In the United Kingdom, a trend in professional education is toward a competence-based certification scheme to be used in tandem with academic qualifications. However, philosophical differences are found that, linked to structural issues, make this pairing problematic. An alternative approach that allows competencies to be recognized through the…

A framework for improving student and course evaluation in higher education is presented. The framework is based on a simple quality control model. Suggestions for support mechanisms and resources for improving practice are also offered. (MSE)

The following is adapted from chapter 2 of "Assessing Expressive Learning: A Practical Guide for Teacher-Directed Authentic Assessment in K-12 Visual Art Education" by Charles Dorn, Stanley Madeja, and Robert Sabol. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ 2003. (Appendices referred to in the following article can be found in the book…

Extended matching sets questions (EMSQs) are a form of multiple-choice question (MCQ) consisting of a stem (the question or scenario) with an extended number of possible answers. Although there is no consensus on their absolute format, for the purpose of this paper a multiple-choice question with ten or more alternative answers is considered to be…

A novel Web-based Accountability Model (WAM) for assessment and learning in a Teacher Education Program was implemented. The objective is to explain the rationale for the WAM model, how it was implemented as the web-based Education Accountability System (EAS), and the impacts on the organization and the individual. Standards were followed in the…

In this article, one school district shares its experiences with computer-based testing and the immediate access to data it can provide. The Barren County School District in Glasgow, Kentucky, has partnered with the Northwest Evaluation Association to use their computer-based Measure of Academic Progress (MAP). The MAP testing platform is…

This paper reflects on the ongoing debate surrounding the usefulness (or otherwise) of multiple-choice questions (MCQ) as an assessment instrument. The context is a graduate school of business in Australia where an experiment was conducted to investigate the use of assertion-reason questions (ARQ), a sophisticated form of MCQ that aims to…

It is widely known that parent-teacher partnerships are vital to children's progress in their development and learning in schools. These partnerships involve parent-teacher conferences, parents helping in the classroom, teachers making home visits and parent education seminars. However, partnerships rarely extend to having parents involved in the…

This chapter explores how multiple approaches including data mining can help examine how the lengths of student enrollment are associated with varying numbers of advanced placement units. (Contains 3 tables and 5 figures.)

As item response theory (IRT) becomes popular in educational and psychological testing, there is a need of reporting IRT-based effect size measures. In this study, we show how the standardized mean difference can be generalized into such a measure. A disattenuation procedure based on the IRT test reliability is proposed to correct the attenuation…

This article describes the possibilities offered by the online assessment system Etude to achieve the benefits of formative assessment. In order to find out the way this works in practice, we carried out an experiment with the use of Etude for formative assessment in the course on collaborative report writing. Results show that online formative…

For many degree programmes, including those within the School of Agriculture, Policy and Development (SAPD) at the University of Reading, modularisation has resulted in increased flexibility of degree programmes and a wider choice of modules offered to students. An important consequence of this is that module co-ordinators and programme directors…

Identifying individuals with specific learning disabilities (SLD) is a complex task, particularly for adult populations. Adult agencies such as vocational rehabilitative services or adult basic education often use different SLD definitions and criteria, are often understaffed, have limited resources, and have a shortage of staff trained on SLD…

This is the first in a series of reports on the educational progress of Texas public schools. It reviews the concerns that led to the development of the integrated accountability system now used in Texas and examines this system relative to those of other states. A major new research and evaluation effort, the Statewide Texas Educational Progress…

This collection of articles is the third in a series on assessment produced by Finger Lakes Community College (New York). It deals with classroom assessment as an ongoing process that can be of significant value to teachers as well as to students. Assessment at the college and assessment in the classroom in general are explored. Articles include:…