The process of reflection is assumed to be important for developing professional knowledge through practical experience in science teaching. However, this claim requires more evidence, based on a clear definition of reflection. The main goal of the present study is to explore how reflection skills influence the development of professional…

Early childhood assessments can provide important information to guide instruction and inform policy. Given the widespread and growing use of statewide kindergarten entry assessments (KEAs), in particular, it is important that policymakers understand how to choose and use assessments wisely. This brief summarizes research showing how authentic…

Preservice mathematics teachers today are charged with the challenging yet vital task of learning how to authentically engage their future students in the Standards for Mathematical Practice. These eight practices specify the various levels of competence that mathematics teachers of all levels should explore to see their students flourish. While…

Motivating students towards language learning includes embedding meaningful themes, communicative tasks, and authentic assessments. When voice and choice are held as essential qualities of the task, students invest in the resources to make meaning and express their own thoughts, thus moving us away from traditional assessments that emphasize…

As in many other countries around the globe, the Dominican Republic (DR) has recently implemented important educational changes. The curriculum changed from a content-based to a competence-based approach, and grade configurations changed from four-year to three-year cycles, moving seventh and eighth grades out of elementary and into high school.…

Formative assessment is widely accepted as being crucial to promoting student learning and, since 2010, the UK General Medical Council has mandated its use in workplace-based clinical training for all new doctors. As a result, the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) instituted a range of formative workplace-based assessments including the…

Massachusetts introduced the first high-stakes performance assessment for principal certification in 2014. Using student surveys from six institutions and interviews with program directors from ten out of 23 state-approved programs, the author asked, "How are Massachusetts principal preparation programs changing in response to the new…

Contract cheating occurs when a student outsources their assessment to a third party, regardless of the third party's relationship with the student, or whether money is exchanged. In higher education, there is a widespread belief that assessment design is a solution to the problem of contract cheating and that authentic assessment tasks are…

Research on how performance-based funding influences the behaviour and performance of academics is limited in Europe. In this study, we investigate the changing publication patterns among Finnish academics associated with the introduction of awarding funding for publications within specific journals in the national performance-based funding model.…

The UK's Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a system that is intended to evaluate the quality of the research produced by higher education institutes (HEIs) in the UK in three areas: quality of research outputs; impact of this research beyond academia; and research environment. For the next REF, the funding bodies have reviewed the importance…

Simulated testing has become more prevalent in higher education, especially as competency-based institutions begin to incorporate micro-credentials and skills certificates into their curriculum. Competency-based assessment falls outside traditional norm-based testing practices used in K-12 education, and is largely focused on criterion referenced…

Budgets do not only pay the costs of activities. They also reveal the ambitions and limitations of an organization. The opportunities presented in a budget are also bounded by the structural elements used by that institution: how costs and revenues are organized, how overhead is calculated and apportioned, and how assets and investments are…

Background: A holistic approach to performance assessment recognizes the theoretical complexity of multifaceted critical thinking (CT), a key objective of higher education. However, issues related to reliability, interpretation, and use arise with this approach. Aims and Method: Therefore, we take an analytic approach to scoring students' written…

The edTPA is becoming an increasingly popular assessment in educator preparation programs across the United States. While there are many official support documents available for navigating the completion of the edTPA, there is abundant discussion and collaboration between those who work with teacher candidates to find strategies for successful…

This paper addresses the important and linked questions of how to manage academic performance and workload effectively. It highlights the need in a modern, corporatised university to consider the nature of academic work and optimal ways to develop workload allocation and performance management processes. This paper complements two previous papers…