In schools, a lesson functions as an individual building block to support the learning of new material. Experts have identified key elements in an effective lesson, and education leaders--including school based administrators, instructional coaches, department and grade-level chairs--usually look for these elements when reviewing lesson plans and…

Social studies instructional time in elementary schools has declined substantially. Responding to this, the National Geographic Society (NGS) developed a professional learning program called the Elementary Social Studies Community of Practice (ESSCoP). This article describes this program's design and content, as well as evaluates its…

Photovoice is a technique in which a facilitator guides a participant to produce a photograph and accompanying caption that reflects the participant's unique views regarding a topic. The photovoice process is designed to be used with a wide range of audiences. This article describes ways Extension educators can incorporate photovoice into the…

Evaluation is essential to the analysis of the performance of academic programmes and is a central feature of the academic accountability movement. Most study abroad programmes, however, lack evaluation protocols, even though establishing them and acting on the results would contribute to their credibility. This final section of a comprehensive…

This document is written primarily for policy makers and state department of education staff who are considering through-year assessments, as well as consultants and contractors state departments rely on. The document identifies essential things to consider when designing or evaluating a through-year assessment program. The paper is organized into…

State policymakers are confronting well-documented intersecting crises -- medical, economic, and racial -- with especially dire implications for educational equity. State education leaders face a moral urgency to both understand and respond to the challenges students are experiencing and to do so in ways that address burgeoning equity gaps.…

In March 2019, The New Mexico Public Education Department (NM PED) convened thirteen statewide community engagements to gather public input to reimagine the state assessment system. Following these community input meetings, the NM PED convened the New Mexico Task Force for Student Success (Task Force), which was comprised of key education…

This chapter proposes approaches for assessing learners and evaluating courses and curriculum that could be used by directors of health professions education (HPE) programs to determine the effectiveness and impact of their programs.

This article presents the Center for Pedagogical Measurements' experience of assessment procedures transformative challenge when the COVID-19 was unfolding across the world and when there was no ready scenario that could guide online instruction and assessment as well. The authors of the article have provided the cases of adaptive responses and…

How can history museums incorporate Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) activities while preserving their missions and identities? How do interdisciplinary experiences lead to learning? A cross-institutional exhibit development and evaluation team wrestled with these ideas as they developed "Create.Connect," an National…

Service-learning courses provide students with practical opportunities to enhance their learning and development in the field, along with getting students engaged in different communities and settings. However, there are still many challenges to designing and offering effective service-learning courses, such as requiring all students to…

Effective mentoring programs help to recruit new teachers and improve teacher retention rates (e.g. Ingersoll & Strong, 2011, Rideout & Windle, 2010). Many school districts require mentoring programs for new teachers; however, they do not always have the resources to prepare their teachers to mentor beginning teachers. Clinical faculty…

As Brian Huot and Ellen E. Schendel assert, when assessment has more than validation in mind, it "can become a means for proactive change" (208). In response to this idea of assessment as an optimistic and opportunistic enterprise, this article describes how the structural design of our "equal opportunity" writing program and…

Many higher education sport management programs are currently in the process of seeking accreditation from the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA). This article provides a best-practice method for aligning student learning outcomes with a sport management program's mission and goals. Formative and summative assessment procedures…

This article provides an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS) and how the technology can be used to enhance evaluation practice. As a tool, GIS enables evaluators to incorporate contextual features (such as accessibility of program sites or community health needs) into evaluation designs and highlights the interactions between…