The author describes how Virginia Beach City Public Schools developed a performance assessment that they administer to all 4th graders, 7th graders, and high school students in the district. He describes lessons learned about creating good performance tasks and developing a successful scoring process, as well as sharing tools connected to this…

Deeper learning has been defined as "the skills and knowledge that students must possess to succeed in 21st century jobs and civic life" (William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, 2013). "Assessing Deeper Learning: Developing, Implementing, and Scoring Performance Tasks" examines the role of performance assessment to facilitate…

This professional development activity on STEM Education is designed to keep Technology and Engineering teachers up to date regarding current and important issues in the discipline. This article describes why there is a focus on STEM Education, defines STEM Education, and discusses curriculum integration and its elements.

With the introduction of "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"), teachers have been called to find meaningful and engaging ways to teach science content while incorporating engineering practices and, to a lesser extent, computing and computational thinking. The task becomes even more complex when they also have to…

A chasm is growing between our rapidly rising aspirations for our educational systems and what schools can routinely accomplish. Education needs an improvement paradigm--one that recognizes the complexity of the work of education and the wide variability in outcomes that our systems currently produce. This article sketches out such a paradigm. It…

In this article, the author describes a different theory of multiple abilities, the Prism Model, developed with Usanee Anuruthwong from Thailand, and further evolved with Belle Wallace from the UK and Leonie Kronborg from Australia. Using this model, insights gained will be shared that have been gained from working with children and adults from…

Studying physics for nonphysics majors at college level is usually a process of learning new problem-solving skills and sometimes seems a frustrating experience. In an attempt to provide students with more learning resources, online homework was required to supplement the instruction. This study reveals the role of the online homework assignments…

As young adolescents, middle grades students experience a wide variety of changes related to their cognitive capabilities, social and emotional well-being, and use of self-regulation strategies. Authentic performance tasks challenge students to apply their knowledge and skills to realistic problems to create products or performances--consistent…

The achievement of deep learning by secondary students requires teaching approaches that draw students into task commitment, integrated curricula, and analytical thinking. By using real-world data sets in project based instructional units, teachers can guide students in analyzing, interpreting, and reporting quantitative data. Working with…

New assessments that measure deeper learning--whether students understand challenging content and are able to apply that knowledge to think critically, solve problems, communicate their understanding, and work with their peers--are essential if students are to develop the competencies they need to succeed in an increasingly complex world. Such…

Digital games offer an appealing environment for assessing student proficiencies, including skills and misconceptions in a diagnostic setting. This paper proposes a dynamic Bayesian network modeling approach for observations of student performance from an educational video game. A Bayesian approach to model construction, calibration, and use in…

Because of the large number of students involved, statewide assessments used throughout the United States are designed to be highly efficient with respect to administration and scoring. This constrains the formats that can be used and consequently limits testing to a subset of competencies typically associated with the education standards being…

Principals' wheelbarrows are full of initiatives: closing learning gaps, preparing for the Common Core State Standards, differentiating instruction, and improving college and career readiness, to name a few. Meanwhile, principals have too few assets in their toolboxes to meet all the hefty demands. Taking the long view, it becomes clear that true…

Cognitive readiness (CR) and performance for operational time-critical environments are continuing points of focus for military and academic communities. In response to this need, we designed an open source interactive CR assessment application as a highly adaptive and efficient open source testing administration and analysis tool. It is capable…

Back in the early 1990s, three Manitoba School districts launched the "Lost Prizes" project to reclaim talented, at-risk high-school dropouts. Despite their unique gifts, these relationship-resistant youth were disenchanted, disillusioned, and disconnected. Many had major substance abuse problems and were engaged in serious criminal…