Ogbu's theory of "burden of acting white" has been one of the most frequently cited studies to explain black and white achievement gap. However, emerging studies have argued that Ogbu's theory may be limited when examining variability of school achievement among black and white students. Research shows that in addition to culture, other social…

This article combines a historical with a social/political anthropological framework to examine the role played by the transfer of educational discourse between the United States-based Phelps-Stokes Fund and the Belgian Ministry of Colonies in the formulation of the colonial education policy of "adapted education" in the 1920s. The…

The same factors appear to drive early childhood policy in all parts of the world, including the importance accorded to early childhood education, national goals, governments' beliefs about their role in the early care and education of young children, governments' regulations of early childhood services, and the background and characteristics of…

Performance in tests of spoken language can be influenced by a wide range of features of both task and participants. This article hypothesizes that there may be effects on performance attributable to an interaction of variables such as the task topic, the gender of the person presenting the topic and the gender of the candidate. In contrast to…

This study investigates whether the practice of answer changing on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) is beneficial to Gulf Arab students' overall test performance. The proficiency exam used in this study is the Michigan English Language Institute College English Test - Grammar, Cloze, Vocabulary, Reading (MELICET-GCVR), which was developed using…

The idea that validity should be considered a property of inferences, rather than of assessments, has developed slowly over the past century. In early writings about the validity of educational assessments, validity was defined as a property of an assessment. The most common definition was that an assessment was valid to the extent that it…

Teachers can promote long-lasting learning, build higher-order thinking skills, develop individual student accountability, and increase student achievement by incorporating performance learning tasks into the curriculum. In this second edition of "Performance-Based Learning," Sally Berman demonstrates how this model can be modified for learners at…

This guide offers advice and guidance to key skills managers, coordinators and other practitioners who are responsible for ensuring that the standards of portfolio assessment in their center are consistent across the center and with national standards. It describes and offers advice and guidance on the stages of assessment and internal moderation…

The landscape of public education in Michigan has changed dramatically over the last 13 years. Most districts receive a majority of their operating money from state government, not local taxes. Charter schools and nearby districts lure students away from local schools and capture the state money that goes with them. Districts are even subject to…

This study evaluated (1) whether essay placement (either at the beginning or at the end of the test battery) impacts test-takers' performance on the critical reading, mathematics, and writing multiple choice measures; and (2) whether essay prompt type (either a simple one-line prompt or a prompt including a short passage) affects test-takers'…

The transition from high school to adult life is an exciting time for many young people. Youth from high poverty backgrounds, however, are considered at-risk for a host of unfavorable outcomes including academic failure, school dropout, drug abuse, unemployment and incarceration. These adolescents are more likely than their more affluent peers to…

This study examines the relationship between skill emphases in rehabilitation counselor education (RCE) programs and perceived importance of those skills for counselor effectiveness. Examining results between this nationwide survey of rehabilitation counselor educators and data from an earlier research by Leahy, Chan, and Saunders (2003) that…

The author had a conversation one late afternoon with an untenured colleague from another department regarding chili pepper ratings. Her colleague explained that the popular RateMyProfessor.com Web site allows students to rate faculty members not only according to standards of "clarity," "helpfulness," and something called "easiness," but also in…

The 62 papers presented at the 1975 conference of the Military Testing Association cover almost all areas of military and occupational assessment and evaluation, and are arranged in 19 "common subject-matter groupings": Symposium (on Aptitude Testing), Training Extension Courses, Computerized Testing, Task Validation and Qualification…

This document describes a research study of the status of basic adult literacy services in New England, particularly the inadequate link between adult basic education (ABE) and work- force preparation programs. The report describes a system that has failed to adapt to the region's increased need for articulation among English as a Second Language…