Self-directed learning, despite its growing popularity in education, has challenged conventional assessment practice which often foregrounds the presentation of identical conditions to ensure reliability. This article discusses the results of a case study of university academic English teachers' perceptions and reported practices of assessing…

Despite much fanfare, new technologies have yet to fundamentally advance student outcomes in K-12 schools or other educational settings. We believe that the system that supports the development and dissemination of educational technology tools is falling short. The key missing ingredient is rigorous evaluation. No one knows what works and for…

A review of articles published in "Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education," over the last eight years (2006-2013) on assessment in higher education, since the introduction of the Bologna process, is the subject of the paper. The first part discusses the key issue of assessment in higher education and the method used for selecting…

Assessment can be defined as any method through which one gathers data or information about something. Assessing may incorporate measurement and testing, but it also includes evaluation and appreciation of creative products, processes, and performances. It encompasses finding out much more information than test results alone can give. Creative…

Educators need to become more assessment literate. When they do, they will be able to use assessments better to guide their teaching and communicate their expectations and results with students and the broader education stakeholders and audiences.

Since the mid 1970s, a series of international declarations that recognize the critical link between environmental sustainability and higher education have been endorsed and signed by universities around the world. While academic initiatives in sustainability are blossoming, higher education lacks a comprehensive evaluation framework that is…

Most board of trustees' evaluations of a president's performance look backward, assuming that the challenges of the future will be pretty much the same as they've always been. But as every alert trustee now realizes, colleges and universities face problems more daunting than the familiar conundrums of the past. As a result, each presidential…

Many board of education members question the importance of superintendent evaluations. Others consider it a thankless job. During the author's 28 years as a member of the school board of the 3,300-student Fitzgerald Public Schools in Warren, Michigan, he has participated in several evaluations and can attest to their value. In this article, the…

Joanne Pearson reflects on her experiences as a history teacher and teacher educator, considering the ways in which she has seen women represented in the history curricula of different schools in England. She makes the case that greater attention needs to be paid by history teachers to the criteria against which they make decisions about the…

There is perhaps no subject more contentious in schools than assessment and yet, often, at classroom, school and national level, inferences and decisions are made without much reference to research in this area. In fact, teachers often accept or interpret assessment requirements without question, feeling that assessment has to be approached in a…

The research on grading practice over two decades is clear: grading practices are firmly held beliefs that are near and dear to the teaching professional. At a time when government, business and industry, and the general public are calling for an accountability of student knowledge and abilities, classroom assessment practices could be…

The author of an indicator that tests evaluation system compliance with good governance principles addresses the UNDP's response to his article by offering an empirical test of the UNDP's commitment to reform. While the UNDP Evaluations Office claims to be working on reforms, the test exposes the unwillingness of the UNDP Evaluations Office to…

This article shares the authors' personal stories that shed light on what to watch out for when the board takes up a performance review. The authors describe what they considered less-than-satisfying experiences with their board of education's process of performance assessment. They offered to do so with candor in hopes of helping their colleagues…

This article discusses a project undertaken to assess the journals in a Big Deal package by applying a weighted value algorithm measuring quality, utility, and value of individual titles. Carried out by a national library consortium in Canada, the project confirmed the value of the Big Deal package while providing a quantitative approach for…

After months of waiting, the grant reviews came back: "excellent," "excellent," and "fair." What?! How can this be? Why is the third review so out of line with the first two? On more than one occasion a principal investigator (PI) has been frustrated not only by a negative funding decision but more so by the accompanying reviewer evaluation forms…