Since 1989, the Mathematics Education Project (PmatE--Projecto Matematica Ensino) has developed several strategies to improve the success of students in Mathematics. The most important of these are mathematical games for all grades above primary school. The online evaluation of Mathematics subjects is one of PmatE's goals. The implementation of an…

In their specialized schooling, blind children are now frequently presented with raised line figures and maps. However, there is still much to do in evaluating the cognitive effects of training using these displays. The purpose of this research is to determine if the level of expertise in the haptic exploration, and the perception of the raised…

In this article we present and discuss an integrated system of continuous assessment (ISCA) in higher education, designed to collect multiple evidences of students' knowledge and abilities, and to facilitate monitoring and support of their learning processes. Inspired by a socio-constructivist approach, which assumes a close relation between…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to extend the research of Michael, Schwartz, and Balraj pertaining to presidential effectiveness. Faculty senate chairpersons, academic deans, senior-level institutional officers, and student leaders were surveyed in order to ascertain whether there was a relationship between stakeholders' perceptions and…

This article describes two studies conducted to compare assembly performance and learning rate between computer based training and traditional training of skilled assembly operators. The studies were performed with pre-series production parts from a car cockpit and they were integrated as part of the overall training activities during a new…

The political philosophy (from the U.S. Declaration of Independence) that "all men are created equal" succinctly captures the "raison d'etre" and phenomenal successes of American higher education. Today, the deepest commitment to this idea of fair play is affordable access to a higher education that offers the opportunity to cultivate knowledge,…

A key factor in successful teacher education is designing activities that promote attainment of instructional objectives. However, in online teacher education there is little evidence regarding the types of activities that can be used to achieve specific objectives and variation from class to class while providing effective instruction. This study…

This article addresses the debate on college literacy achievement by focusing on teacher education students. In addition to acquiring the academic tools for teaching, many of those students might need to remediate their literacy gaps while mastering graduate-level academic writing skills. This study inquired into variables that might help predict…

The authors have been engaged in research focused on students' depth of learning as well as teachers' efforts to foster deep learning. Findings from a study examining the teaching practices and student learning outcomes of sixty-four teachers in seventeen different states (Smith et al. 2005) indicated that most of the learning in these classrooms…

The purpose of this Item Response Theory study was to investigate how the expected reduction in item information, due to the collapsing of response categories in performance assessment data, was affected by varying testing conditions: item difficulty, item discrimination, inter-rater reliability, and direction of collapsing. The investigation used…

The authentic assessment method of student evaluation is particularly well suited to vocational education. It connects the way schoolwork is assessed with the way knowledge and competence are judged in the workplace by focusing on tasks that are simultaneously meaningful to learners and linked to school and nonschool demands. Portfolios are one…

Authentic and direct assessments of performances and products are conceptualized in terms of multiple distinctions having implications for validation. These include contrasts between performances and products, between assessment of performance per se and performance assessment of competence or other constructs, between structured and unstructured…

Performance tasks build on earlier content knowledge, progress skills, and work habits. They are not add-ons at the end of instruction, but an integral part of the learning and an opportunity to assess the quality of student performance. This guide was written by teachers to share their experiences in the introduction of performance based…

Designed for the grades K-2 literature-based classroom, this reading assessment kit includes 6 books which represent the stages most developing readers pass through as they move from being emergent to fluent readers. The kit also contains reading ladder assessment tools and reproducible charts and checklists. The literature selections in the kit…

Designed to develop a conceptual perspective, this paper focuses on three tensions: between cognitive and behavioral views of learning and thinking; between factory-model and information-age models of schooling; and between externally-mandated testing and internally-guided assessment. The paper first provides a brief sketch of developments in the…