and theoretical and practical problems in assessing clinical faculty's performance are discussed. A University of Virginia medical school system for evaluation that combines objective and subjective assessment is…

Orange County (California) students in grades 9 and 10 compete in an annually held series of 10 competitive events measuring academic strengths. These events include tests in grammar and literature, fine arts, mathematics, science, social science, study skills, and a super quiz--a team event held before a large audience. In addition, there are…

University of Virginia medical student evaluations of teachers at the end of clerkships are compiled into a detailed annual report containing constructive criticism and recommendations. Teaching faculty then respond by addressing the comments and initiating proposals for improvement. Experience with the system has been encouraging, and wider…

A portfolio model, using student evaluations and faculty publishing records, designed for classifying faculty at Ball State University (Indiana) is described, policy alternatives arising from the new method are examined, and a more general portfolio model using a variety of measures of teaching effectiveness and research activities is suggested.…

Discussed is a type of evaluation unlike traditional methods in that it gives students an opportunity to exercise an influence on their own situation. Planning, procedures, and recordings are described. (CW)

This Northern Illinois University College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) initiative represents the authors' first attempt to prepare engineering and technology professors for teaching to improve student learning and the Scholarship of Teaching. This college portfolio is nontraditional in that it combines a learning paper approach…

Toronto General Hospital (Canada) has developed a medical faculty recognition and reward program including a system to collect and evaluate feedback from trainees and administrators, an annual awards event, three categories of hospitalwide award (educational administration, program development, extraordinary contribution), and departmental student…