This study examines the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT V2.0) for use as a formative faculty development tool. The MSCEIT was designed to measure emotional intelligence abilities as defined by Mayer-Salovey's EI Ability model. Individuals can deliberately develop emotional intelligence skills; a formative assessment of EI…

Work-experience programs, which are commonplace in most Canadian high schools, are designed to enhance learning for students while providing them with the opportunity to explore their career options. Current research on the effectiveness of such programs suggests that they have a number of important benefits, from improved self-esteem to increased…

The purpose of the research study was to identify those factors contributing to long-term-relationships between school boards and superintendents. The primary focus of the study was about how conflict is resolved between superintendents and school boards. There were school districts where superintendents have chosen to and were allowed to lead for…

Currently, there is a growing need for formal training in forensic psychology. This pilot study examines the relational-behavior model (RBM) as a method of intrinsic motivational instruction, perceived academic competence, and program competency among a sample of forensic psychology students. In theory, the RBM suggests that self-appraisal,…

Teachers (n = 20) and administrators (n = 18) from two school districts in southern Ontario, Canada, were interviewed with a semistructured format. Employed in both elementary and secondary schools, participants were asked about their understanding and use of assessment "of" (summative), "for" (formative), and "as"…

What began as formative assessment, now also known as assessment for learning (AfL), is a set of ideas and practices that has--for an educational innovation--an unusually good research pedigree. In the past decade, these ideas and practices have been incorporated into national education policies in all four countries of the UK, although with…

The first article of the PE Metrics series, "Developing Quality Physical Education through Student Assessments" (January/February 2009 "Strategies" issue) focused on the importance of assessing student learning in relation to NASPE's content standards (NASPE, 2004). The article emphasized that unless students are appropriately assessed, it is…

Sparking a flame of mutual professional development at Twin Groves Middle School, in Illinois' Kildeer District 96 was a formative assessment. "Formatives," as the practitioners call them, are a technique usually adopted as a safety net for struggling students. But as districts are finding out, they are also effective at honing teacher…

Librarians throughout higher education must assess information literacy; however, many are overwhelmed by the prospect of selecting the best assessment for their campus context. This article presents six questions to aid librarians in surmounting this challenge. Are we ready to conduct an information literacy assessment? Why are we conducting this…

In recent years, interest has spiked in data-driven decision making in education--that is, using various types of student data to inform decisions in schools and classrooms. In October 2008, the Council of the Great City Schools and American Institutes for Research (AIR) launched a project funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that focused…

Premised on the notion that any educational programme for pre-service teachers pursues excellence in both academics and social justice, teacher educators must capacitate student teachers to work in areas of social justice. Pre-service teachers must subsequently be assisted to become professionally qualified teachers who are prepared to move…

For a period of four semesters, the possibility was explored of using a "group quiz" as a learning activity that provides a collaborative learning environment, a review of the previous week's material, and a formative assessment for both the student and the instructor. Using both quantitative (i.e., student surveys) and qualitative (i.e., student…

This article describes a 13-week laboratory course called Human Toxicology taught at the University of Otago, New Zealand. This course used a guided inquiry based laboratory coupled with formative assessment and collaborative learning to develop in undergraduate students the skills of problem solving/critical thinking, data interpretation and…

Providing model-based accounts (explanations and predictions) of water and substances in water moving through environmental systems is an important practice for environmental science literacy and necessary for citizens confronting global and local water quantity and quality issues. In this article we present a learning progression for water in…

This evaluative-exploratory case study reports pedagogical experiences with using mobiles phones, wikis, and other mobile learning approaches such as podcasts and walking tours as educational tools in the context of an undergraduate course on Chinese Entrepreneurship and Asian Business Networks taught at a university in Singapore. Conceptualized…