Several major reform areas attempted by 'New Engineering Education' (NEE), China's most recent engineering education reform initiative at university level, are examined for their direct and indirect impact on Chinese STEM-major students' satisfaction with their programs in this study. With data collected from a sample of 619 Chinese undergraduate…

Assessment-led reform is now one of the most widely favored strategies to promote higher standards of teaching, more powerful learning and more credible forms of public accountability. Within this context of change, higher education in many countries is increasingly subjected to demands to implement alternative assessment strategies that provide…

In the U. S. 25 states operate from an assessment based frame of reference that includes some form of high school exit examination. Enhancements for existing assessment and accountability systems need to be explored according to the findings of Elizabeth Towles. The problem addressed in this study was that little research had been conducted to…

In this paper, two teacher educators work to understand their attempts to transform teacher-student relations by altering traditional grading practices. Using actor-network theory, the authors examine the social effects produced across and throughout a school of education when they changed the meaning and significance of grades. Detailed analysis…

This article examines major trends in testing and accountability reform in the United States over the past decade. The review covers the apex and decline of the national experimentation with a range of alternative assessments and the rise of test-based accountability as a central policy initiative. These trends signify that testing has become a…

This study examined five of 12 physical education teachers participating in the Assessment Initiative for Middle School Physical Education (AIMS-PE), a reform-based teacher development project designed to help teachers examine and reframe their assessment practices and to design and implement curricular programs that encourage active teaching and…

The purpose of this year-long, collective case study was to investigate what influences contributed to alternate assessment outcomes for students with significant disabilities. This study of seven students and teachers in two school districts revealed seven main factors that contributed to students' scores on the state's alternate assessment,…

This article reviews promises, practices, and provisos of alternative assessment as a basis for illustrating what is known about measuring progress of students with disabilities in statewide assessment programs. Nineteen data-based studies have been used to begin to document the effects of alternative assessment. However, it is concluded there are…

The research on effective professional development is consistent across many studies. Researchers Willis Hawley and Linda Valli (Westchester Institute for Human Services Research, n.d.), in their synthesis of the professional development literature, find that high-quality teacher development is as follows: (1) Informed by research on teaching and…

State and federal mandates for education reform call for increased accountability and the inclusion of students with disabilities in all accountability efforts. In the rush to implement high-stakes education reforms, particularly those involving tests or assessments, the particular needs of students with severe cognitive disabilities are only now…

Accountability for students with disabilities who receive special education services is now a result of policy requirements in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. Together these pieces of federal legislation require that students participate in statewide…

This paper is one of four individual case study reports presenting the qualitative findings from a five-year investigation of the impact of accountability reform on students with disabilities in four states, eight districts, and twenty schools. This case study report presents qualitative data collected over a four-year period--2001-2004--from…

This paper is one of four individual case study reports presenting the qualitative findings from a five-year investigation of the impact of accountability reform on students with disabilities in four states, eight districts, and twenty schools. This case study report presents qualitative data collected over a four-year period--2001-2004--from…

This document is one of four individual case study reports presenting the qualitative findings from a five-year investigation of the impact of accountability reform on students with disabilities in four states, eight districts, and twenty schools. This case study report presents qualitative data, collected over a two-year period--2001 and…