The notion that teacher quality impacts student achievement is widely accepted. How to best define, measure, and improve teacher quality continues to be debated by teacher unions and state legislators. Teacher evaluation studies have focused on isolated elements of the system. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the current…

It is well established that teachers are the most important in-school factor in determining student outcomes. However, to date there is scant robust quantitative research demonstrating that teacher training programs can have lasting impacts on student test scores. To address this gap, we conduct and evaluate a teacher peer-to-peer observation and…

This post is one in a series highlighting MDRC's methodological work. Contributors discuss the refinement and practical use of research methods being employed across MDRC. MDRC has begun working with research partners through the Expanding Children's Early Learning (ExCEL) Network, a collaboration of researchers, preschool providers, and local…

The purpose of this paper is to describe secondary mathematics student teachers' types of noticing while teaching. We discuss the importance of focusing on the interrelatedness of the noticing skills rather than reporting on individual skills separately. We apply the types of noticing to videos of student teachers to identify their ability to…

Implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) is paramount to students' development of mathematics proficiency. This study investigated "practice-based evidence" of interventionists' actual use of explicit mathematics instruction, a well-established EBP. Specifically, this study analyzed direct observation data collected in a…

This paper reports an exploratory and descriptive qualitative study on speaking assessment approaches in a teacher education program at a Colombian university. The study aimed to explore how four in-service English language teachers approach the assessment of students' speaking skill. The data were gathered through classroom observations,…

Specialized assessments, including the learning media assessment (LMA), are essential in appropriately planning and implementing instruction for students with visual impairments (Holbrook et al., 2017; Lusk et al., 2013). The LMA, first introduced by Koenig and Holbrook in the early 1990s, was designed to be an "objective process of…

This descriptive study aimed to find out whether instructors practiced self-development activities, whether some factors hindered the practice of self-development activities, and to what extent the instructors implemented self-development activities in their classes to solve a problem. Additionally, it aimed to find out whether the instructors…

The purpose of this study is to explore the recontextualisation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) as a particular content area in the transition between a university course and a school placement course within Swedish physical education teacher education (PETE). By combining Basil Bernstein's pedagogic device and Stephen Ball's performativity…

In many countries, assessment and curriculum reforms came into being in recent decades. In Iran, an important educational assessment reform took place called Descriptive Assessment (DA). In this reform, the focus of student assessment was moved from a more summative approach of providing grades and deciding about promotion to the next grade to a…

This is a comparative education study that aims to compare the digital documentation systems used in the preschool education programs and institutions in Turkey, Germany and Spain and to reveal the similarities and differences between these systems. The study was planned as a qualitative research in terms of its descriptive aspect, and as a…

The indigenous Riddu Riddu Festival, organized yearly in the village of Olmáivággi/ Manndalen (Sápmi/Norway), presents the cultures of Sámi people and indigenous peoples across the world. A study of the activities offered at Riddu Riddu over an eleven-year period (2009-2019) carried out. Through fieldwork (forty-six in-depth interviews,…

Contemporary educational policies both at international and national levels acknowledge the educational rights of all children and their inclusion in mainstream educational practices. Like other children at risk, children with disabilities have opportunities to access mainstream education but their participation is not always realised in practice.…

Capturing progression in students' formal knowledge and employability skills is essential in higher education but evokes questions concerning how to assess and monitor progression. While methods for capturing students' formal knowledge progression have traditionally been at the forefront, methods for capturing employability skills have been less…

Implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) is paramount to students' development of mathematics proficiency. This study investigated "practice-based evidence" (Green, 2008) of interventionists' actual use of explicit mathematics instruction, a well-established EBP. Specifically, this study analyzed direct observation data…