The study examines the interaction between reading and writing processes in general and more specifically the impact of pre-reading tasks incorporating writing tasks (referred to as "prw tasks") in helping the development of inferential reading comprehension. A sample of 70 first year ESL students of the University of Kelaniya were…

If you really want to see how innovative a school is, inquire about its thinking and practices regarding assessment. For the students, does the mere thought of assessment trigger stress? Do the teachers rely heavily on high-stakes, multiple-choice, Bell Curve-generating tests? Or do the students seem relaxed and engaged as teachers experiment with…

The article investigates how university lecturers taking part in the compulsory teacher training at Stockholm University (SU) conceive of the effects of standardised and formalised training on their teaching. The study explores the emotions and responses evoked among academics when everyone is required to embrace the same pedagogic philosophy of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between three predictor variables (Fall R-CBM, Winter R-CBM, and Spring R-CBM) and the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program third grade reading and language arts assessment. The population selected for this study included all third grade students from an East Tennessee school…

This article reports on a study into student teachers' perceptions about their professional development during practicum. Framed within a symbolic interactionist perspective, the study examined to what extent, and how effectively, one group of student teachers was able to integrate theory and practice during a three-week practicum in the first…

This study aimed to present part of a mathematics programme for preschool age, to examine its efficiency in improving children's mathematical abilities in the area of number, and to investigate its suitability for Saudi practice. Pre- and post-tests, using TEMA-2 for one experimental and two control groups were conducted and quantitatively…

The dangers of a single story in current U.S. large-scale writing assessment are that assessment practice does not align with theory and this practice has negative effects on instruction and students. In this article, I analyze the connections or lack of connections among writing theory, writing assessment, and writing instruction, critique the…

Recently, Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) completed a study to connect the scale of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) Testing Program used for Minnesota's mathematics and reading assessments with NWEA's RIT (Rasch Unit) scale. Information from the state assessments was used in a study to establish performance-level scores on…

As teachers who care deeply about the quality of their own teaching and the development of teaching as a profession, the authors write this article from their conviction that performance assessments in teaching are a critical strategy for developing teachers' expertise and for improving the quality of teacher preparation. They note that the…

The Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) is an authentic tool for evaluating prospective teachers by examining their abilities to plan, teach, assess, and reflect on instruction in actual classroom practice. The PACT seeks both to measure and develop teacher effectiveness, and this study of its predictive and consequential…

Early childhood is a critical period for introducing girls to traditionally masculine fields of science and technology before more extreme gender stereotypes surface in later years. This study looks at the TangibleK Robotics Program in order to determine whether kindergarten boys and girls were equally successful in a series of building and…

The use of assessments in public schools in the United States to link student test scores to school performance has arguably transformed assessments into accountability tools. Dennis S. Rosemartin, a former elementary classroom teacher, is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Arizona. His area of specialization is teacher preparation and…

Time capacity is defined here as the individual teacher's perceived time for professional development (e.g., the capacity to develop and renew oneself as a teacher). The pressure of paperwork on the individual teacher should not be so demanding that it goes beyond the teacher's time for professional development. The purpose of this paper is to…

When comparing overall FCAT performance of the District to the State, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools District comes up a little short in Reading and barely higher in Math. However, when the comparisons to the State are confined within the typical subgroup categories, the District meets or exceeds the State's performance in all subgroups.…

In today's economy, employers' demand for an educated workforce is steadily rising. Policymakers, education leaders, and communities across the country recognize the need to improve college attendance and success, but are constrained by the current budgetary environment. Meanwhile students themselves face mounting college costs, and financial aid…