In recent times there has been considerable commentary regarding the need to enhance mathematical assessment as evidenced by "Numeracy, A Priority for All: Challenges for Australian Schools" (2000). This emphasis on assessment is timely because, although the mathematical reform movement has produced much needed improvements in both curriculum and…

An intervention consisting of task clarification, visual prompts, and graphic feedback was evaluated to increase customer greeting and up-selling in a restaurant. A combination multiple baseline and reversal design was used to evaluate intervention effects. Although all interventions improved performance over baseline, the delivery of graphic…

Suicide is a leading cause of death that is difficult to predict because clinical assessment has relied almost exclusively on individuals' self-report of suicidal thoughts. This is problematic because there often is motivation to conceal such thoughts. The authors tested the ability of the Self-Injury Implicit Association Test (SI-IAT), a…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Yes He Will?: Campaign Details Suggest That Obama Presidency Will Make Education Reform a High Priority; (2) A New Way Forward…

Intuition usually is defined as the capability to act or decide appropriately without deliberately and consciously balancing alternatives, without following a certain rule or routine, and possibly without awareness (Gigerenzer, 2007; Hogarth, 2001; Klein, 2003; Myers, 2002). It allows action which is quick (e.g. reaction to a challenging…

The performance management of higher education institutions is a major challenge for many countries. Such institutions deliver mostly a social as opposed to an economic return, and cannot be evaluated using the same approach as is applicable to a business enterprise. Many countries have developed rather complex and elaborate approaches to this…

This article outlines a longitudinal pathway analysis of student performance within educational institutions, so as to identify student profiles which describe those groups of students who are more likely to complete or leave a bachelor degree program, and to identify the predictors for these outcomes. The analyses are based on 7314 undergraduate…

This article evaluates PISA 2000 as a resource for providing information on educational attainment and inequality, focusing on France and England. Going beyond pupils' performance, it assesses levels of educational inequality by examining distributions of scores and the relationship between socio-economic status and performance. This review raises…

Several years ago, the state of South Carolina turned to experts in early childhood education to address the school readiness issue for its K-2 schools. Rather than asking, "Is this child ready for school?," the state created a program assessment system that reframed the question of school readiness by asking, "Is this school ready…

Observation and documentation are integral to the early childhood classroom. Observation provides the information necessary for adults to build meaningful relationships with individual children. Documentation panels including photographs, teacher's notes, transcriptions, and artifacts, artfully and prominently displayed, serve as a visual archive…

The purpose of this paper is to consider the specific role of Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) in creative media production courses. We present a review of the pedagogical approaches that inform our "generic" understanding of PAL. We then consider both quantitative and qualitative data from students, leaders and tutors to gain insights into…

As universities increase expectations for evidence of student learning, journals like "Teaching of Psychology (ToP)" have come to expect outcome data from authors describing teaching techniques. Our comparison of ToP articles published in 1996 and 2006 showed a significant decrease in reliance on student opinion and an increase in the use of more…

The goal of this study was to explore whether differences in student academic indicators exist between taking a course face-to-face (F2F) and taking a course via distance education (DE). Three hundred and eighty five students were enrolled in a course offered, both, as F2F (n = 116) and as DE (n = 269). Course content, instructor, textbook…

During the 2004-05 school year, Parkview Elementary School experienced a dramatic shift from a focus on authentic assessment and responsive, individualized teaching to a one-size-fits-all approach to literacy assessment and instruction. In an effort to boost test scores, the district mandated the use of Open Court Reading, a scripted language arts…

This article investigates the effects of trainee teachers on secondary school student outcomes. The additional resources which schools receive from being involved in teacher training offer them an opportunity to raise standards, but this has to be set against the possible losses due to school students being taught by inexperienced beginning…