This webinar explored how the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) provide an instructional framework to support professional growth and inform teacher evaluation systems for science instruction. This Q&A addressed the questions participants had for Dr. Wilson and Jody Bintz following the webinar. The webinar recording and PowerPoint…

Discusses the growing use by educational psychologists and teachers of developmental and academic behavior checklists. Identifies the minimum criteria necessary for checklists and criticizes their use as many fail to meet these standards. Describes the limitations, misuse, and narrow focus of behavior checklists. (GEA)

Identifies and describes six differences between formative and summative evaluation in career education. Formative evaluation involves more coordination, more stress, special observation and teaching skills, criterion-referenced measures, learner safeguards, and choosing priorities among objectives. (SK)

Discusses observation of teaching behavior (what should be recorded, what methods of recording are available, what is low inference and high inference data) and aspects of teacher evaluation (summative evaluation, formative evaluation and constraints on the evaluative process). (SS)

The uses and methods of four levels of evaluation which can be conducted during the development and implementation phases of computer-based instruction (CBI) programs are discussed in this paper. The levels of evaluation presented are: (1) documentation, (2) formative evaluation, (3) assessment of immediate learner effectiveness, and (4) impact…

Most Australian teachers do not hold traditional methods of supervision in very high regard. A more acceptable form of supervision, clinical supervision, utilizes the information gathered from classroom observations to allow the teacher to gain a wider perspective on his or her own performance under non-threatening conditions. A limited survey,…

Two methodologies for teacher-focused process evaluation--rating scales and systematic observation--are discussed and comments are made about their characteristics and effective utilization to improve teachers' performance. Process evaluation, referring specifically to the act of evaluating what teachers do in their classrooms, may be of formative…

Describes a project at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign that explored several models of teleapprenticeships to provide teacher education students with collaborative, constructivist learning models through the use of electronic networks, and to integrate instructional computer experiences within the teacher education process. (five…

Early childhood teachers generally have not recognized that assessment is a necessary adjunct to effective teaching, but instead have concluded that it is the concern of special educators or program evaluators. In fact, assessment can play a most important role in planning for and instructing all children. Assessment can be defined as a conscious,…

Designed to evaluate the use of microcomputer-based labware (MBL) in junior high school science, the Computer as Lab Partner Project examined classroom experience of using MBL; system features used and curriculum designed; classroom procedures, processes, and interactions; gains and benefits of MBL use; and potential difficulties in MBL…

Two methods of teacher evaluation, summative evaluation and formative evaluation, are examined. The summative theory calls for an assessment of teaching competence on the basis of which judgments may be made on matters pertaining to promotion, tenure, merit salary increments, or dismissal. Summative evaluation is strongly supported because it…

In order to improve students' opportunities to learn, educators need tools that can assist them to reflect on and analyze their own and others' teaching practice. Many available observation tools and protocols for studying student work are inadequate because they do not directly engage educators in core issues about rigorous content and pedagogy.…