Practitioners often struggle to assess reflective learning in the workplace because of difficulties conceptualizing reflection and its effects in the workplace. This article addresses this problem by offering a pragmatic approach to assessment that asks practitioners to specify why they are using reflection, what they are hoping to gain from it,…

In this book the authors explain how to build, and over time improve, the elements of an observation system that equips all observers to identify and develop effective teaching. It is based on the collective knowledge of key partners in the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project--which carried out one of the largest-ever studies of classroom…

The implementation of effective instructional materials, such as a core reading program, by a qualified teacher is an important part of improving students' reading achievement. But selecting those instructional materials can be time-consuming. Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast created this rubric for evaluating reading/language arts…

Human raters are normally involved in L2 performance assessment; as a result, rater behavior has been widely investigated to reduce rater effects on test scores and to provide validity arguments. Yet raters' cognition and use of rubrics in their actual rating have rarely been explored qualitatively in L2 speaking assessments. In this study three…

Purpose: This article provides information about clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to facilitate their application to the practice of speech-language pathology. CPGs are sets of recommendations based on evidence, including expert clinical opinion, that have been developed by a panel of reviewers. In this article, CPGs are defined and their…

Background: The purpose of this study was to revise and validate the "Individual Child Engagement Record" (ICER), an instrument designed to observe and measure the engagement of children with disabilities in early childhood settings. Method: The ICER was revised with reference to pilot study results and the literature. Inter-observer…

The study, with 79 rehabilitation therapists evaluating 21 single-subject graphs, found that the low interrater agreement often associated with visual analysis of single-subject data may be improved by simple supplements (such as trend lines) to visually inspected charts. (Author/DB)

Thirty-two children aged 7 to 12 participated in a study to determine the reliability of the Ekwall Reading Inventory (ERI) and the Classroom Reading Inventory (CRI). The children were randomly assigned to take one of the two inventories, which were administered by four different specially trained teachers. The study used a test-retest design, in…

This paper describes the Measure of Epistemological Reflection (MER), an instrument to assess cognitive developmental level according to the Perry scheme of intellectual and ethical development. It contains sets of questions for each of the six cognitive domains: decision making, learner role, instructor role in the learning process, peer role in…

The Child Behavior Checklist and related forms were completed for 171 boys referred for school-based assessment resulting from academic and/or behavioral problems. Adolescents consistently underreported behavioral problems relative to parents and teachers regardless of subsequent diagnosis. Implications of these discrepancies in school-based…

Marking reliability is purported to be produced by having an effective community of practice. No experimental research has been identified which attempts to verify empirically the aspects of a community of practice that have been observed to produce marking reliability. This research outlines what that community of practice might entail and…

This study, involving five experienced and trained speech language pathologists, categorized the elicited imitations of five profoundly and five severely prelingually hearing-impaired subjects using the Phonetic Level Evaluation. Failure to obtain acceptably high levels of reliability suggests that this measure may not yet be an accurate and…

Group process and rating techniques were used to create a scale for measuring severity and frequency of 24 problem behaviors in institutionalized mentally retarded persons. A substantial correlation was found between scores and staff-time allocations, indicating usefulness of the scale as a predictor of staffing requirements for behavior…

A college faculty member who has graded Advanced Placement exam essays on U.S. government and politics, taken mostly by high school juniors and seniors, suggests that high school teachers and college faculty who assess the essays are not the best qualified persons to do so and that despite efforts to ensure consistency, the resulting scores are…

A faculty consultant to the Educational Testing Service for advanced placement (AP) test reading in U.S. government and politics responds to an article criticizing essay evaluation methods and criteria, finding in it a fundamental misunderstanding of the AP reading process and explaining why the essays are subject to less scrutiny for style,…