School inspections are fundamental to quality assurance and improvement in many countries. Yet the question of the validity of these inspections has not yet been comprehensively addressed. This paper proposes a systematic approach to assessing the validity of school inspections, based on Messick's multifaceted concept of validity. We apply each…

This paper compares and contrasts the program theory of the reenacted Supervision Act to the Supervision Act of 2003. We describe how the expectations about how schools should be inspected, the effect such inspections are expected to have, and how these effects should be realized have changed over the past years as a result of changing paradigms…

This paper focuses on an unceremonious type of formative assessment--"informal formative assessment"--in which much of what teachers and students do in the classroom can be described as potential assessments that can provide evidence about the students' level of understanding. More specifically, the paper focuses on assessment conversations, or…

The idea that assessment is intrinsic to effective instruction is traced from early experiments in the individualization of learning through the work of Benjamin Bloom to reviews of the impact of feedback on learners in classrooms. While many of these reviews detailed the adverse impact of assessment on learning, they also indicated that under…

The study investigated the relationships between assessment for learning (AfL) and attributes of two school-related contexts--the classroom assessment culture (CAC) in which AfL is embedded, and the larger context in which CAC is nested, namely the school-based professional learning community (SBPLC). The research design comprised two…

The requirements for valid assessment for learning and assessment of learning are reviewed and then the tensions between these two purposes of assessment are explored, first in general and then within two areas of the New Zealand education system. First, the nature of assessment for learning in primary schools is discussed and how it is, or might…

A sample of educational evaluators was asked to design an outcomes-focused evaluation of a school program that aims to improve the academic achievement and self-esteem of students. Evaluators provided detailed descriptions of their evaluation design and methodology in their responses. These descriptions were coded and analyzed to determine the…

This paper is meant to highlight the occurrence of Simpson's Paradox when using aggregated data obtained from two IEA studies in Israel, while ignoring the effect of a powerful intervening variable in the local context--the ethnicity factor. It will demonstrate faulty conclusions regarding either the absence of relationships between a contextual…

An abundance of comprehensive school reform (CSR) literature exists illustrating CSRs are effective in improving student outcomes. However, much of this research reports on top-down reforms, focuses on academic outcomes, and uses quantitative methods alone. Many educational researchers have argued for the use of mixed methods for providing a…

In many European languages, the words "assessment" and "evaluation" are synonymous, but in English the two terms are used differently. Educational "assessment" is learner-focused and part of professional pedagogy, relating directly to the accountability of practitioners and schools to learners and their families.…

This study reports on the development and usefulness of an assessment procedure for teachers' coaching competence. We examined the usefulness of the developed procedure with respect to making reliable judgments. Video portfolios were constructed by researchers, which consisted of deliberately planned video recordings of teachers' coaching…

The characteristics of written comments on assignments as well as the process of writing them were studied. Interviews to three case-study middle school students, observation of lessons and content analysis of their assignments show that features that promote learning are: comments located next to what needs revision must be reviewed; use of…

A prerequisite for AfL to be successfully implemented in the classroom is the teachers' assessment practice. In many contexts, including the Norwegian, AfL has not been successfully dealt with during initial teacher education, and there is a need for qualified teachers to engage in professional development in AfL. This article first discusses…

This study discusses three evaluations completed in a large suburban school district, each of which involved stakeholders purposefully throughout the inquiry process. The reflective case narrative addresses three questions: (1) To what extent or in which parts of the evaluations were stakeholders involved? (2) What actions did the evaluator(s)…

Statewide exit examinations play an important role in discussions on school effectiveness. Referring to educational governance concepts, this paper presumes a relation between varying organizational structures of statewide examinations across states, and heterogeneous effects on school actors. It is assumed that their ability to affect work in…