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…

In this article, the author analyzes and summarizes geographic education in Louisiana from a historical perspective with a specific emphasis on the degree to which geography was implemented into the state's standards. To accomplish that, he draws from the following three sources of information: active and retired social studies teachers from a…

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…

If manufacturing a safer cigarette is technically possible--an open question--then mandating that tobacco manufacturers improve the safety of cigarettes would likely have both positive and negative implications for the nation's health. On the one hand, removing toxins may reduce the incidence of smoking-related diseases and premature mortality in…

Insects are a natural choice for studying behavioral ecology in the classroom--they are easy to obtain, maintain, and manipulate. Unlike competition and predation, however, the concept of group living does not translate well to small-scale experiments involving only a few individuals. How can inquiry be used to examine why animals live in groups?…

This article discusses "Family Secrets," a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum module that focuses on the bioethical implications of genetic testing. In high school biology classrooms throughout New York State, students are using "Family Secrets" to learn about DNA testing; Huntington's disease (HD); and the ethical, legal,…

Based on a study by Cox (2004), this article deals with the needs of students with visual, hearing, and orthopedic impairments in terms of full access to school library media centers. Fictitious vignettes of student concerns as well as possible answers and thought-provoking questions expand Cox's rural Missouri-based study to a much wider audience…

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.)

The confidence level (information-referenced testing; IRT) design is an attempt to improve upon the multiple choice format by allowing students to express a level of confidence in the answers they choose. In this study, the author evaluated student perceptions of the ease of use and accuracy of and general preference for traditional multiple…

In this paper the authors test the hypothesis that local economic concentration is associated with decreased levels of civic participation. They define economic concentration as a social context in which a small number of corporate establishments or industries dominate a local economy. They argue that economic concentration leads to a monolithic…

This launches a new periodic feature in Reclaiming Children and Youth. "Justice Alerts" examines current laws and policies against the twofold standards of solid science and moral values. This inaugural article explores the legal issues and political rhetoric surrounding random drug testing in schools and describes how science is being…