Turnover in the teacher workforce imposes significant costs to schools, both in terms of student achievement and the time and expense required to recruit and train new staff. This paper examines the potential for structured ratings of teacher applicants, solicited from their professional references, to inform hiring decisions through the selection…

Summative assessments provide data to evaluate the effectiveness of schools, teachers, and educational policies, contributing to a robust accountability system worldwide. However, educators and scholars argue that summative assessments do not effectively promote ongoing learning, enhance teaching practices, or align with the skills required in the…

There is growing interest in using comparative judgement to assess student work as an alternative to traditional marking. Comparative judgement requires no rubrics and is instead grounded in experts making pairwise judgements about the relative 'quality' of students' work according to a high level criterion. The resulting decision data are fitted…

Great teachers recognize great assessments. As policy and education leaders work to make sure state tests are measuring the problem-solving, writing, and critical-thinking skills students need for success, they should convene and rely on teachers to review test quality and help answer the question: Do the questions on our state test reflect…

We present the design, statistical analysis, and validation of a questionnaire to assess students' knowledge about basic aspects of quantum mechanics (QM). The QM evaluation (QME) is a true-false and multiple-choice mixed questionnaire that features 10 two-tier items spanning three relevant themes in quantum mechanics: wave behavior of matter,…

Self- and peer-assessment of student work is an area that is under-researched in the accounting education literature, although the subject area of study seems to influence the results obtained in prior studies. The current study contributes to the literature by examining the accuracy and construct validity of self- and peer-assessment by…

A teacher evaluation system can be threatening to faculty, especially if used for summative decisions. Therefore, it is important to obtain valid and pertinent information. Since students are extensively exposed to course elements, students' evaluation of instruction should be one of several components in the teacher evaluation system. Since…

Subconsciously, experienced teachers make use of situated knowledge: knowledge that is connected to, and arises from, the interactions between the physical environment where the action takes place and a material body acting in that environment. Since situated knowledge is important in day-to-day teaching to solve incidents, it should be taught in…

We report one teacher's response to a top-down shift from external examinations to internal teacher assessment for summative purposes in the Republic of Ireland. The teacher adopted a comparative judgement approach to the assessment of secondary students' understanding of a chemistry experiment. The aims of the research were to investigate whether…

On-going bilingual programs without regard to needs analysis; little research on the actual effects of CLIL in Colombia and vague awareness or knowledge about the necessary considerations for effective CLIL programs, underpin the need to address a particular issue of curriculum as it is summative assessment. This small scale study takes place in a…

The IDEA Feedback for Administrators system provides feedback to academic administrators about their performance of relevant administrative responsibilities and their leadership style and interpersonal characteristics. The system is based on a model of reflective practice, which is consistent with The IDEA Center's longstanding approach to…

The grammar course objectives at Brigham Young University's English Language Center (ELC) are a list of grammar structures for each level that students are expected to be able to master. These objectives currently are only measured by pencil-paper grammar tests, providing information regarding receptive grammar ability only. Therefore, there is a…

The Department of Nursing at Oak Hill Hospital, Spring Hill (Florida) did not have a measurement instrument for patient evaluation of hospital nursing services. An instrument to measure patient satisfaction with nursing was developed and validated. Criteria identified through a literature search were reviewed, modified, and validated by a…

A formative committee conducted a developmental study to produce a program evaluation instrument (PEI) that would be effective in conducting an adult basic education (ABE) program evaluation study at Nicolet Area Technical College (NATC). Five procedures were used to complete this product. First, a literature review was conducted that assisted in…

Validity evidence was determined for an instrument used at a state university to measure student perception of the institutionally stressed importance of various professional traits and his/her performance of these traits. Subjects were 87 preservice teachers at the end of student teaching. Scores from the institutionally stressed importance…