Libraries are under pressure to prove their worth and may not have achieved this fully successfully. There is a resultant growing requirement for value and impact measurement in academic and research libraries. This essay reviews the natural history of library performance measurement and suggests that proof of worth will be measured by the…

In this study, an attempt was made to develop a method of measurement and evaluation aimed at overcoming the difficulties encountered in the determination of the effectiveness of chemistry education based on the goals of chemistry education. An Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is a multi-criteria decision technique, is used in the present…

Purpose: The main aim of this paper is to develop guidelines on the critical issues to consider in research design in an action research (AR) environment for SME network capability development. Design/methodology/approach: The issues in research design for AR studies are developed from the authors' experience in running learning sets but, in…

This technical report is designed to provide researchers with an overview of the design and implementation of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013. This information is meant to supplement that presented in OECD publications by describing those aspects of TALIS 2013 that are unique to the United States. Chapter 2 provides…

College rankings create much talk and discussion in the higher education arena. This love/hate relationship has not necessarily resulted in better rankings, but rather, more rankings. This paper looks at some of the measures and pitfalls of the current rankings systems, and proposes areas for improvement through a better focus on teaching and…

This study investigates measurement decision theory (MDT) as an underlying model for computer adaptive testing when the goal is to classify examinees into one of a finite number of groups. The first analysis compares MDT with a popular item response theory model and finds little difference in terms of the percentage of correct classifications. The…

In her book, "Learner-Centered Teaching", Maryellen Weimer contrasts the practices of teacher-centered college teaching and student-centered college teaching in terms of (1) the balance of power in the classroom, (2) the function of the course content, (3) the role of the teacher versus the role of the student, (4) the responsibility of learning,…

This article reviews Autism Spectrum Rating Scales (ASRS) which are designed to measure behaviors in children between the ages of 2 and 18 that are associated with disorders on the autism spectrum as rated by parents/caregivers and/or teachers. The rating scales include items related to behaviors associated with Autism, Asperger's Disorder, and…

The author reflects on his experiences with standardized tests, emphasizing the dreadful consequences of our continued allegiance to them. In doing so, the author expounds on how public schools have kowtowed to a harmful societal preference for results regardless of processes, decision-makers' desires to quantify learning, and the desires of…

This paper developed a Democratic Classroom Survey to measure students' perceived democratic environment of the classroom. Perceived democratic environment is one of the most important variables for understanding classroom activity and indeed any type of group activity, but actually measuring perceptions in an objective manner has been…

The sizable gender gap in college enrolment, especially among African Americans, constitutes a puzzling empirical regularity that may have serious consequences on marriage markets, male labor force participation and the diversity of college campuses. For instance, only 35.7 percent of all African American undergraduate students were men in 2004.…

Due to the broad acceptance of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other comparative studies as instruments of policymaking, its accuracy is essential. This article attempts to demonstrate omissions in the conceptualisation, and consequently in calculation and interpretation, of one of the central points of PISA 2006 and…

Evidence suggests that it is possible to substantially reduce the number of children classified as learning disabled in literacy. The 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act opens opportunities to do so through Response to Intervention (RTI). This article argues that institutional histories, structures, and…

Governments and development agencies met at Jomtien in 1990 and Dakar in 2000 and committed themselves to achieve "Education for All" (EFA). Most aid to education is now the umbrella of EFA and its associated goals, targets and indicators. This paper selects some of the indicators used for EFA and analyses their strengths and weaknesses. Gross and…

This study examined effects of goal setting, frequency of progress monitoring, and method of evaluating progress on the number of instructional change prompts generated by reading-curriculum-based measurements (CBM). Participants were 31 high-incidence special education students in grades 2-6 selected from 8 schools. Following baseline…