This book explores how well teachers are prepared for professional practice. It is an outcome of a large-scale research and development program that has collected extensive data on the impact of the Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment on Initial Teacher Education programs and preservice teachers' engagement with the assessment. It contributes…

A 2009 federal call to action seeking to improve postsecondary outcomes was largely underscored by a financial recession that continues to have lasting effects on state funding for public postsecondary education. In an effort to improve efficiency while also growing the number of postsecondary completers, states began adopting performance…

It is quite common to our understanding that classroom assessment outcomes are not sensitive to the goal of teaching and learning language skills. More specifically, the assessment cannot allow the students to present what they know and what they are supposed to do. The purpose of classroom assessment is to inform teaching and to improve learning.…

Low participation in language learning in secondary education is a topic which continues to exercise education policy-makers in England and other anglophone contexts. One instance of an attempt to increase take-up can be found in the introduction of the EBacc, a performance measure which requires the majority of young people to study a language as…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to critically explore the complex relations among the triad comprising standards-based curriculum, the curriculum concept of 'competences' and the subject of civics in Swedish curricula. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical framework is based on Bernstein's (2000) two models of pedagogy, the competence…

Neoliberal theories--whether the new public management, principal-agent theory, or performance management--have provided the rationale for sweeping reforms in the governance and operation of higher education. This paper expands our understanding of neoliberal theory and practice by examining a leading neoliberal reform: performance-based funding…

Behavior skills training (BST) has been shown to be an effective strategy for teaching new skills. Given the evidence suggesting its efficacy for use as a training package, BST should be considered as an option for training future behavior analysts to implement behavior change strategies. Further, training future practitioners to engage in…

The practice of documentation has been a "hard to reach place" for many preschool teachers despite the fact that it has largely been encouraged and used as a tool in early childhood settings to assess young children's learning. Recent policy changes in Hong Kong have also called for the continuous documentation and authentic assessment…

CCSSO [Council of Chief State School Officers] recently convened a wide range of stakeholders through the Certification and Licensure Collective (CLC) to support states to improve certification and licensure systems, including initial licensure, renewal, and reciprocity or teacher mobility. Educator micro-credentials are a critical part of this…

Performance assessments encompass a wide variety of activities, all of which require students to show what they know, rather than selecting answers from predetermined options on a multiple-choice test. For the graduate capstone, Oakland Unified School District (Oakland Unified) seniors conduct original research, write a paper based on the…

In Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles Unified), high school seniors who attend a Linked Learning pathway--an industry-themed school or small learning community within a school--complete a portfolio and defense. Linked Learning is an approach to education, delivered in an industry-aligned "pathway," that aims to increase the…

Packed with useful tools, this practitioner guide and course text helps educators assess and teach essential literacy skills and strategies at all grade levels (PreK-12). All six literacy modalities are addressed--listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and visually representing. Chapters on specific literacy processes integrate…

The Massachusetts edTPA Pilot and Field Test (2010-2013) was launched by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to evaluate the possible adoption of edTPA within that state. Guided by Cochran-Smith et al.'s (2013) Politics of Policy Framework, this mixed-methods study examines this policy initiative by analyzing the…

Over the past 40 years, performance-based funding has become a common tool of state legislatures to hold institutions accountable for student outcomes. Performance funding allocates state money to institutions based on a specific set of measures. However, states vary in the measures they select, methods for determining funding allocations, and the…

The 'totally pedagogised society' might be considered an age after pre-pedagogical ancient literacy, the pedagogy of early universities and the utilitarianism of mass education, an age in which education has become a battle over the social futures of a 'people to come.' Here we concern ourselves with the neoliberal subjection of university…