It is a requirement for pre-service students in Initial Teacher Education programs in Australia to successfully complete a teaching performance assessment (TPA) before they graduate. This follows similar requirements in other international contexts, particularly the United States, where standard-based assessment is also a focus. As members of the…

Objective: Performance funding (PF) policies allocate a portion of state funding to colleges based on student outcomes. This study is the first to account for policy type and design differences, and explores the impact of performance funding on three levels of credential completions: short-term certificates, medium-term certificates, and…

Educational reform in Australia recognizes the need for an effective teacher evaluation system but has fallen short of actually prescribing one. Current practice does not align to policy intent, with teacher evaluation largely an exercise in compliance around performance management as opposed to a process that promotes evaluative thinking,…

Despite the popularity of metacognitive research, and the inclusion of similar concepts in professional guidelines, librarians have not incorporated metacognitive tools into their assessment strategies. This systematic literature review found (1) metacognitive assessments can act as a learning aide in encouraging higher-order thinking; (2)…

This study establishes competency indicators for digital electronics contestants in skills competitions to examine instructor importance levels as well as to observe the competency indicator performance of the contestants these instructors had trained. Using a purposive sampling method, the digital electronics skill competition "Golden Hand…

Developing and assessing individuals' competence to identify business opportunities is of increasing importance in the current widespread introduction of entrepreneurship programmes in higher education worldwide. However, performance tests to assess opportunity identification competence (OIC) are scarce in the entrepreneurship education…

An effective, well-prepared teacher workforce is central to students' mastery of deeper learning skills such as critical thinking and teamwork. This National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) policy update urges state boards of education to invigorate relicensure policies by embracing multiple tiers that support teachers throughout…

One stated purpose for the use of the edTPA is to guide teacher preparation program improvement (Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity, 2013). The Washington State Legislature included teacher preparation program reform on its agenda, and requested that the Professional Educator Standards Board identify ways in which the edTPA…

The most recent review of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Australia titled Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers (Craven et al. 2014) heralded the introduction of Teacher Performance Assessments (TPAs) as summative assessments of graduate profession 'readiness'. The conceptualization, research-informed design and implementation of authentic…

This article presents the author's response to the article "Taking Stock: Existing Resources for Assessing a New Vision of Science Learning" by Alonzo and Ke (this issue), which identifies numerous challenges that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) pose for large-scale assessment. Jill Werthem comments that among those…

Drawing on upper echelon theory, we investigate whether university deans' personal characteristics, including age, sex, educational background, and tenure are associated with their use of university management control systems (MCS), financial performance measures, and non-financial performance measures. We surveyed the dean of every faculty across…

This study considers whether performance funding policies systematically tend to harm some types of institutions of higher education while helping others. Building on theories of deck stacking and institutional stratification, a formal theoretical model of the effects of performance funding policies on individual institutions is developed and…

Few scholars have raised the question; why are teacher education programs not preparing teachers for global competence and global perspectives pedagogy? The purpose of this article is to explore this question. The study utilizes qualitative and practitioner research methodologies. Four factors marginalizing the preparation of teachers for global…

This study aimed to produce a valid and reliable assessment tool for junior high school students' integrated science learning and determine their improvement of science process skills (SPS) using the integrated science instruction. The research procedure consisted of ten stages, i.e., preliminary study, planning, development of draft assessment…

Including students with learning disabilities (SWLDs) in general education classrooms is a priority nationwide. Consequently, now more than ever before in our nation's history, university teacher education programs face increased responsibility to ensure general education teaching candidates receive adequate preparation to educate SWLDs. Many…