The Relationship of Teachers' Instructional Decisions and Beliefs about Alternate Assessments to Student Achievement

In the decade since alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) were first required, special education teachers have had to develop content knowledge and pedagogical skills to teach academics to students with significant cognitive disabilities. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact that teachers' instructional decisions and beliefs about AA-AAS have on the academic achievement of students with significant cognitive disabilities. A survey of nearly 400 teachers across three states provided evidence of teachers' beliefs, as well as their instructional planning processes for students. Students' learning characteristics were also identified. Survey responses were analyzed in conjunction with students' 2010–2011 scores on their statewide AA-AAS. The results indicated that students with presymbolic communication systems had a lower likelihood of achieving proficiency in English language arts/reading and math than students with abstract symbolic communication. Students with concrete symbolic communication systems had lesser odds of proficiency in ELA/reading but not in math. Teachers who agreed that AA-AAS had an impact on instruction tended to have students with higher achievement proficiency. However, more negative views of the validity of AA-AAS scores were associated with greater odds of proficiency.     

教育大数据时代高校教师教学领导力建设

教育大数据时代的到来对高校教学提出了新的要求,致使高校教师教学领导力的内涵也应重新定义,并相应产生由传统理念到信息化理念、从基于经验到基于证据、从单一主体到多元沟通等三大转变。为应对这些变化,需要高度重视教学领导力的发展,大力提升高校教师信息化教学能力,研制适用的教师教学领导力模型,以"数据驱动"育人意识提高自身教学领导力,从而培养高校教师教学领导力,实现高校教育的健康发展。     

Investigation of Preservice Teachers' Classroom Assessment Practices During Student Teaching

Abstract

Teachers' evaluation of pupil learning should be consistent with identified learning outcomes at the intended level of performance. To the extent that curriculum and assessment are aligned, the validity of inferences about pupil knowledge is strengthened. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the assessment practices of preservice teachers who have successfully completed coursework in educational measurement. Three hundred and nine lesson plans from 65 preservice (student) teachers were reviewed. The authors found that, during student teaching, preservice teachers do not follow many of the assessment practices recommended in their coursework. Perhaps implementations of recommended classroom assessment practices seem to depend on more than possessing the requisite knowledge.     

Supporting Student Teachers' Professional Learning with Standards‐Referenced Assessment

Professional standards in teaching are developed in many education systems, with professional learning and quality assurance being the central purposes of these standards. This paper presents an initiative in developing a professional development progress map (hereafter, progress map) within a learning‐oriented field experience assessment (LOFEA) framework. The article examines the use of a progress map to support professional learning in teaching supervision in the field experience of a teacher education programme. Views of users, including 16 tertiary supervisors and 21 teacher participants of the in‐service programmes, were collected. Issues relating to supporting student teachers' professional learning with standards‐referenced assessment, are discussed around four themes, namely intention, instrumentation, interpretation and implementation.     

Student Summative Evaluation of Teaching: code of practice

The following code of practice has been developed by the Association of University Staff (AUS) of New Zealand (Inc.) with Dr Cedric Hall, Director, University Teaching Development Centre (UTDC), Victoria University of Wellington. The code deals with the use of student evaluations of teaching for summative decision making (e.g. promotion, tenure, etc.). A draft of the AUS code was distributed to the centres responsible for academic staff development in each university and all committees of AUS for comment. We thank the individuals and groups concerned for their comments and advice. Appropriate changes have been made to the code to take account of the suggestions provided. The AUS code on student summative evaluation of teaching is for the use of AUSNZ members and New Zealand universities. The code is intended to encourage good professional practice in the use of student summative evaluation of teaching and teaching staff. AUS recognises that the contents of the code will need to be reviewed from time to time to take account of changing practices and educational developments within institutions. AUS recognises that student views can be a relevant consideration in overall evaluation of teaching quality, and that they can properly have a place in decision making in relation to tenure and promotion for teaching staff. However, varying practices in ascertaining student views have led (both in New Zealand and internationally) to instances of such decisions being based on invalid and unreliable data from student views. Bad practice in these areas reflects poorly on the institution(s), as well as being unfair to staff; in some instances, it may also be in breach of current legislation. This Code of Practice is based on the belief that any evaluation should provide valid (i.e. relevant and useful) and reliable (i.e. accurate) information on the quality of a person's teaching. AUS believes that teaching quality must be judged in context: the type and purpose of the teaching, the background of the students, the resources available and the voluntary/compulsory nature of the course, should all be considered. Validity and reliability, therefore, relate not only to the measurements that are made of a person's teaching performance, but also to the interpretation of the results.     

英语教学中的形成性评价与终结性评价

本文介绍了形成性评价、终结性评价以及它们的重要性,尤其是形成性评价在我国英语教学领域的应用价值。因为中国的英语教学评价体系可能存在一定的缺陷,它们在某种程度上阻碍了学生的全面发展。关于如何恰当实施形成性评价和终结性评价,本文提出了一些建议。     

Student Models of Instructional Design

Mental models are one way that humans represent knowledge (Markman, 1999). Instructional design (ID) is a conceptual model for developing instruction and typically includes analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (i.e., ADDIE model). ID, however, has been viewed differently by practicing teachers and instructional designers (Kennedy, 1994). In a graduate ID course students constructed their own ID models. This study analyzed student models for (a) what ADDIE components were included (by teacher, nonteacher), and (b) model structural characteristics (by teacher, nonteacher). Participants included 178 students in 12 deliveries of a master's level ID course (115 teachers, 63 nonteachers). Our conceptual ID model is presented, and the ID model task is described. Students most frequently represented design, followed by program evaluation, needs assessment, development, and implementation. In terms of structural characteristics, 76 models were characterized as metaphoric, 61 dynamic, and 35 sequential. Three interrelated conclusions and implications for ID learning are offered. Susan G. Magliaro [sumags@vt.edu] is Director of the School of Education and the Center for Teacher Education at Virginia Tech. Neal Shambaugh is Assistant Professor of Instructional Design & Technology in the College of Human Resources & Education at West Virginia University. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Professional Development in Student Assessment for Educational Administrators: An Instructional Framework

What assessment tasks do administrators perform? What knowledge and skills do they need for these tasks? How is this information useful for professional development?     

基于网络的形成性考核与终结性考试研究

中央广播电视大学基于网络的课程考核,从2005年试点以来,规模不断扩大,其所采用的形成性考核与终结性考试一体化设计,考核方法、效果与以往的传统考核存在一定差异。我们采用线性回归的方法研究了形成性考核和终结性考试成绩之间的关系,发现基于网络的形成性考核和终结性考试成绩之间存在正相关关系,并且与传统的考核方式有着相同的规律性和有效性。     

High School Teachers' Use of Data to Inform Instruction

The expectation that teachers will use student achievement data to improve their instruction is a major feature of national and local reform agendas. The theory of action behind data-driven decision making is a mostly causal model of professional action, whereby teachers diagnose weaknesses and implement solutions. The purpose of this article is to examine how high school teachers, situated within their policy and work contexts, use data to inform instructional decisions. Using a framework that draws upon sense-making and co-construction theories on reform implementation, we analyze qualitative data gathered in 4 urban public high schools in the United States. Findings reveal that the process of data use by teachers is complex, multilayered, and influenced by teacher interpretations and social interactions. Teachers used a variety of forms of data to inform their decision making and struggled to reconcile policies promoting data-driven decision making with local beliefs and practices. Implications for research and policy are discussed.     

The Effects of Concurrent Classroom and Home Instructional Video-Game Use on Student Achievement

ABSTRACT

This study focused on whether Internet use improves skills for practical use of information, which is termed information literacy in Japan. Data from Japanese elementary school children (n = 702) were analyzed in a two-wave panel study in order to estimate the causal relationship between Internet use and information literacy. Structural equation modeling was the specific technique applied in a cross-lagged effect model. Results of the analysis indicated that greater use of the Internet led to higher information literacy in the whole-scale measure of practical use of information, as well as in the subskill areas of collecting, judging, and expressing information.     

Formative and Summative Assessment in the Classroom

In this article, we provide brief overviews of the definitions of formative and summative assessment and a few examples of types of formative and summative assessments that can be used in classroom contexts. We highlight the points that these two types of assessment are complementary and the differences between them are often in the way these assessments are used. We also list several resources that may be useful for teachers who wish to know more about using formative and summative assessments in their classrooms.     

Medical Student Video Use and Summative Exam Performance during the First-Year Pre-Clinical Coursework and Implications in Distance Education

ABSTRACT

Medical student use of lecture video (live-streaming and/or recorded) at a regional medical school campus that utilized distance educational technology to deliver first-year pre-clinical lecture content, was examined. Additionally, medical student video lecture use was compared to student performance on summative exams and final course grades. All learners achieved desired scientific competencies across all courses irrespective of their use of live-streamed or recorded video formats. Throughout the course of the year, medical student video use partitioned into one of two groups: students that only watched lecture in live-streaming format, and those that watched lecture only in recorded format. Interestingly, those medical students that predominantly preferred view lectures using the live-streaming format tended to achieve better summative test scores and final course grades compared to their peers that primarily utilized recorded video to obtain lecture content. Retrospectively, dimensions of personality scores were compared between the two groups (live-streaming viewers versus recorded viewers), and, of the five dimensions of personality, only the domain of conscientiousness differed between the two groups. This study suggests that, while medical students reached academic milestones utilizing either recorded or live-streamed video for obtaining lecture content during their first-year pre-clinical courses, there may be factors of learner personality influencing video use preference which in turn enhances student performance on summative exams and final course grades. These findings may have implications in curriculum design for other distance educational formats emphasizing classical scientific competencies in post-undergraduate study that rely on video delivery of lecture content.     

教师接受网络教育技术的影响因素研究

本研究以某高校三个学院的78名在职教师为被试,探讨了影响教师接受网络教育技术的几个因素及其之间的关系。研究结果显示：感知的有用性是教师网络教育技术使用意向的直接决定因素,感知的易用性、主观规范以感知的有用性为中介间接影响使用意向,同时,主观规范还显著地影响感知的易用性。研究最后得出影响教师网络教育技术使用意向的结构方程理论模型,并讨论了研究结论的理论和实践意义。     

Data Use for Continuous Instructional Improvement in Early Childhood Education Settings

Early Childhood Education Journal - Long considered a best practice, early childhood educators are now strongly encouraged, if not mandated, to collect and use data to inform instructional...     

Student Assessment in High-School Social-Studies Courses in Turkey: Teachers' and Students' Perceptions

This study investigates the assessment strategies used in social-studies courses at the high-school level in Turkey and examines how teachers and students perceive them. Results indicate that short-answer tests are most frequently used to assess student performance, followed by oral tests. Multiple-choice and essay tests are also occasionally employed. Teachers tend to be satisfied with these assessment strategies, but suggest that alternative modes of assessment should also be considered. Students do not find such tests adequate for assessing their real performance in social-studies courses.     

形成性评价与总结性评价理论探究

自从形成性评价和总结性评价理论提出以来,人们对它们的涵义及相互关系仍有不同诠释。实际上形成性评价和总结性评价是一个连续体的两个方面：评价起于总结性,而形成性评价实际上是总结性评价加反馈和改进的过程。