Teacher immediacy has been a widely studied construct with the overall finding that being immediate is good. Verbal and nonverbal immediacy has been associated with increased motivation to study and learning. The most common methodology used to measure teacher immediacy has been student reports. An underlying assumption of this methodology is that…

The performance-based assessment was developed to assess students' higher order thinking skills in real-life problem-solving situations in Alberta, Canada. These tasks assess aspects of science that cannot be measured easily by regular paper and pencil tests. The purpose of this document is to provide teachers, administrators, students, and…

Advanced Placement Calculus examinations were administered to nearly 7,000 students in order to determine the impact of calculator use. Both experimental examinations had two sections. Section I items were designed so that a calculator was not needed, but approximately half of the students were permitted to use calculators. Section II items…

A path analytic study examined the effects of career decision-making self-efficacy on the retention of underprepared adults in postsecondary education. The initial sample consisted of 418 underprepared students enrolled in the developmental education unit of a large midwestern urban university who had been subjects of a 1991 study and who…

One of the main limitations of the current generation of computer-based tests is its dependency on the multiple-choice item. This research was aimed at extending computer-based testing by bringing limited forms of performance assessment to it in the domain of mathematics. This endeavor involves not only building task types that better reflect…

The purpose of this project was to enhance a psychology degree program's assessment by the addition of a qualitative measure. Focus groups--simultaneous interviews of small groups of individuals--were conducted over a two year period. The 41 participants were all senior psychology majors enrolled at a mid-size public, liberal arts institution.…

Year after year, students, teachers, administrators, politicians, and parents are faced with the dilemma of reading assessment. Sheila Valencia (1990) feels that reading assessment has become a hot topic because the outcome tends to differ from school to school. Evaluations should be authentic and trustworthy. Roger Farr (1992) has noted that the…

Responding to the need for a comprehensive framework for monitoring and improving school effectiveness in local and international contexts, this paper presents the findings of a case study of one effective and one ineffective school. Data were derived from a survey of schools, document analysis, and field observations. The case schools are…

Students' goals (motives) for their schooling have been the focus of much recent research and have been shown to significantly influence important aspects of their cognitive engagement and academic achievement. This paper presents the results of a qualitative investigation into the nature and characteristics of students' social and academic goals,…

This book teaches the skills and art of good coaching and how to realize its value in unlocking people's potential to maximize their own performance. Chapters 1-3 define coaching and its business application, discuss the manager as coach and the manager's role, and examine the context of change. Chapter 4 considers the two key elements of…

The "Show-Me Standards" as detailed in this guide are comprised of 33 performance (process) standards and 40 knowledge (content) standards. The performance standards include important process skills and the knowledge standards provide a solid foundation of knowledge in communication arts, fine arts, health and physical education,…

The United States is transitioning to an information age society, requiring that the citizens and workers of the future be highly literate in their use of information. Information literacy is the ability to evaluate, analyze, and apply critical thinking to the use of information. Educators need to answer basic questions about how students become…

This report presents results from the first comprehensive follow-up survey of employers of graduates from Pennsylvania College of Technology (PCT), based on surveys of 279 employers of graduates from 1991-92 and 219 employers of graduates from 1992-93. Following an executive summary, part II describes the survey methodology, indicating that the…

These guidelines are provided to offer guidance to district and state policy makers and assessment directors concerning some issues of managing the development, administration, and use of performance assessments in large scale assessment programs. The term "performance assessment" is used for assessments that go beyond paper-and-pencil,…

This paper argues that special procedures for constructing assessment tools containing performance assessment tasks are unnecessary and that current test methodology can easily be generalized to complex performance assessment tasks without destroying the desirable characteristics of those tasks. Reasonable statistical requirements for sound…