This comparative case study examined how performance funding programs shape the faculty experiences at two North Carolina Community Colleges. Using Principal-Agent Theory, Street-Level Bureaucracy, and Bottom-Up Policy Perspective as theoretical frameworks, six themes and four subthemes emerged from semi-structured interviews of twenty community…

Teacher education programs have widely used edTPA to assess if a teacher candidate is ready to teach. Using a framework of Baudrillard's (1994) hyperreality, this study examined how preservice music teacher candidates performed the discourses of edTPA within their planning, instruction, and reflection in their student teaching placements.…

Performance assessments heavily rely on human ratings. These ratings are typically subject to various forms of error and bias, threatening the assessment outcomes' validity and fairness. Differential rater functioning (DRF) is a special kind of threat to fairness manifesting itself in unwanted interactions between raters and performance- or…

Curriculum, as an expression of legitimate knowledge, should be seen as something political rather than technical, that is, as the result of complex power relations and struggles among identifiable stakeholder groups. In Shanghai, curricular reform, which traditionally assumes the crucial task of cultivating responsible citizens, has sought to…

As in many industrialized countries, Japan carried out a deregulation of higher education around the turn of the 21st century. This reform was based on New Public Management (NPM) principles, which should have been reflected in its most salient step: the incorporation of national universities in 2004. Although the way that the NPM principles were…

Learning does not automatically occur by playing educational games; instead, learning opportunities should be carefully designed in such games. For instance, research has indicated the importance of embedding learning supports within educational games to promote learning and other outcomes (e.g., enjoyment). However, more research is needed to…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between participants' edTPA writing and edTPA portfolio scores. Specific questions included (a) Is there a relationship between overall word count and total score on the edTPA? (b) Are individual task commentary word counts associated with specific task scores and total edTPA scores? and…

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between the PEAK Direct Training Pre-assessment (PEAK-DT-PA) and the PEAK Generalization Pre-assessment (PEAK-G-PA) with the corresponding indirect assessments based on parent and therapist reports. Participants were administered the PEAK-DT-PA and PEAK-G-PA. Parents and therapist…

This brief is organized into four (4) main sections. We first discuss the inadequacy, inefficacy, and bias of standardized, high-stakes assessments. These assessments do not deliver on promises made by proponents and that they, in fact, do long-term harm to teachers and students, with a disproportionate negative impact on communities of color. The…

Concert attendance is often a major determinant of student grades in ensemble classes. Yet, there are reasons to question whether concert night is an effective setting for student assessment. This article probes the usefulness and fairness of concert grades and suggests policies that support equitable learning environments. Strategies for…

When compared to high performers, low performers generally have more difficulty to accurately estimate their own performance. This has been explained by low performers being both unskilled and unaware about their performance. However, Miller and Geraci "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition," 37(2), 502-506,…

Big Picture Learning's Upstream Collaborative is a professional learning community of continuation high schools, community day schools, and other alternative schools throughout California and Washington State. School leaders in the collaborative receive coaching, professional development, and practical support to develop learner-centered,…

The edTPA has been fully operational since 2013, when it entered the field of education as a performance portfolio to assess teacher candidates' readiness for the classroom. Since that time 35 different states have been using it in some form, including Tennessee, which adapted it as a licensure requirement in 2019. Over the last several years, the…

There has been a revolutionary new paradigm shift in assessment of learning in Indonesia, from a traditional model to a more authentic approach adopted in the current curriculum. Its implementation seems to be a considerable challenge for teachers, including teachers of English. This article reports on a study of Indonesian EFL teachers'…

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), US reading and math scores have recently dropped. This decline is believed to be the result of the school closings that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The drop likely contributed to the increase in pressure educators are feeling to teach in a way that leads to higher test…