Background: Underachievement among boys and particular ethnic groups is a major challenge to the education system. Purpose: This paper reports on one local education authority's attempts to address this concern by investigating the characteristics of its schools demonstrating success with the groups causing most concern: black Caribbean, black…

New information and communications technologies and research in cognitive science have led to new ways to think about and implement learning environments. Among these new approaches to instruction and new methods to support learning and performance is an interest in and emphasis on complex subject matter (e.g., complex and dynamic systems…

The present study examined the influence of professor and student characteristics on students' preconceptions of college professors. Course syllabi for a politically charged social science course were constructed with versions varying by teaching style, professor gender, and professor ethnicity. A total of 633 (44% Latino; 34% African American;…

We report on how technological developments have enabled us to change our concepts and practices regarding voice and text coaching and how this in turn has raised the level of literary competence among non-native doctoral students seeking publication in English in scientific journals. We describe models for marking, peer reviewing and coaching…

With the continual progress of computer technologies, computer automated scoring (CAS) has become a popular tool for evaluating writing assessments. Research of applications of these methodologies to new types of performance assessments is still emerging. While research has generally shown a high agreement of CAS system generated scores with those…

Teacher candidates rated their self-perceptions of performance on the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium principles at the beginning and end of their 16-week student teaching semester to determine whether there was any significant difference between pre- and post-student-teaching self-ratings. Findings indicate that…

As the World Wide Web becomes an integral part of higher education, universities must determine the viability of using the Internet for their student evaluation systems. This chapter highlights important online-student-rating issues raised in this volume and in other research through a case study of Murdoch University's (Perth, Australia) online…

This report presents findings from the second year of a multi-year evaluation of the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program and background information about the design and implementation of the District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE) program. The TEEG and DATE programs operating in Texas make up the largest state-funded performance…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

Recent research on vocabulary development is reviewed, highlighting issues related to diverse learners. The review included studies of students who are low performers; learning or reading disabled; remedial readers; high achievers; and students who are culturally disadvantaged, language delayed, and linguistically diverse. Areas of convergence in…

This packet includes reprints of journal articles and other resources concerning the assessment of science and math in small, rural elementary schools. Articles include: (1) "Standards, Assessment, and Educational Quality" (Lauren B. Resnick); (2) "A True Test: Toward More Authentic and Equitable Assessment" (Grant Wiggins);…

The overall assessment of teacher education students by means of testing may not be the best indicator of competence in a professional field. Assessors must possess both valid and reliable ways of discerning which students have the necessary skills to be effective in the classroom. Portfolio analysis is one way to get better, more valid data about…

Alternative assessment not only offers the opportunity to assess what students know, it also can more fully engage students in their own learning. When properly implemented, alternative assessment has the potential to: be a useful classroom tool, stimulate student participation; form a communication bridge with parents; and measure specific types…

This manual presents the trainee's workbook and the trainer's guidelines for the third of six modules in a teacher inservice series developed to promote the unified effort of both regular and special education personnel in understanding and applying nationally recognized practices to implement fully inclusive education for student with diverse…