Taking a student's perspective, this study aims to characterize students' descriptions of teaching higher and lower in mastery goal emphasis, in elementary, middle, traditional, and democratic schools. Data were collected by student surveys and interviews from fifth- through eighth-grade Israeli students. Nineteen interviews, describing 5 science…

Florida implemented the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), a statewide assessment of students' academic content, in 1996. Subsequently, in 2001, the State Board of Education established passing scores on the FCAT to determine eligibility for a standard high school diploma. As of the 2015-2016 academic year, Florida requires students to…

The purpose of this study was to examine African American and Latino student perceptions on test-centered curricular protocols in the urban high school context. Data collection occurred through observations, classroom dialogue initiated by the researchers, and individual student interviews throughout an academic semester. Findings suggest that…

Language test preparation has often been studied within the consequential validity framework in relation to ethics, equity, fairness, and washback of assessment. The use of independent and integrated speaking tasks in the "TOEFL iBT"® test represents a significant development and innovation in assessing speaking ability in academic…

The study aims to investigate teachers' and students' perspectives of how "the formative use of summative test" (i.e., test preparation) may impact student's performance in internal school tests and develop self-regulated learning. It also examines the relationship between formative and summative assessment, especially how they could…

Test preparation for high-stakes English language tests has received increasing research attention in the language assessment field; however, little is known about what aspects of test preparation students attend to and value. In this study, we considered the perspectives of 12 Chinese students who were enrolled in various academic programs in a…

Researchers (Sandarg & Schomber, 2009; Wilkerson, Schomber, & Sandarg, 2004) have urged the profession to develop a new subject-matter licensure test to reflect the best practices in the foreign language classroom. In October 2010, the Praxis II: World Language Test joined the Praxis Series. Given that this standards-driven test differs…

The purpose of this qualitative research study is two-fold: (1) to narrate the realities and perspectives of adult students' learning experiences in a General Education Development (GED) preparation program in a Mid-western urban city; and (2) to document the thinking of the former director of adult education at the state level to understand the…

Webquest is an internet based learning tool that can be used by students in learning English. This study investigates students' perceptions about the use of Webquest to support learning grammar in Higher Education. Seventy-two of second semester students were involved as participants in this study. Questionnaire and interview were used to collect…

Options are limited to gaining a high school equivalency for dropouts. The General Education Development (GED) exam provides people who have left school one way of gaining their secondary school credential. Employing the use of in-depth interviews, auto-ethnography, and participant observation, this study reports the descriptive findings of twelve…

For the nearly 39 million U.S. adults who do not have a high school diploma, the General Educational Development (GED) programs and exam have served as the main avenue for improving individuals' skills and helping them earn a high school credential. However, few students who start these programs ever get this credential, and even fewer advance to…

As educational leaders struggle to meet state and federal mandates, many students graduate from high school without the skills necessary to meet the demands of a college education. Guided by the tenets of constructivism, this qualitative case study explored college students' perceptions of their college preparedness through math, science, and…

Although there are a number of anecdotal reports on demographic characteristics and academic success of accelerated nursing students, few empirical studies have been undertaken to examine these students' success, despite this type of programs' existence for more than a decade, and only three studies have sought to examine the perspective of the…

The Algebra Project DR K-12, funded by the National Science Foundation as a Research and Development Project, addressed the challenge of offering significant STEM content for students to ensure public literacy and workforce readiness. The project's primary purpose was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of a model for establishing four-year…

The primary purpose of this twelve-week case study was to explore the use of a cooperative learning strategy with small groups of students in a 12th-grade economics class as diverse learners prepared for tests. The complete case study was based on observations of students, student surveys, focus group interviews, and interviews with educators at…