Focused self-directed learning is very much essential at present in medical education to catch-up with the increasing information load. Cognitive psychology laboratory studies show that repeated testing of information produces superior retention relative to repeated study. The overall goal of this intervention was to evaluate the effectiveness of…

One consideration for selecting progress monitoring tools is the reliability in which the instrument measures student response to instruction. Researchers and vendors establish reliability of growth using two analytic methods: (a) calculating slopes to even and odd observations for each student and correlating the resulting slopes (split-half),…

By placing the Focused Assessment approach within the TAPS pyramid framework, schools are beginning to find a number of ways in which learning in science can be enhanced for pupils. The quotations in this article provide examples of the ways in which science subject leaders (SSL) describe the impact of TAPS on their pupils.

In this article, the author examines her experiences as a mentee at an academic institution. She has had time to look back at some of what her mentor did in mentoring, and now appreciates how novel and successful some of his approaches were. She shares them in this article because she thinks her experience is evidence that broadening the…

In this article, we identify and examine opportunities for formative assessment provided by information technologies (IT) and the challenges which these opportunities present. We address some of these challenges by examining key aspects of assessment processes that can be facilitated by IT: datafication of learning; feedback and scaffolding; peer…

As explicit administrative expectations to use meaningful inquiry-based instructional activities and formative assessment tasks might influence teachers' classroom practices, this study assessed science teachers' use of contemporary educational activities and assessment tasks above and beyond their conceptions of traditional teaching and learning…

Today's schools emphasize the use of student data to make instructional decisions. Standardized tests determine funding and teacher advancement (Datnow, Park, & Wholstetter, 2007; Gullo, 2013; Marchant & Paulson, 2009; Schraw, 2010). To evaluate learning before these tests, teachers must utilize their own assessments and data. Formative…

This study is aimed at investigating the level of teacher-written feedback self-efficacy among Malaysian secondary school teachers and the influence of teachers' age, gender, qualifications and teaching experiences on their written feedback self-efficacy. Bandura (1986) had mentioned that of all the different aspects of self-knowledge, none is…

Online education has long been suffering from high dropout rate and low achievement. However, both asynchronous and synchronous online instructions have to become effective to serve as a quick response to maintain undisrupted learning during the COVID-19 outbreak. The purpose of the present study was to examine student engagement, learning…

The COVID-19 outbreak has created an uncertain scenario for educational systems, leading many countries to deploy unprecedented remote learning programmes. Chilean schools have not been the exception and have thus developed and put in place several actions to uphold effective pedagogical management (PM) and continuity of learning; however, as we…

In 1998 Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam published the article, "Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment" (Black & Wiliam, 1998b). They asserted that formative assessments were the strongest way of raising student achievement. There are a number of empirical studies that document positive impacts of formative…

This case study exemplifies the design of a formative evaluation project concerned with the implementation of a new school form in Austria. The purpose of this case study is to show how multiple methods were implemented in the research project NOESIS ("Niederösterreichische Schule in der Schulentwicklung"; Lower Austrian Middle School in…

Standardized writing assessments based in linear progressions position teachers for deficit views of young children's emergent writing development. Consequently, the researcher video recorded a writing assessment of his son, Daniel, at age 5 years, 4 months, as he composed a story across pages of a blank book, using an assortment of writing tools.…

In this article we report on the association between teacher feedback and scholastic attainment at Secondary School Certificate (SSC) level in Pakistan. The study was conducted with data collected from Pakistani secondary school teachers and students through a survey study using multistage sampling. The objectives of the study were (1) to explore…

This article reports on Grade 2 teachers' perceptions of formative assessment in explaining the phenomenon of the underutilisation of formative assessment practices in mathematics teaching. A qualitative and interpretative case study investigated two Grade 2 teachers' enactment of formative assessment in priority schools in Gauteng. Data were…