In an attempt to ensure students had a positive experience in their first semester, and to encourage future effective use of tutors' feedback comments, a post-1992 university used a module in the school of education to develop an innovative feedback process. The process involved four stages: a first submission of written work, written feedback on…

One potentially feasible tool for use in the formative assessment of social behavior is the direct behavior rating, yet empirical support for the reliability of its use is limited. In this study, generalizability theory was used to provide preliminary psychometric data regarding the generalizability and dependability of the direct behavior rating…

This paper reports the development of innovative assessment sessions within two core technical courses in Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland. Peer Assessment Learning Sessions (PALS) facilitate a student's peer assessment of a colleague's problem-based learning assignment or tutorial within a "traditional" whole-class…

This article is concerned with the meanings that employees in industry attribute to representations of data and the contingencies of these meanings in context. Our primary concern is to more precisely characterize how the context of the industrial process is constitutive of the meaning of graphs of data derived from this process. We draw on data…

A study of New Zealand secondary school students using four self-report inventories of conceptions of assessment found four robust independent measurement models. Four structural models mapped the conceptions of assessment to mathematics achievement taking into account student ethnicity and student sex. The conceptions that assessment makes…

SSLI test protocol data revealed the dominance of "central" literacy measures and "local" subject-specific measures aligned to institutional requirements, curriculum and national examination content. These measures initiate secondary students into a pervasive culture of assessment that generally fails to support further learning; a culture…

This article analyses some of the findings of an evaluation of Project One of the "Assessment is for Learning" Development Programme in 16 Scottish primary schools and two junior high schools in which teachers developed formative assessment strategies aimed at improving teaching and learning. Drawing on data from pupils, teachers and…

A discussion of the development of simple observational instruments for assessing the quality of cognitive and prosocial elements of diverse preschool programs. (EH)

Using a heuristic system design is the most cost effective means for confronting unstructured policy problems that require action in cases in which there is a limited empirical data base or a diversity of opinion concerning preferred ends and feasible means. This paper discusses heuristic principles that can serve as guides to problem solving and…

A discussion of whether pilot testing or a panel review is the most effective way to evaluate curriculum materials. (HB)

This proposal for a longitudinal experimental study with a treatment intervention focuses on the process of writing as revision. Revision refers to the process which occurs prior to and throughout the writing of a work, rather than the final editing. According to this process, the writer goes through five stages: preconceptions concerning style…

An approach to evaluating program implementation is described. This approach includes the development of a project description which includes a structure matrix, sampling from the structure matrix, and preparing an implementation evaluation plan. The implementation evaluation plan should include: (1) verification of implementation of planned…

For the last three years the Military Training Centers (MTC) PLATO support group has been experimenting with the development of a number of formalized techniques for assisting authors in writing instructionally effective courseware. These methods, collectively referred to as "lesson reviewing," vary widely depending on individual authors' needs.…

The paper examines many of the evaluation problems noted by the Phi Delta Kappa National Study Committee on Evaluation and others and sets forth ideas about the practice of formative evaluation to avoid those conflicts and provide educational decision-makers with useful information. The paper also discusses a decision-making model conceptualized…

This report contains an introductory paper by Robert E. Stake, "Program Evaluation, Particularly Responsive Evaluation," to a conference, "New Trends in Evaluation," at the Institute of Education, Gothenburg University, Sweden. Also included are comments on State's paper by two invited discussants, Eskil Bjorklund and Terence Marton. It further…