Early literacy screening tools are often a critical component of schools' intervention frameworks. As the use of screening tools becomes more prevalent for identifying students who may be at risk for learning difficulties and in need of additional instruction, it is important to continuously evaluate teachers' implementation of these screening…

Rubrics are a commonly used tool to evaluate student work in the introductory communication course. Although rubrics may appear objective, they are continually interpreted by both instructors and students, often reflecting traditional classroom power dynamics. In order to understand how rubrics constrain as well as expand opportunities for the…

Using mathematically unsound scales and inequitable grading practices has complicated the grading process for teachers and created educational barriers for students. This quantitative study compared the effect of the 100-point percentage and 4-point interval grading scale on Algebra 1 final grades. This study also investigated if there was a…

Few examples of demonstrable program learning improvement projects exist. To provide guidance for those seeking to report program learning improvement, we offer a real example of an implemented learning improvement project for a Computer Information Systems major curriculum. The example follows a six-criteria model and the subsequent standards for…

The popularity of online surveys has increased the prominence of using weights that capture units' probabilities of inclusion for claims of representativeness. Yet, much uncertainty remains regarding how these weights should be employed in analysis of survey experiments: Should they be used or ignored? If they are used, which estimators are…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) James Madison University: Reflections on Sustained Excellence in Assessment (Keston H. Fulcher and Elizabeth R. H. Sanchez); (2) Editor's Notes: Assessment Excellence Abounds! (Stephen P. Hundley); (3) The Promise of an All-in-One Assessment System for Student…

A 21st-century challenge for educators is to promote meaningful engagement in online courses, and student development of critical thinking skills is an essential aspect of higher order learning. Evaluation of critical thinking in online discussions is often facilitated by the use of rubrics; however, it is not unusual for rubrics to either omit…

This study describes the implementation and findings from a consultation process designed to enhance the professional development (PD) offered to teachers working in Virginia's state-funded preschool program. A PD Rubric was developed to translate research on effective PD (i.e., PD practices linked to positive changes in teacher practice and/or…

This study sought to describe the prevalence of Standards-based grading (SBG) among practicing music teachers and report the rationale teachers provided for or against its use. Participants were music educators (N = 96) responsible for grading students. Most participants (52.08%, n = 50) indicated that they were not familiar with SBG. Many…

Critics of ethics education suggest that students need to learn about contextual pressures of workplace ethical decisions and develop skills to handle them. Thus, instructors are often challenged to integrate an ethics unit into organizational behavior courses in ways that complement, rather than duplicate, what may have been covered in their…

School librarians in Newport News, Virginia, are meeting the challenges of integrating an Inquiry Process Model into instruction. In the original model the process began by asking students to develop questions to start their inquiry journey. As this model was taught it was discovered that students often did not have enough background knowledge to…

Significant emphasis is currently placed on STEM education as a vehicle to encourage American youth to enter science, technology, engineering, and math-related professions. Gifted students are a natural resource of future innovators for these fields; however gifted programs are largely overlooked for program support. Since 1973, the Virginia…

Rubrics have received increased attention in recent years in assessment and accountability efforts in higher education as tools that provide faculty with rigorous frameworks for translating authentic examples of student work into high-quality, useable data. These same tools may represent powerful vehicles for prompting and facilitating…

A Wiki research project was created in the Functional Foods for Health (FST/HNFE 2544) as an instructional tool and assignment for improving undergraduate students' proficiency in evaluating appropriate information sources for rapidly evolving science and research. The project design targeted improving students' information literacy skills…

America's institutions of higher education have been challenged to develop new strategies to improve the success of all students. With more and more students attending multiple institutions, improving the transfer process is key to ensuring all students succeed. AAC&U launched the Quality Collaboratives (QC) project in 2011 with support from…