This paper focuses on the education and training of business coaches, specifically at the Masters/graduate level. The paper first reviews the knowledge and skills required of business coaches, comparing the recommendations of professional associations and the literature. Next the paper reviews the approaches to education which are best suited to…

Even though the appearance and spread of new technologies offer considerable challenges in the design of far reaching and complex pre-test and assessment situations which are in keeping with the trends of teaching and learning, the thematic map is still an insuperable document to value either integral training or academic performance of future…

Previous research and development with cognitive tools has been limited by an inadequate conceptualization of the complexity underlying their nature and affordances for supporting learning and performance. This paper provides a new perspective on cognitive tools through the lens of the theories of distributed cognition and expertise. The learner,…

This study examined teacher perceptions of the impact of intervention factors implemented during a grant-funded mathematics education initiative. Participant teachers identified both the interventions that most influenced their initial change to the use of standards-based mathematics practices, as well as the interventions that helped to sustain…

Created for the Stupski Foundation, this document synthesizes recent research and theoretical literature on leadership practices needed to support the success of underserved urban students of color. The report identifies four options for creating and supporting successful school leaders of underserved students: (1) Redefine the role of the school…

This study examined the percentage of task-sampling variability in performance assessment via a meta-analysis. In total, 50 studies containing 130 independent data sets were analyzed. Overall results indicate that the percentage of variance for (a) differential difficulty of task was roughly 12% and (b) examinee's differential performance of the…

This Digest outlines an appropriate way to handle score normalization in a fair and equitable manner. Using raw scores to calculate final grades may not entirely capture a student's true performance within a class. As variation in performance evaluation increases, so does the impact on the student's final ranking. Ideally, the distribution of…

Provides a conceptual framework for the development of scoring procedures for performance assessments. The framework considers: (1) aspects of the performance to be scored; (2) criteria to evaluate aspects of the performance; (3) development of scoring criteria; and (4) application of scoring criteria. (SLD)

In June 2006, the California Postsecondary Education Commission adopted an Accountability Framework for Higher Education, consisting of four goals and 17 measures for evaluating the performance of public higher education in California. The initial series of reports from the framework presented a variety of information on the affordability of…

In many ways assessment drives the curriculum and often pedagogy at all levels of education. In a world where it is more important what you can do with what you know rather than just what you know, it is critical that practical performance is assessed in reliable and valid ways that are also cost-effective. Increasingly the use of digital…

This paper draws on semi-structured interview data and participant observations of senior secondary Physical Education (PE) teachers and students at two school sites across 20 weeks of the school year. The data indicated that the teachers in this study made progressive judgements about students' level of achievement across each unit of work…

Does authentic assessment or the perception of it affect how students study and learn? Does practical experience affect how assessment authenticity is perceived? And does practical experience influence how an authentic assessment affects student learning? Mixed methods design yielded insight into the answers to these questions. This article…

Recent international studies have highlighted the success of students from Hong Kong in mathematics and problem-solving, and have begun to suggest some of the factors associated with this success. Other studies have suggested that Hong Kong students are averse to risk-taking, favouring memorisation and imitation in their solution strategies. Year…

While conducting a study of mentoring teacher candidates for National Board Certification, the researchers discovered some controversial evidence in three cases written by candidate support providers who were coaching teachers to develop their portfolio entries. This evidence could be interpreted as crossing the boundaries of appropriate mentoring…

The author recently served on a five-member international review panel for Saudi Arabia's National Commission for Academic Accreditation and Assessment. The panel's mission was to evaluate the Arab Open University against the commission's accreditation criteria to determine if the university should be eligible for King Abdullah's national…