This article is an introduction to a European Educational Research Journal special issue on accountability policies and instruments in Europe. Two hypotheses grounded in the new institutionalist theory are presented to conceptualise and analyse the variety of national trajectories and forms of accountability in four European education systems…

This paper explores how mandated literacy assessment is reorganising teachers' work in the context of Australia's National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy, which was implemented in 2008. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are tested annually, with school results publicly available. The wider policy context and the emergence of different…

Purpose: Older school-aged children and adolescents with persistent language and literacy impairments vary in their individual profiles of linguistic strengths and weaknesses. Given the multidimensional nature and complexity of language, designing an assessment protocol capable of uncovering linguistic variation is challenging. A process of…

In this article we present results from a study investigating the impact of three state exit exam systems on teaching and learning in college-preparatory schools. The study compares one state with a traditionally more centralized exam regime, one state that is more de-centralized and one state that has recently switched to more centralized…

Operating a quality assurance system in tertiary education is the rule rather than the exception, because of the belief that it will improve quality. However, proving this is not easy. This study examines three ways of providing the evidence: the a "priori" method, the stepwise backtracking method, and the external evaluation method. The…

ICUE (Interactivity Centered Usability Evaluation) is an enhanced usability testing protocol created by the researcher. ICUE augments the facilitator's role for usability testing, and offers strategies in developing and presenting usability tasks during a testing session. ICUE was designed to address weaknesses found in the usability evaluation of…

Personality scores were used to construct three databases of global norms. The composition of the three databases varied according to percentage of cases by global region, occupational group, applicant status, and gender of the job candidate. Comparison of personality scores across the three norms databases revealed that the magnitude of the…

This guide is intended to assist vocational rehabilitation counselors in planning and conducting short-term vocational evaluations of clients. The first section discusses the elements that must be included in a comprehensive vocational evaluation. Next, strategies for conducting a vocational evaluation are explained. The next section, a case study…

This paper discusses students with disabilities who do not fit into large-scale traditional assessment systems, seeks to clarify what is meant by "gray areas of assessment," delineates the primary issues that surround and contribute to gray areas, and provides suggestions for developing fully inclusive systems. It provides brief case studies of…

Discusses a program implemented in Wichita, Kansas, public schools to assess curricular effectiveness in music education. Expounds on the goals of the program, participants involved, problems encountered, and the eventual outcome of the evaluation. Maintains that curriculum must be organized around specific musical objectives rather than musical…

Traditionally, the use of control groups, regression discontinuity/projection, or norm referenced models has been advocated for educational program evaluation. The small numbers of and the heterogeneous characteristics of severely and profoundly handicapped make these evaluation methods inappropriate for this population subgroup. Furthermore, no…

This essay is the author's battle cry for help in revitalizing democracy. It deals with the institutions in which the future citizens are being educated. It deals with the undemocratic way in which schools are run. Given the time and space, the author would like to narrow the focus of his battle even further and argue for a revitalization of…

FOUR INSTRUMENTS WERE DEVELOPED AND STANDARDIZED TO MEASURE EARLY EXPERIENCE, CURRENT BEHAVIOR, TREATMENT APPROACHES, AND PROGNOSIS OF EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED CHILDREN--THE RATING/RANKING SCALE OF CHILD BEHAVIOR (R/R SCALE), THE PARENT PRACTICES INVENTORY (PPI), THE SCALE ON PROCEDURES IN DEALING WITH CHILDREN (PDC), AND THE CHILD HISTORY CODE…

This guide for those in the "High Schools That Work" initiative is designed to help teachers use classroom assessment to motivate students to work harder to meet challenging standards; to get students to organize information, make interdisciplinary connections, synthesize new knowledge, and draw conclusions from what they learn; to…

This book introduces adult educators and trainers to the principles and techniques of learner evaluation in the various contexts of adult education. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) the purposes of evaluation (the importance of authentic evaluation; principles of evaluation; traps in evaluation); (2) evaluating one's philosophy…