In 2014, Macnamara, Hambrick, and Oswald published a meta-analysis of studies questioning the strength of the association between deliberate practice and performance. In this brief report, the correlation reported by Macnamara et al. (2014) is placed in the context of other well-known associations. Additionally, a re-analysis of the studies…

In recent years, McNamara, and associates Hambrick and Oswald, conducted and published studies which purportedly showed deliberate practice exerts less powerful main effects than presented and popularized in the press, public discourse, and professional circles. Their central aim seemed to be one of correcting a particular misperception, as they…

Students in the physical sciences--physics and chemistry--often take multiple-choice exams for introductory courses. Some students will write a lot on their exams, while others write very little. Does the student doing more scratch work on their exam perform better than one who does not write as much? We analyzed multiple-choice exams in physics…

Drawing on Glenn Fulcher's extensive work in performance-based language assessment of speaking, this paper explores the assessment of L2 speaking ability in local language testing contexts. For that purpose, I review Fulcher's influential work that highlights the relationship between the speaking construct, the task, the performance, and the…

This article reports on the performance of the research funding system of 61 Japanese national universities, specifically the Japanese Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (GASR) system. The competitive Japanese research funding system is quantitatively investigated and measured, focusing on the GASR fund and its relationship with the Japanese…

This summary piece aims to provide a clear connection for leaders, managers or even individuals as they endeavor to put organizational unlearning into practice inside their organization. The author attempts to simplify the details from the diverse articles within this issue only with the aim of helping build an easier method for practical…

This article analyses an assessment initiative known as the Basic Competency Assessment (BCA) in Hong Kong using Bernstein's performance and competence models of pedagogic practice. On the one hand, BCA is aligned with a competence model through its official projection as a low-stakes, student-focussed and formative assessment. However, an…

Personalized education systems recommend learning contents to students based on their capacity to accelerate their learning. This paper proposes a personalized exercise recommendation system for online self-directed learning. We first improve the performance of knowledge tracing models. Existing deep knowledge tracing models, such as Dynamic…

This technical report describes the results of analyses performed on data collected from 2013 to 2017, using the IDEA Feedback System for Administrators (FSA). The FSA is used to gather impressions from core constituents about an administrator's performance of relevant administrative roles, as well as her/his leadership style, interpersonal…

With most students around the world having experienced remote learning over the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of teachers and schools has become all the more evident. Temporary school closures underline how richly students benefit from being in school with their teachers and classmates. "Positive, High-achieving…

The study examined how institutional and student characteristics may influence the earning of student success points by state-supported community colleges under the Texas performance funding system that was fully implemented in the 2016-2017 biennium. Texas has historically funded community colleges based on an enrollment formula; however, the…

Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a voluntary, non-remedial, peer-facilitated, course-specific intervention that has been widely demonstrated to increase student success, yet concerns persist regarding the biasing effects of disproportionate participation by already higher-performing students. With a focus on maintaining access for all students, a…

In this paper the authors argue that a confluence of powerful interests has descended upon the work of teacher education from all possible points of entry via the edTPA. The paper uses Actor Network Theory to trace one particular set of complex social associations created and acted upon in the adoption and implementation of a single national…

The impact of higher education institutions on society has become the focus of significant policy attention in recent years, most prominently as part of research evaluation. This paper presents a theoretical exploration of the notion, identifying the key dimensions as source, form, trajectory, intensity, timescale and destination. While…

The Scylla and Charybdis in this discussion of teacher evaluation are standardized achievement test data on the one hand, and classroom observational systems on the other. These are the two most common methods used to judge teachers' competency. Both have serious flaws: the former primarily with validity, the latter primarily with reliability. At…