In 2014 the institutionalization of European higher education and training, as well as research and innovation, policy entered a new phase: a number of financial instruments were simplified and merged. The Erasmus Mundus programme, wherein consortia of European and overseas universities built joint master's or doctoral degrees, was split into two…

The current age of standardization and accountability in education presents a need for educators to be proficient consumers and producers of data. To understand what mathematics teachers see as the purpose of data and assessment, as well as their perceived needs in these areas, we administered a survey to all mathematics teachers in two school…

This paper explores the growing importance of measures of progress in judgements of schools' effectiveness in England, with a focus on the role of the early years (settings for children aged 2-5) in providing data for these measures. Qualitative data from a research project involving three diverse school-based and pre-compulsory early years…

This survey study investigated how graduate school admissions committees perceive and use the "GRE"® General Test and "GRE"® Subject Tests after the launch of the "GRE"® revised General Test in August 2011. These perceptions and uses impact the validity of the tests. Prior research about the perceptions and uses of…

Knowledge brokering is a promising practice for addressing the challenge of using research evidence, including evaluation findings, in policy implementation. For public policy practitioners, it means playing the role of an intermediary who steers the flow of knowledge between producers (researchers) and users (decision makers). It requires a set…

Drawing on a qualitative study of an educational reform and its external evaluation, I describe how a well-intentioned but poorly conceptualized evaluation helped perpetuate asymmetries in the generation and use of evaluation findings. This article explores this project's failure to clarify evaluator roles, identify intended users and expected…

For more than a decade, Pewaukee School District Superintendent JoAnn Sternke has watched her district get better and better at its mission: opening the door to each student's future. The Wisconsin district began using Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) computer adaptive interim assessments from Northwest Evaluation Association™ (NWEA™) in 2004…

Nonprofit organizations are under great pressure to use evaluations to show that their programs "work" and that they are "effective." However, empirical evidence indicates that nonprofits struggle to perform useful evaluations, especially when conducted under accountability pressures. An increasing body of evidence highlights…

This chapter calls for more intentional use and design of assessment, evaluation, and research about the topics and trends in colleges unions highlighted in this volume.

Over time, criticisms related to the technical rigor of informal reading inventories (IRIs) have led many to question using these assessment instruments for high- or low-stakes purposes. In this article, I examine reliability evidence reported in 11 new and updated IRIs and make comparisons with Spector's earlier analysis that revealed fewer than…

Recommendations for using and implementing fitness tests have been extensively researched and teachers' attitudes toward fitness tests are beginning to be studied. Less understood is how high school teachers use fitness tests and the role their attitudes toward fitness tests affect students' attitudes toward physical activity. The purpose of this…

Various frameworks that acknowledge the importance of assessment as a core aspect of the learning process have been proposed to enhance life-long learning and promote participative strategies. In this context, learning-oriented e-assessment was developed to enhance learning through assessment in a technology-mediated context. Using a…

The landscape of medical education is continuously evolving, as are the needs of the learner. The appropriate use of research and evaluation is key when assessing the need for change and instituting one's innovative endeavours. This paper demonstrates how research seeks to generate new knowledge, whereas evaluation uses information acquired from…

The question of how well students are doing is central to the enterprise of higher education. Students want to know what grade was received on the paper or test. Faculty want to know what it will take to reach tenure or be reappointed. Admissions staff want to know how many students need to be enrolled in order to provide tuition revenue required…

Standardized testing is an external control mechanism for K-12 public schools. Principals, nested between internal and external influences, must manage the tension created by testing's roles as both an internal improvement tool and as an external control mechanism. Five competing narratives, each shaped by author academic background, significantly…