Assessment is a key component of the learning process. In order to maximize student learning, instructors need to provide students with appropriate, explicit and timely assessment. Despite the potential benefits of problem-based learning, some instructors may be reluctant to adopt this approach because it will require them to modify their current…

The aim of this paper is to define music appraisal and to explore the role that talk plays in the process of helping pupils in secondary school music lessons to develop their appraisal skills. This paper offers a definition of appraisal, and traces its developing role in the National Curriculum in England since the early 1990s. The role of…

As teacher-education institutions implement portfolios across contexts and for multiple purposes, assessment of their effectiveness specific to shifting programmatic goals often takes place. At the institution where this research is based, an effort is underway to shift the focus of the current teaching portfolio requirement from an exit or…

All children can learn. When principals and faculties fully embrace this core belief and demonstrate it to students, parents, and each other, significant improvements in academic performance can result. However, while it is certainly true that all children are capable of academic success, it is also true that learning occurs at different rates.…

This article outlines an illuminative evaluation study of the work-based module in a vocational qualification in Animal Health offered for the paraveterinary industry by a distance education institution in South Africa. In illuminative evaluation, a programme is studied by qualitative methods to gain an in-depth understanding of its…

Progress monitoring is an important component of effective instructional practice. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a form of progress monitoring that has been the focus of rigorous research. Two approaches for formulating CBM systems exist. The first is to assess performance regularly on a task that serves as a global indicator of competence…

This paper describes an innovative approach to preparing MSW students for work with traumatized clients via a trauma certificate program. It explores conceptual and ethical principles of the program and presents results of the formative evaluation done with faculty, field instructors and students from the program's pilot year. Students reported…

The Case of Top Beginnings and the Missing Child Outcomes is a fictionalized case study of a set of evaluation challenges faced in evaluating comprehensive initiatives that are seeking to build systems. In this case, the issue is a multistate foundation-funded early learning system building initiative that has to date primarily employed a case…

Online quizzes were introduced into an undergraduate Exercise Physiology course to encourage students to read ahead and think critically about the course material before coming to class. The purpose of the study was to determine if the use of the online quizzes was associated with improvements in summative exam scores and if the online quizzes…

This article explores the potential usefulness of translation activities in the learning of intercultural competence. First, the theoretical framework adopted and the problems involved in the use of translation activities for formative evaluation are discussed. Then, a pedagogic tool which implements the data provided by the students' translations…

This collaborative action research project involves two educational psychologists (EPs) working with teachers from four primary schools to develop the use of solution-focused approaches. The project illustrates a way in which EPs might make a distinctive contribution to improving outcomes for children and young people. Realist interviews were used…

This article reviews the corpus of research on feedback, with a focus on formative feedback--defined as information communicated to the learner that is intended to modify his or her thinking or behavior to improve learning. According to researchers, formative feedback should be nonevaluative, supportive, timely, and specific. Formative feedback is…

Teacher evaluation has emerged as a major focus for reform at the highest levels of education policymaking, and for good reason. Most evaluations are based on scant evidence of actual effectiveness, produce inflated ratings, and provide teachers with little useful feedback. This paper offers policymakers and practitioners important "lessons…

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of the District of Columbia's Year 2 Race to the Top implementation, highlighting successes and accomplishments, identifying challenges, and providing lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2011 through September 2012. Despite the delays, the Office of the State…

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Delaware's Year 2 Race to the Top implementation, highlighting successes and accomplishments, identifying challenges, and providing lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2011 through September 2012. Despite some implementation challenges and delays during the…