Universal design, applied to instructional delivery systems, can be a powerful way to promote greater access to information for a wide range of students. However, the assessment of this information is of equal importance. This article provides a brief review of current assessment practice in postsecondary settings, and explains how universally…

School culture consists of "the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors which characterize a school" (Phillips, 1996, p. 1). It is the shared experiences both in school and out of school (traditions and celebrations) that create a sense of community, family, and team membership. It affects everything that happens in a school, including student…

A behavioral assessment system for scoring the behaviors of parents and coaches at youth sports games is described within this paper. The Youth Sports Behavior Assessment System (YSBAS) contains nine behavioral categories describing behaviors commonly seen during youth sports. The developmental process of YSBAS and the observer-training program…

In 1997, the Oregon legislature directed the Oregon University System (OUS) to develop and implement performance measures and indicators with respect to broad policy goals of access, quality, employability, and cost-effectiveness. An advisory committee of representatives of the state's public colleges and universities was formed to shape the…

Purpose: This paper seeks to report the findings of a study focusing on the state of teacher appraisal in Kenyan secondary schools and to argue for an improved (facilitating) model of teacher appraisal. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a qualitatively-oriented case study using multiple cases and drawing on multiple methods of data…

In this era of accountability and significant school reform, efforts to improve schools increasingly look to the principal to spearhead change efforts at the school level. Good principals are the cornerstones of good schools. Without a principal's leadership efforts to raise student achievement, a school cannot achieve its fundamental academic…

Although drawing has been used as research tool for well over a century in the fields of psychology and anthropology, drawing remains overlooked and underutilized in educational research. This article examines the promise of visual methods, and of drawing in particular, in accessing middle schoolers' perceptions as a means of informing the middle…

Inoue [Inoue, A. B. (2005). "Community-based assessment pedagogy." "Assessing Writing: An International Journal, 3", 208-238] sets up a radically experimental writing class as a kind of laboratory of assessment. He seeks to avoid the standard situation where a teacher unilaterally assesses and grades student writing, using only his or her own…

Universities are encouraged to embed key skills in their undergraduate curricula, yet there is often little support on how to identify skills development and progression. This paper describes a tool that facilitates colleagues in auditing key skills and career/employability skills within individual modules and mapping these skills across degree…

In Astronomy 101 at the University of New Mexico, we carried out a repeated-items experiment on quizzes and tests to investigate the impact of cooperative testing. This trial was the only change in a reformed course format that had been refined over previous semesters. Our research questions were: (1) Did cooperative quizzes result in gains for…

In the K-12 education sector, learning objects are seen as important in providing quality resources for teachers and learners but there has been little formal research on the assessment of learning objects based on the qualities that would be important for K-12 teachers. In this paper we describe the developments in the K-12 sector, the arguments…

This study assessed farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for extension services. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used to assess the amount which farmers are willing to pay. Primary data on the demographic, socio-economic variables of farmers and their WTP were collected from 228 farmers selected randomly in a stage-wise sampling procedure…

In educational research, characteristics of the learning environment are generally assessed by asking students to evaluate features of their lessons. The student ratings produced by this simple and efficient research strategy can be analysed from two different perspectives. At the "individual level", they represent the individual student's…

Purpose: With the increased importance of training in organizations, creating important and meaningful programs are critical to an organization and its members. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a four-phase systematic approach to designing and evaluating training programs that promotes collaboration between organizational leaders, trainers,…

This paper traces the evolution fitness testing from an athletic emphasis to one with a public health focus and examines the forces that brought about the change in an environment that was not totally receptive. An atmosphere for change was created during this era with the development of exercise physiology, exercise epidemiology, and measurement.…