There is increasing pressure for institutions of higher education in the United States to objectively document student learning outcomes. Criticism of higher education is mounting, with the result being that education institutions need to be more accountable for student learning on their campuses. As a result, there is increased interest in the…

Researchers can evaluate learning by using direct and indirect assessment. Although there are various ways to apply these approaches, two common techniques are pretests and posttests (direct assessment), in which students demonstrate mastery of topics or skills, and the use of knowledge surveys (indirect assessment). The present authors used these…

Research on how racialization operates in immigrant context, particularly in relation to immigrant teachers, is marginalized as an area of inquiry in US educational research. This paper examines how immigrant teachers negotiated ideological and resistant notions of teacher authenticity in US school settings. In particular, the author examines how…

This research set out to compare the quality, length and nature of (1) exam responses in combined question and answer booklets, with (2) responses in separate answer booklets in order to inform choices about response format. Combined booklets are thought to support candidates by giving more information on what is expected of them. Anecdotal…

This paper explores gender differential performance in "gifted and talented" 9- and 13-year-olds in a mathematics assessment in England. Boys' and girls' attitudes to mathematics and their views about which gender is better at mathematics are also considered. The study employs the use of a matched sample of boys and girls so that school,…

Higher education in Louisiana is leading the nation in linking growth of student learning to teacher preparation programs that prepare new teachers. The Louisiana Board of Regents is currently implementing a Value Added Teacher Preparation Assessment. The model examines the degree to which the educational attainment of students taught by recent…

This article is based on the perceptions of California State University administrators and provides a comparative study of the challenges and benefits resulting from the implementation of the teaching performance assessment requirement of SB 2042 standards 19-21 on the California State University (CSU) campuses. With 23 campuses and almost 450,000…

The effectiveness of two types of adjunct questions, standard embedded questions and "why" questions (elaborative interrogation), was investigated for readers differing in structure-building ability (Gernsbacher, 1990). Participants read a textbook chapter either with or without the adjunct questions. Learning was assessed with typical…

Objective: Current theories hypothesize that deficits in executive functioning (EF) are responsible for the symptoms of ADHD and that specific patterns of EF deficits may be associated with different subtypes of ADHD. The present study evaluates the validity and clinical usefulness of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, a behavior…

To provide an accurate reading of students' and schools' rates of progress, and to provide cues for instruction, assessment at every level should be connected to explicit learning goals and standards. To show how this requirement can be fulfilled, and how research-based assessment can effectively support learning and instruction, this article…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 mandates that students with disabilities graduating or aging out of the P-12 school system be provided with a summary of academic achievement and functional performance (SOP). The SOP should provide the student with one document that summarizes available formal and informal…

This Digest draws from the current literature and the author's experience to identify suggestions for developing performance assessments and their accompanying scoring rubrics. This Digest, part 1, addresses writing goals and objectives and developing performance assessments. Before a performance assessment or scoring rubric is written or…

This study was designed to investigate several scoring modalities in terms of the accuracy of scores and the efficiency of scoring procedures. Five scoring modalities (SM) are conceptualized by considering tasks and raters as sources of error where "p,""t," and "r" represent person, task, and rater, respectively.…

A survey was sent to members of the Evaluation Use Topical Interest Group (TIG) to determine their perceptions about and experiences with evaluation use. Responses from 282 members show agreement on the major purposes of evaluation and an increased use of performance-results oriented and formative evaluations. (SLD)

Presents specific examples of performance evaluation in a high school chemistry class. Offers suggestions for doing performance evaluations. (DKM)