Competency-based assessment plays an important role in the development of learners' education as it enables them to demonstrate their expertise and readiness for professional life. The competencies of 'KRU RAK THIN' scholarship recipients in remote and underprivileged areas reflect the learning outcomes that teacher education institutions should…

Community colleges are tasked with juggling multiple missions. They provide open access to education for adults in their community, work with industry partners to educate the local workforce, and provide relevant programming to the communities they serve. When compared with students at four-year institutions, community college students are older,…

Many students who underachieve in schools may not be learning as effectively as they could. Direct assessments such as the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (ACES), School Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory (SMALSI), and the Academic Task Attack Checklist System (ATACS) can be used to evaluate students' knowledge and use of…

This study examined two types of classroom assessment events, the more closed convergent assessments (CA) versus the more open-ended divergent assessments (DA), to see if they influence learners differently in terms of motivation and learning strategies. Participants were 105 college freshmen in Taiwan with the same instructor placed under one…

The most effective way to understand what a child knows about the reading process is to take a running record. In "Running Records", Mary Shea demonstrates how teachers can use this powerful tool to design lessons that decrease reading difficulties, build on strengths, and stimulate motivation, ensuring that children develop self-sustaining…

This article presents a comprehensive model of daily, classroom informal writing assessment that is constantly linked to instruction and the characteristics of proficient writers. Methods for promoting teacher, student, and parent collaboration and their roles in dialoguing, conferencing, and reflection are discussed. Strategies for including…

Contends that performance assessment, or authentic assessment, is changing the way teachers evaluate and grade students. Describes the differences between traditional assessment and performance assessment. Argues that performance assessment is particularly suited for the social studies curriculum. (CFR)

Prescribes the use and grading of student-created assessment portfolios for a large-enrollment, introductory-level environmental science course. Grading involves a modified holistic-scoring technique that evaluates student-provided evidence of academic achievement from extended, authentic tasks. Portfolio use emphasizes the integration of facts…

This book outlines 101 tried-and-true strategies for making teaching more effective. Grounded in research from the cognitive sciences and best classroom practices, the strategies are divided into the following areas: "Beginning With What Students Know: Activating Prior Knowledge" (e.g., visual sequencing, speaking categorically, and guided…

One potential approach to the authentic assessment of what students know and can do in science is concept mapping. A concept map is a graph consisting of nodes representing concepts and labeled lines denoting the relation between a pair of nodes (concepts). The external concept map constructed by the student is interpreted as representing…

Hands-on science activities and first-hand experiences of kindergartners studying trees demonstrate the true meaning of authentic assessment. The activities and teacher interactions had several things in common: (1) they asked students to perform or create something; (2) they invoked real-world applications; (3) they showed that there is more than…

Faced with concerns that students in the American educational system are failing to learn critical thinking, problem solving, and reasoning skills, and do not have the ability to apply these skills to real-world situations, educators and psychologists are researching methods of improving student learning and assessing student performance. In order…

This book is intended to guide teachers as they include students with special needs. The 13 chapters are: (1) "The Foundation for Educating Students with Special Needs" (e.g., issues related to inclusion); (2) "Special Education Procedures and Services" (e.g., how students obtain special services); (3) "Professional…

This newsletter reports on the activities of Equipped for the Future (EFF), which is a National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) initiative that develops content standards to ensure that every adult can gain the knowledge and skills needed to fulfill real-world responsibilities as workers, parents, and citizens. A message from the NIFL…