In 2009, over 300 community colleges across the country adopted the Community College Student Survey of Engagement (CCSSE) in an effort to assess the campus environment through student perceptions. In addition, community colleges across the country are searching for ways to measure student learning. The Collegiate Assessment of Academic…

Aligned assessment is a cornerstone of higher education curriculum design. Yet, it does not address the problem of how students learn "how" they should proceed when faced with a new assessment task. That teaching task is often left to the role of "feedback". This article examines changes to a first year law unit, introduced…

This study analyses the educational support offered through information and communication technology during formative assessment in two different cases in higher education. We analysed one blended and one virtual case from two different universities. The study aimed at identifying specific patterns of educational support intended to foster two…

The aim of this article is to study teachers' attitudes toward assessment of students' learning and their assessment practices in Georgia's general educational institutions. Georgia is a country in the South Caucasus with a population of 4.5 million people, with 2300 general educational institutions and about 559,400 students. The research…

In this article, the authors share a variety of ways to formatively assess basic fact fluency. The define fluency, raise some issues related to timed testing, and then share a collection of classroom-tested ideas for authentic fact fluency assessment. This article encourages teachers to try a variety of alternative assessments from this sampling,…

Soft skills have become a subject of increasing interest in lifelong learning. Soft skills development is intended to enable and enhance personal development, participation in learning and success in employment. The assessment of soft skill is therefore widely practised, but there is little in the way of research or evidence on how well this…

Personal response systems are quickly becoming indispensable formative assessment tools in many college-level chemistry courses. With the use of such devices, students are provided with invaluable insights into the skills perceived by the instructor as important, while concurrently, the instructor can gather feedback as to how well students have…

Feedback is an essential part of learning in any context. Timely, detailed feedback, whether delivered formally or informally, helps people learn more effectively by providing a clear sense of where they are and what they have to do to improve. In the university context, feedback assists students in developing mastery of their disciplines and more…

This paper explores alternative assessment methods from the perspective of categorizations. It addresses the technologies that support assessment. It discusses initial, formative, and summative assessment, as well as objective and subjective assessment, and formal and informal assessment. It approaches each category of assessment from the…

This guide provides state education agencies (SEAs) and districts (LEAs) with guidance about how to assess the district's readiness to support school turnaround initiatives. Often, school turnaround efforts focus only on the school's structure and leadership. Rarely do policymakers or practitioners think about school turnaround as a system-level…

Research Connections conducted a comprehensive search of its collection for resources focused on using ongoing assessment to guide individualized supports for children's learning in early childhood education programs serving children 0 to 6 years. Since there are multiple terms used to describe this process, key words used in the search were…

Teacher isolation, curriculum overload, and a lack of education direction are recognized weaknesses in traditional schools. While many schools recognize the need for reform, few can navigate their way through the changes that must take place for reform to happen. Teachers regularly struggle with recognizing the specific strengths and weaknesses of…

An emerging form of assessment is the patchwork text, an application of assessment "for" learning, as opposed to assessment "of" learning. A framework for making choices in how to use patchwork texts in higher education courses is developed, drawing on prior research on, and use of, patchwork texts. These choices reflect the…

In their critique of Kingston and Nash (2011), Briggs, Ruiz-Primo, Furtak, Shepard, and Yin (2012) make several major points. First, Kingston and Nash's conclusions about the state of research on the efficacy of formative assessment are similar to other researchers, "including some of the authors." Second, their research may be unique in that they…

Education, science, and technology disciplines at all levels have never been more important, more exciting, or more crucial for its broader impacts on human society. The need for advanced technical skills is increasingly pressing to address climate change, combat COVID and other diseases, enhance the infrastructural built environment, grow food…