This article examines data from nine statewide administrations of the Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment (ICLA) over three-years. The ICLA measures pre-service teachers' knowledge of research-based content and pedagogy related to reading instruction and assessment. The purpose of this article was first to examine pre-service candidates'…

This study investigated age- and ethnicity-related effects on approaches to learning and the possible impact of such differences on assessment outcomes. This is important in the context of widening participation and the growing number of students from non-traditional educational backgrounds. Some 77 Level 1 psychology undergraduates completed an…

By reflecting on Japanese internment camps executed by the U.S. government in World War II, this article examines camp schools' curricula and writing assignments and an English teacher's response to student essays to show how racially profiled students and their Caucasian teacher negotiated the political meanings of civil rights and freedom.…

In this article, the author argues that Emerson repudiated the formalism of nineteenth century belletristic, mechanistic, reason-centered, American rhetoric influenced by Hugh Blair. Instead Emerson promoted a rhetoric with imagination at its center, which calls for civic duty. (Contains 33 notes.)

Over 2,000 writing samples were collected from four undergraduate institutions and compared, where possible, with scores on a multiple-choice test. High correlations between ratings of the writing samples and multiple-choice test scores were obtained. Samples contributed substantially to the prediction of both college grades and writing…

The present article extends Basil Bernstein's theorisation of "discourses" and "knowledge structures" to explore the potential of educational knowledge structures to enable or constrain cumulative learning, where students can transfer knowledge across contexts and build knowledge over time. It offers a means of overcoming…

The purpose of the current study was to analyze the relationship between automated essay scoring (AES) and human scoring in order to determine the validity and usefulness of AES for large-scale placement tests. Specifically, a correlational research design was used to examine the correlations between AES performance and human raters' performance.…

Over the last three years, "Hopes, Fears, & Reality" has provided new evidence and analysis about what is going on in charter schools, how well they are doing, where they need to improve, and what can be learned from the research on these types of public schools. Past volumes have outlined how achievement studies should be conducted and…

The present study employed multi-faceted Rasch measurement (MFRM) to explore the rater bias patterns of native English-speaker (NES) raters when they rate EFL essays. Forty NES raters rated 40 essays written by female Japanese university students on a single topic adapted from the TOEFL Test of Written English (TWE). The essays were assessed using…

The ability to construct supported arguments in English is important for academic success in educational contexts where English is the language of instruction and student assessment is mediated through the academic essay. Starting from the hypothesis that students schooled in an English-medium education system do engage in friendly argument in…

Choosing the "right" type of technology, either synchronous or asynchronous, to facilitate learning outcomes is a new challenge as the pace of emerging technologies increases and diversifies. Teachers are encouraged to design courses that require collaboration in online learning communities to facilitate the development of higher order…

This resource text was designed to provide suggestions and ideas that might be helpful in developing an advanced placement/honors U.S. history course. It opens with tips on teaching essay skills, sample essay examinations, strategies for incorporating essays into lesson plans, document-based question guidelines/hints, and strategies for grading…

A good assessment method should be able to distinguish between deep learners and surface learners in a way so the former are rewarded while the later are punished. Using data of a survey conducted at the Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham, the study finds strong evidence that assignment essays serve to reward deep…

Contemporary American college students confront increased diversity during their college years--in race, class, nationality, religion, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, age, and disability. Yet, how do students conceptualize this diversity, evaluate the options it provides, and assess its limitations? Furthermore, how do those researching…

Pupils' essays represent an overlooked resource for historical inquiry. Historians have often ignored young people's work as 'unauthentic', falsely believing it to be merely the mimicking of teachers' and parents' beliefs. But young people are not merely mouthpieces for adults, as research on teacher-student interactions has demonstrated. By…