Students are taught about the foundations of inquiry--questions, tasks, and sources--and how to build inquiry-based curriculum and instructional strategies for social studies. They begin their student teaching experiences knowing the difference between a compelling and supporting question, the role of a formative and summative performance task,…

Increased accountability demands are being placed on teacher preparation programs across the USA to demonstrate competencies of their teacher candidates. As a means of evaluating teacher candidates' instructional effectiveness and readiness for their own classrooms, some programs are using standardized teacher performance assessments, with faculty…

There is a growing interest in conceptualizing, defining, and assessing what are often called 21st century skills or deeper learning competencies. The purpose of this literature review is to explore the conceptualizations, definitions, and understandings in the research literature related to critical thinking. Key initial questions include: What…

Income gaps in college enrollment, persistence, and graduation raise concerns for those interested in equal opportunity in higher education. We present findings from a randomly assigned scholarship for low-income students at a medium-sized public 4-year university. The program focused solely on the first four semesters of enrollment and tied aid…

In response to increased accountability demands placed on teacher preparation programs across the US, some programs are using standardized teacher performance assessments, such as edTPA. A recent mandate for this study's elementary teacher preparation program is teacher candidates' successful completion of edTPA for teacher certification. A case…

This study uses a complexity-accuracy-lexis-fluency (CALF) framework to explore performance on 2 speaking tasks: a narrative picture-based task and an interactive decision-making task. A preliminary aim is to compare performance on the 2 tasks, using a wide range of CALF measures to explore where scores are similar and where they are different.…

In 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic the higher education sector, in the United Kingdom and internationally, transitioned to online assessment, at a speed and scale which might have been unimaginable under normal circumstances. The priority in the sector was to ensure that fundamental principles of assessment, including integrity, were…

Today, 35 states use performance-based funding models tying appropriations directly to educational outcomes. Financial incentives should induce colleges to improve performance, but there are several well-documented reasons why this is unlikely to occur. We examine how two of the most robust performance funding states--Tennessee and Ohio--responded…

Interpreting Self-Efficacy (ISE) is the belief one holds about their own interpreting capabilities. One of the first instruments to measure this self-belief is S.-B. Lee's ISE scale, a statistically sound self-report questionnaire designed to measure the ISE levels of undergraduate students majoring in consecutive interpreting (Cronbach's…

Competency education, a K-12 reform aimed to ensure that all students meet high expectations, requires that students demonstrate mastery of competencies to advance and earn credit, typically through assessments where students apply knowledge. Students receive more time and possibly personalized instruction to demonstrate mastery if needed.…

This article reviews four interrelated approaches to reducing an inequitable gap in cognitive and educational test scores between individuals of a dominant culture and individuals of other cultures or subcultures. These approaches include (a) use of broader measures, (b) performance- and project-based assessments, (c) direct measurement of…

In this case study, we examine the consequential validity of using edTPA in a social justice-oriented, urban teacher preparation program. According to the developers of edTPA, a primary purpose is to support teacher candidate learning, yet our analysis suggests that edTPA does not support learning when used during student teaching. Our 16…

In this article, we investigate the Visual Arts Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) while integrating aspects of philosopher Jean-François Lyotard's thought in order to bring to light implicit assumptions made by the test. We expose disconnections between a mission for art education to create teachers as inquirers and the type of…

Teacher competency frameworks comprise a number of competencies that enable a teacher to develop effective teaching practices. However, their conception, value, use and recognition vary widely. Equally, assessment and measurement of such competencies differ across contexts. More recently, a body of research has emerged which focuses the lens of…

This study implemented an information technology service management at a university and measured the effects that implementation had on customer satisfaction scores and key performance indicators (KPI). This project used industry best practices for ITSM processes, project management, and change management to implement the system. This project also…