One goal of the teacher's professional portfolio is to describe the full range of abilities and document effective teaching over an extended period of time. In this article we discuss the procedure that teachers can use in developing their own portfolio assessment to help generate data for making decisions about teaching performance. The…

Rooted in behavioral theory, particularly the radical or selectivist behaviorism of B.F. Skinner (1953, 1954, 1966, 1968, 1974), the direct instruction (DI) approach to teaching is now well into its third decade of influencing curriculum, instruction, and research. It is also in its third decade of controversy. Our purpose is to present the DI…

Pragmatism has been rediscovered in recent years and presented as emblematic of modern thinking. At the center of this worldwide interest in late-nineteenth century Pragmatism stood, first, a rejection of the traditional dualistic construction of the world in philosophy and psychology; second, a distinguishing of the findings of learning theory…

In a climate of accountability, the development of "assessment literacy" among school professionals has become critical to school success. The provision of "assessment leadership" is viewed as the means by which such literacy can be enhanced. The writers examine the conditions under which student achievement gains can be…

This experiential exercise presents the concept of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and applies it in a university setting. The Balanced Scorecard was developed 12 years ago and has grown in popularity and is used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500 companies as a performance measurement and strategic management tool. The BSC expands the traditional…

This study focused on determining the facets of assessment authenticity by exploring the perceptions of both students and teachers of vocational education and training. It elaborates on a theoretical five-dimensional framework (5DF) that differentiates between five dimensions and several sub-elements of authenticity. This framework led to the…

This study examined the use of rubrics in scoring a performance-based assessment. After receiving a health lesson of ways to have a healthy brain, fifth grade students were given an assignment to illustrate and write a booklet that demonstrated their knowledge of the topic. From students' responses the researchers constructed four sample papers…

This paper investigates the appropriateness of competence-based assessment in professional education validation, considering architectural education in Asia as a case study. Competence-based assessment originated in teacher training and vocational training settings in the USA and the UK. Competence-based assessment has been increasingly adopted by…

The great interest aroused by the incorporation of Statistics and Probability into curricular projects has been accompanied by considerable evidence of significant difficulties in the meaningful learning and application of the concepts. These difficulties have been the subject of many studies, mostly concerning secondary school students. This…

Cross-country evidence on student achievement might be hampered by omitted country characteristics such as language or legal differences. This paper uses cross-state variation in Germany, whose sixteen states share the same language and legal system, but pursue different education policies. The same results found previously across countries hold…

The 2004-2005 school year was the third year that states were required to report on the performance of students with disabilities on standards-based assessments, and the last year before states were required to test in all grades 3 through 8, and once between grades 10 and 12. This report marks the ninth in a line of National Center on Educational…

This paper excerpts a report based on the National Academy of Education's "Preparing Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers Should Learn and Be Able to Do," which summarizes research on learning, teaching, and teacher education. In this article, the authors discuss how teachers can prepare to become highly qualified and how they can acquire…

In the chapters presented in this volume, leading experts describe some of the assessment challenges in greater detail and provide federal recommendations on how to address them. In "College and Work Readiness as a Goal of High Schools: The Role of Standards, Assessments, and Accountability," John Tanner of the Center for Innovative Measures at…

The Strategic Management of Human Capital in Education Project was founded in 2008 with one goal: to improve student achievement dramatically in the 100 largest urban school districts. Unless teaching quality and principal leadership improve significantly, lasting education improvement is impossible. In policy terms, without "strategic management"…

This report presents findings stemming from the first-year evaluation of the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program, one of several statewide performance incentive programs in Texas. In June 2006, Governor Perry and the 79th Texas Legislature created the Governor's Educator Excellence Award Program, one component of which is the TEEG…