A small subset of education studies analyzes school data collected seasonally (separating the summer from the school year). At first, this work was primarily known for documenting learning loss in the summers, but scholars have since recognized that observing how inequality changes between summer and school periods provides leverage for…

Teacher performance scores inform education leaders' management of teacher human resources. However, prior research has implied that different interpretations of performance criteria between teachers and their evaluators suppress teacher development. Although research has examined teacher perceptions of performance scores and compared teacher…

Two of the central issues in comparative judgement (CJ), which are perhaps underexplored compared to questions of the method's reliability and technical quality, are "what processes do judges use to make their decisions" and "what features do they focus on when making their decisions?" This article discusses both, in the…

Recent literature places more emphasis on assessment comments rather than relying solely on scores. Both are variable, however, emanating from assessment judgements. One established source of variability is "contrast effects": scores are shifted away from the depicted level of competence in a preceding encounter. The shift could arise…

Classroom management practices are critical to the success of teachers and students, and a growing number of programs have been developed to improve these practices. However, there has been less investigation into observational tools to assess classroom management and exploration of whether it can be measured consistently by observers across…

An alternative to null hypothesis significance testing is presented and discussed. This approach, referred to as observation-oriented modeling, is centered on model building in an effort to explicate the structures and processes believed to generate a set of observations. In terms of analysis, this novel approach complements traditional methods…

The smallest subset of items from the 30-item Checklist for Autism Spectrum Disorder (CASD) that differentiated 607 referred children (3-17 years) with and without autism with 100% accuracy was identified. This 6-item subset (CASD-Short Form) was cross-validated on an independent sample of 397 referred children (1-18 years) with and without autism…

Teaching has attracted growing research attention in studies of human and animal behavior as a crucial behavior that coevolved with human cultural capacities. However, the synthesis of data on teaching across species and across human populations has proven elusive because researchers use a variety of definitions and methods to approach the topic.…

Classroom management practices are critical to the success of teachers and students, and a growing number of programs have been developed to improve these practices. However, there has been less investigation into observational tools to assess classroom management and explore whether it can be measured consistently by observers across elementary,…

Purpose: This study described the use of dog parks in several diverse locations and explored the contribution dog parks made to physical activity of the dog owners. Method: The Systematic Observation of Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) tool was used to count the number and characteristics of people using parks. Observations were…

Peer review is a powerful method to enhance teaching in higher education. Peers, however, may not be the most relevant people in evaluating teaching success; as the most important stakeholders in learning, students' evaluations need to be heard. Whilst some efforts to capture "the student voice" are simplistic and may foster consumerist…

Military education is held to high standards for our servicemen and women. The purpose of this quantitative, comparative study was to determine if significant differences existed in learning styles relative to military experience as determined by learning in a serious game environment. Study results are expected to advance the state of research in…

The validity of joint attention assessment in school-aged children with ASD is unclear (Lord, Jones, "Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry" 53(5):490-509, 2012). This study examined the feasibility and validity of a parent-report measure of joint attention related behaviors in verbal children and adolescents with ASD. Fifty-two…

The validity of joint attention assessment in school-aged children with ASD is unclear (Lord, Jones, "Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry" 53(5):490-509, 2012). This study examined the feasibility and validity of a parent-report measure of joint attention related behaviors in verbal children and adolescents with ASD. Fifty-two…

Observation systems are increasingly used around the world for a variety of purposes; 2 critical purposes are to understand and to improve teaching. As observation systems differ considerably, individuals must decide what observation system to use. But the field does not have a common specification of an observation system, nor does it have…