This brief presents a review of research and current state practices as they relate to measures that Iowa might consider for its federal accountability indicator of school quality or student success--specifically, for inclusion within a composite index of postsecondary readiness. Section 1 of this brief introduces a framework for evaluating and…

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines through four lines of study to determine how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's…

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's Implementation Study, which uses interview and survey…

Rhode Island is committed to ensuring that all educators receive fair, accurate, and meaningful educator evaluations that provide information that can help all support professionals improve and refine their practice. This document describes the process and basic requirements for the Rhode Island Model Support Professional Evaluation and Support…

This paper describes an instrument designed for assessing learning outcomes in data management. In addition to assessment of student learning and ABET outcomes, we have also found the instrument to be effective for determining database placement of incoming information systems (IS) graduate students. Each of these three uses is discussed in this…

Ostracism, the act of being excluded or ignored by another individual or group (Williams, 1997; Williams et al., 2002), is a powerful, pervasive, and complex phenomenon that transcends time and affects individuals throughout their lifespan, with some of the most damaging exclusionary experiences occurring during childhood (Williams, Forgas, &…

Good assessment is part of all good learning communities, and this article provides a useful set of best practices for learning community assessment planning: (1) articulating agreed-upon learning community program goals; (2) identifying the purpose of assessment (e.g., summative or formative); (3) employing qualitative and quantitative assessment…

This article presents two case studies of marginalized youth experimenting with digital music production in flexible education settings. The cases were drawn from a 3-year study of alternative assessment in flexible learning centres for youth who have left formal schooling in Queensland, Australia. The educational issues are framed by reference to…

Dashboard systems are increasingly popular as assessment and performance management tools in higher education. This chapter examines the use of dashboards in student affairs, including examples of key indicators and considerations for developing and implementing these tools. The chapter begins with an overview of the origins of dashboards, from…

The 33rd Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC), held in June 2011 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, included a conference symposium on the topic of "assessment literacy." This event brought together a group of four presenters from different parts of the world, each of whom reported on their recent research in this area. Presentations were…

The norm-referenced evaluation system has been used to grade students, from elementary to post-secondary, for decades. However, the system itself is inherently flawed. Looking at the history of the norm-referenced system and its most famous tool, the Bell Curve, and taking examples from the author's own teaching experience, this paper examines the…

Institutional assessment initiatives can provide opportunities to make the intellectual work of teaching and learning in composition studies more visible. Reciprocally, the scholarship of teaching and learning's situatedness within disciplinary norms and values can enhance institutional assessments, providing a check on the tendency to rely…

Alfie Kohn (http://www.alfiekohn.org) writes and speaks widely on human behavior, education, and parenting. "Time" described him as "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores." He is the author of 12 books, including "The Schools Our Children Deserve, The Case…

In this rejoinder, Maydeu-Olivares states that, in item response theory (IRT) measurement applications, the application of goodness-of-fit (GOF) methods informs researchers of the discrepancy between the model and the data being fitted (the room for improvement). By routinely reporting the GOF of IRT models, together with the substantive results…

Today's college graduates are entering an interconnected world in which globalization will affect nearly every facet of their lives. In turn, college and university mission statements increasingly include the intent to educate "global citizens" among their fundamental commitments. Yet U.S. students' global knowledge and understanding…