Employers, postsecondary institutions, and civic leaders are urging greater focus on 21st century skills essential for college, career, and civic success: problem solving, interpersonal skills, and collaboration, among others. In response to these demands, states across the country are working to realign policies--on learning standards,…

The Institute for Excellence and Ethics (IEE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and dissemination of research-based tools and strategies for building intentional cultures of excellence and ethics in education, athletics, home, and workplace settings. The following five emphases and recommended actions are offered are…

Electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) are a student focused tool which support and evidence work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences and capabilities in a tertiary education setting. Such settings are increasingly faced by a regulatory framework requiring evidence of student competency and skill acquisition. The commitment of educational…

The Alhambra district, along with 11 other districts in Maricopa County, have forged an alliance to implement a performance-based evaluation system that supports teachers in attaining, maintaining, and enhancing core competencies aligned to a common vision of instructional improvement. At the heart of the system is the Learning Observation…

The number and range of problems associated with academies and "free" schools is worrying and can be attributed to the lack of ability of central Government to oversee the increasingly fragmented education provision. In this article, the author looks at just a few of those problems which have been reported since she started to log them…

Increase in tuition fees means there will be renewed pressure on universities to provide "value for money" courses that provide extensive training in both subject-specific and generic skills. For graduates of chemistry this includes embedding the generic, practical, and laboratory-based skills associated with industrial research as an…

Musicians are appointed to positions in professional symphony orchestras--both rank and file and section principals--following a blind audition process. They perform set repertoire works and orchestral excerpts behind a screen. In many higher education programs, musicians focus on learning the orchestral excerpts and instrumental repertoire that…

The practice of assessing and grading students on their ability to demonstrate proficiency related to a standard has grown significantly in K-12 settings over the past decade. This article invites teacher educators to consider how to respond to this trend by examining an approach for preparing teacher candidates to participate effectively in…

As of May 2014, all candidates for teacher certification in New York State must successfully complete the teacher performance assessment (edTPA). This article describes an assignment piloted in an early childhood literacy class as an embedded signature assessment and has three goals: to explain the context that led to the development of the…

Research Connections conducted a comprehensive search of its collection for resources focused on using ongoing assessment to guide individualized supports for children's learning in early childhood education programs serving children 0 to 6 years. Since there are multiple terms used to describe this process, key words used in the search were…

Feedback is certainly about saying or writing helpful, learning-focused comments. But that is only part of it. What happens beforehand? What happens afterward? Feedback that is helpful and learning-focused fits into a context. Before a teacher gives feedback, students need to know the learning target so they have a purpose for using the feedback…

The feedback process in school--and its effect on learners--resembles a global positioning system (GPS). When students receive clear, high-quality feedback that is tied to learning targets, student learning moves forward. When they are deprived of feedback or given feedback that is barely connected to learning targets, students get frustrated,…

The desirability of test equating to maintain the same criterion standard from test administration to test administration has long been accepted for multiple choice tests. The same consistency of expectations is desirable for performance tests, especially if they are part of a licensure or certification process or used for other high stakes…

The participants of this phenomenological study were employed at a school that previously was not performing on assessments at a level equal to schools in the state comparison group. Due to low student achievement, school leaders explored pathways to improve instruction and changed the school schedule from a semester schedule to a trimester…

This book provides a multifaceted framework in which curricular content and methods of teaching, learning, and assessment are all tuned to adequately prepare students at the secondary school level and beyond for building a 21st century Egypt at no added cost, both during and after their formal education. This framework was developed in light of:…