This concluding essay offers a reflection on the set of the papers contained in this special issue of the Educational Assessment journal. In it the author situates formative assessment squarely in the realm of teachers' continuous professional learning and considers the essential nature of formative assessment as centering on three questions that…

Adult learning policies, like any other policies, need to be effective: they need to reach their objectives and attain the desired impacts, which should be carefully defined. Understanding the performance of policies allows policy makers to change and improve them. A growing body of research and statistics provides important insights into how…

In music education, current attention to student-centered approaches for learning affects our understanding of student assessment. This view to curriculum reform requires new perspectives for assessment. There is a need to move beyond the summative use of assessment to assign grades to examining the roles of assessment in supporting and enhancing…

Frequently and accurately discerning others' thoughts and feelings is associated with multiple valued educational outcomes across an array of settings. Despite its foundational role in social interactions, it is unclear whether individuals can be taught to improve their social perspective taking capacities. This experiment assesses whether a…

In 2011, the Louisiana Board of Regents (BoR), through the development and implementation of the Master Plan, advanced its vision for the future of postsecondary education by adopting the following three broad goals: (1) Increase the educational attainment of the State's adult population to the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) States'…

Article VIII of Louisiana's Constitution authorizes the Board of Regents (BoR) to develop a master plan for higher education in Louisiana. This Master Plan provides a broad vision for the State's higher education system and acknowledges its interdependence with the economy and its many contributions towards better lives for Louisiana's citizenry.…

Article VIII, §5 D (4) of Louisiana's Constitution requires the Board of Regents (BoR) to "formulate and make timely revision of a master plan for postsecondary education…" On August 24, 2011, the BoR adopted the "Master Plan for Public Postsecondary Education in Louisiana: 2011" outlining the long-term goals for the State's…

"Community Content-Based Instruction" grew out of several development initiatives and field needs. It began to take shape in a Gender and Public Health Education for Teachers Workshop and an In-Service Education Workshop for Volunteers and their counterparts, in the spring of 1996 in Eritrea. Since that time, the concept has been further…