Fields from political science to critical education policy studies have long explored power relations in policy processes, showing who influences policy agendas, policy creation, and policy implementation. Yet showing particular actors' influence on specific points in a policy text remains a methodological challenge. This article presents a…

Treatment validity is a frequently neglected topic of screening instruments used to identify autism spectrum disorders. Treatment validity, however, should represent an important aspect of these instruments to link the resulting data to the selection of interventions as well as make decisions about treatment length and intensity. Research…

The Chinese have been using standardized testing for centuries. Ancient Greeks have tried it for centuries since 5th and 4th BC. There is no evidence that they have become successful in educating their children through an imperial or elitist system. The impact of standardizing the education on a nation is significant. This is not only true for not…

This article uses the work of two students to illustrate the need to consider changing the format of test items or making language adjustments to increase the validity of the test items as measures of the mathematics that students know.

Can computers help with one of the most persistent challenges of large classes: the accurate and efficient measurement of student learning?

This paper examines teacher assessment in light of contemporary cognitive science and anthropological research on teaching. Attention is given to why some teacher tests are inappropriate for assessing competence and the need for development of an effective, comprehensive assessment system that acknowledges the inadequacy of current test…

In this article, the authors explain how curriculum-based measurement (CBM) differs from other forms of classroom-based assessment. The development of CBM is traced from computation to concepts and applications to real-life problem solving, with examples of the assessments and illustrations of research to document technical features and utility…

Three case studies are presented that describe variations used to obtain student perceptions of examinations and examination questions. Student perceptions can provide feedback about the quality of the examination. Results are presented and discussed and some examples of test evaluation questions are given. (Author/MLW)

The paper reports findings of a study describing and analyzing the creative and social behavior of four highly original children in the context of 1 year's preschool experience. Videotape, interview, participant observation, and artifact data were collected to construct the descriptions. The study attempted to answer the following questions: (1)…

The purpose of this report is to document the pilot test of the Instruction and Learning Appraisal (ILA) and describe the quality of the ILA process. The ILA process was developed by Edvantia staff who serve as technical assistance providers to schools and districts in the region. Low-performing schools and districts (i.e., those that fail to…

One of the major concerns of the California school district represented in this case study centered on the possible legal problems associated with minimum competency testing (MCT). The responses of the district to the California law regarding MCT, and to six potential problem areas, are documented. (LC)

Discusses the development of a scale to measure variables that may have an effect on teacher's affective attitudes towards computer-assisted language learning. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used in the development of the scale to ensure its validity and reliability. (13 references) (Author/CK)

Based on the evaluation of 24 faculty development programs in the United States and other scholarly activities, the benefits of systematic planning and evaluation of faculty development programs are considered. In addition, a set of field tested instruments for planning and evaluation and case studies of institutional programs are presented, and…

This article describes the use of measures of functional assessment of essential activities in self-care, mobility, communication, and social cognition in preschool children. An overview of functional assessment is provided, and psychometric properties of the various tests are described. Case studies illustrate the value of using functional…

Having made "continuous improvement" the theme of its accreditation process a decade ago, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is poised to make "assurance of learning" the current focus of the faculty/student exchange. In this article, the authors discuss how to use standardized assessment tests…