Over the past twenty years, efforts to turn around low-performing schools have increasingly become a central component of federal and state education policy agendas. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of the Wraparound Zones Initiative (WAZ), a program supported by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education…

Assessment forms an important part of instruction. Assessment that aims to support learning is known as formative assessment and it contributes student's learning gain and motivation. However, teachers rarely use assessment formatively to aid their students' learning. Thus reviewing the factors that limit or support teachers' practices of…

The 1990 Standards for Teacher Competence in Educational Assessment of Students (AFT, NCME, & NEA, 1990) made a documentable contribution to the field. However, the Standards have become a bit dated, most notably in two ways: (1) the Standards do not consider current conceptions of formative assessment knowledge and skills, and (2) the Standards…

In designing the lesson teachers have to adapt the method or learning model with the material to be taught. In the teaching of measuring concept, students frequently faced with measuring instruments, micrometer, screw, scale, and so on. Direct Instruction Model would be suitable for teaching the measurement concepts specifically the skill of using…

We examined how different styles of written feedback by graduate-student teaching assistants (GTAs) in college intro biology lab (USA) influenced student achievement and related the different styles to time efficiency. We quantified GTA feedback on formative lab reports and student achievement on two different types of assessments, a quiz in 2010…

Assessing student learning is a complex process requiring teachers to have deep knowledge of the curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy. Changing political climates mean that teachers are expected to respond to new approaches or systems and adjust their classroom practice accordingly. Teachers often engage in professional learning (PL) to assist…

This article considers lessons learnt through involvement in several assessment projects. Early experience, in university work and in school examinations, led to an opportunity to help establish a novel system of assessment for an innovative school curriculum. Different lessons were then learnt from work on a national survey of school students'…

This paper presents primary school teachers' conceptions of "assessment for learning" in government schools in Brunei Darussalam. The Ministry of Education in Brunei introduced a 21st century education system (codenamed SPN21) in 2007 and one of the initiatives brought by SPN21 was the implementation of School Based Assessment for…

Abuse or neglect and disability often go hand in hand. Unfortunately, most professionals who work with maltreated young children are not aware of early childhood and disability-related resources and services available. In order to raise awareness across early childhood and child welfare systems, a five-week advanced training for volunteer child…

In order to meet the South Dakota Board of Regents requirements for an upper level writing course with global perspective for all graduates, the administration at the University of South Dakota established an interdisciplinary course to be taken by all majors. Two faculty members from different disciplines were assigned to teach each section with…

Feedback, talk and joint activities that build on knowledge and shared aims are powerful supports for learning. However, several studies of lower secondary students' perceptions of teachers' support indicate low teacher support. To investigate the quality of learning support, a content analysis instrument (CLASS) was used in analyses of 56…

This study operationalizes four measures of instructional differentiation: one for Grade 2 English language arts (ELA), one for Grade 2 mathematics, one for Grade 5 ELA, and one for Grade 5 mathematics. Our study evaluates their measurement properties of each measure in a large field experiment: the Indiana Diagnostic Assessment Tools Study, which…

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is a political programme for higher education in Europe that was developed in the context of the Bologna process. It highlights the importance of focusing education on students' learning. It also claims that students should achieve certain skills in a self-study process supported by their teachers. This…

This article is an account of a collaborative self-study of the process of providing written feedback on assessment to our teacher education students. Our five-year study grew out of concerns that written feedback might not always meet the learning needs of our students. The study was informed by on-going analysis of our reading of the relevant…

Distance education is a discipline that offers solutions to some important education problems. Distance education, contribute to the solution to the problems such as; inequality of opportunities, lifelong education, the implementation of a series of individual and social goals that can contribute to and benefit from educational technology and…