Historically, educational policymakers have focused on and invested heavily in accountability testing of "learning" to leverage improvement in student learning. Through accountability testing, policy makers aim to communicate standards, establish performance goals, provide data through which educators can analyze and improve school…

Sixty-two individuals representing sixteen states, three school districts, eleven testing and testing-related companies, and eleven other organizations participated in a forum on June 19, 2013, in National Harbor, Maryland, to discuss the performance gaps of low-performing students and their implications for assessment and instruction. The forum…

Many schools and educators prefer to use state tests. However, teachers can benefit a lot from the tests and quizzes they give in their classes over the course of a term or year. The minimum such tests can do is to afford information that teachers can use to assess how their class is learning and which changes in instruction need to be made to…

Many schools and educators prefer to use state tests. However, teachers can benefit a lot from the tests and quizzes they give in their classes over the course of a term or year. The minimum such tests can do is to afford information that teachers can use to assess how their class is learning and which changes in instruction need to be made to…

When the concept of force is first taught in the elementary curriculum, it is usually introduced as a push or a pull. The recently released "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" describes grade band endpoints for the Core Idea: Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions (NRC 2011). It states that by the end of grade 2 students should know…

This paper reports a case study of four project schools in the primary school context of Hong Kong. It has investigated how teachers who were assigned subject panel head's and curriculum leader's roles perceived the student assessment reform and how they experimented with new assessment strategies in the school policy and classroom practice. The…

This study describes the link between level of implementation and outcomes from an intervention to increase afterschool programs' (ASPs) achievement of healthy eating and physical activity (HE-PA) Standards. Ten intervention ASPs implemented the Strategies-To-Enhance-Practice (STEPs), a multi-component, adaptive intervention framework identifying…

Archaeology provides the chance to ask questions about human culture, past and present, using artifacts as evidence. By studying archaeology, students learn about how people in their region found and prepared food, responded to changes in their environment (e.g., flooding, earthquakes, droughts), and interacted with other peoples. This article…

The concept of intercultural competences is contested, although it is omnipresent in varied fields of research and practice. Its assessment is also questioned: how can it be done? By whom? When? Should assessment be summative or formative-or both? In order to be able to assess anything, learning and teaching objectives must be clear, coherent, and…

Students' thinking should serve as the foundation of effective science curriculum and instruction. To promote science learning, particularly in the geosciences, teachers must attend to students' existing ideas about natural phenomena through the use of ''high-leverage'' instructional practices such as formative assessment. Elementary teachers need…

The article deals with the problem of the initial stage of the future English teacher training and forming basic professional teaching skills by means of the implementation of formative assessment methods into the process of studying. It reveals the urgent necessity of using a modern and reliable system of assessment as a sound foundation of a…

Background: College students experience weight gain that can contribute to serious health issues. Health education efforts with college students are increasingly utilizing new technologies. Smartphone applications (apps) in particular are growing in popularity and use in all young adults. Purpose: Formative research was conducted to describe how…

This article relates the efforts of faculty at one community college to define standards for achievement of two SLOs (critical thinking and effective communication) and to gather and analyze evidence of how well students meet those standards. Faculty from 13 disciplines assessed writing samples from 265 students. We found that, in general,…

In "English Language Learners and the New Standards," three leading scholars present a clear vision and practical suggestions for helping teachers engage ELL students in simultaneously learning subject-area content, analytical practices, and language. This process requires three important shifts in our perspective on language and…

Initiated for the 2013-14 school year, the Common Assignment Study (CAS) is a three-year effort being led by the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) and The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky (The Fund) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Conceptually, CAS builds on previous efforts to improve instruction through…