Exploring Effectiveness of Classroom Assessments for Students’ Learning in High School Chemistry

Research in Science Education - New notions of science teaching and learning provide challenges for designing and using classroom assessment. Existing assessments are not effective in assessing and...     

A hierarchical approach to Students’ Assessments of Instruction

A teacher evaluation system can be threatening to faculty, especially if used for summative decisions. Therefore, it is important to obtain valid and pertinent information. Since students are extensively exposed to course elements, students’ evaluation of instruction should be one of several components in the teacher evaluation system. Since traditional methods, such as Cronbach’s alpha and ordinary least squares regression, do not address the hierarchical data of the classroom, the current study used the statistical techniques of confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical linear modelling in order to properly investigate the reliability and validity of the Students’ Assessment of Instruction (SAI) instrument. Use of hierarchical linear modelling to analyse teacher evaluation instruments could not be found in the literature, although it has been used in educational settings. This study will illustrate its usefulness in determining what measures are related, either as evidence of validity or as a bias, to instructional effectiveness. Student responses were also compared with faculty self-evaluations, one indicator of effective teaching, in order to determine if the SAI does measure instructional effectiveness. Overall, the SAI was found to have good reliability and validity with relatively few biases and could be used to extract five distinguishable traits of instructional effectiveness.     

Assessments of Student–Teacher Relationships in Residential Treatment Center Schools

Students in residential treatment center (RTC) schools are likely to have histories of extreme or ongoing relational trauma (e.g., abuse and neglect by primary caregivers), have substantial interpersonal and relationship problems, and exhibit many high-risk behaviors. Accordingly, these students may have particular difficulty forming positive relationships with teachers, yet student–teacher relationship quality in RTC schools has not been empirically studied. This study examines links between RTC school students' assessments of their relationships with teachers and their perceptions of self and others. Participants were 113 students in 2 RTC schools from 5th to 12th grade. Results indicate that male and female RTC students' positive perceptions (of self and others) are linked to positive assessments of their relationships with teachers. However, for girls in RTC schools, negative perceptions of self are linked to less positive assessments of the teacher–student relationship. Implications are discussed.     

Progression in O’Neill’s View of Women

Eugene O’Neill created a world of men. Women are either totally absent or are in the position of objects. This paper, through the analysis of three women, intends to show a change in O’Neill’s concept ...     

Large‐scale Portfolio Assessments in the US: evidence pertaining to the quality of measurement

Portfolio assessment, that is, the evaluation of performance by means of a cumulative collection of student work, has figured prominently in recent US debate about education reform. Proponents hope not only to broaden measurement of performance, but also to use portfolio assessment to encourage improved instruction. Although portfolio assessment has sparked considerable attention and enthusiasm, it has been incorporated into only a few of the nearly ubiquitous large‐scale external assessment programmes in the US. This paper evaluates the quality of the performance data produced by several large‐scale portfolio efforts. Evaluations of reliability, which have focused primarily on the consistency of scoring, have yielded highly variable results. While high levels of consistency have been reached in some cases, scoring has been quite inconsistent in others, to the point of severely limiting the utility of scores.

Information about other aspects of validity is more limited and generally discouraging. For example, scores from portfolio assessments often do not show anticipated relationships with other achievement data, and teachers report practices in the implementation of portfolio assessment that are appropriate for instructional purposes but threaten the validity of inferences from portfolio scores. While other studies show positive effects of portfolio programmes (see Stecher, this issue), these findings suggest that portfolio assessment at its current state of development is problematic for many of the uses to which large‐scale external assessments are now put in the US.     

An Analysis of Tess’ s Tragedy in Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Thomas Hardy is an outstanding novelist in the nineteenth century.He has produced numerous works including novels and poetry.His tragic novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles has a great impact on the world literature.The paper is focused on the exploration of Tess’s tragedy through her life experiences.Tess’s tragedy can be illustrated by three factors—her family aspects,love experiences and her social images,which also contribute collectively to poor Tess’s destiny.The social background of the period provides a basis for the novel,and the deformed social values and morality is the root of her tragedy,together with her personal temperament and the Christian religious influences.Christian mores of self-sacrifice,wide love and purity have a great effect on characters in the novel.In the fourth part,there is some enlightenment from Tess’s tragedy.It is believed that women play a crucial role in society.Tess is a woman with good qualities and her experiences give a warning to women today:the proper treatment of one’s behaviors and the social rules is critical.     

Tess’ s Losing of Virginity in Kant’s Eyes

Tess is a pure girl in Hardy’s eyes, as it shows in the book’s subtitle. She is sinned in Victorian’s time, however, she is still pure in Kant’s eyes.Key words: Tesss purity; Kant     

Recent Researches in Computer Science of Some’Deified’Universities

Nowadays,computers are very common in the daily life.The whole society is deterred by the vast power of the com puter.The computer plays the role that range from the solving of basic date information to the utility in the daily life.In one word,the computer changes the style of our lives.Nevertheless,the development of the computer is only in the nascent period,so the new researches in the computer science are ubiquitous,the typical examples that settled in the paper will explain different aspects of the computer and different trends.     

Tess’s Losing of Virginity in Kant’s Eyes

Tess is a pure girl in Hardy’s eyes, as it shows in the book’s subtitle. She is sinned in Victorian’s time, however, she is still pure in Kant’s eyes.     

Variation in Students’ Experiences of the ‘Oxford Tutorial’

This paper examines Oxford University students’ conceptions of the role of the tutorial in their learning. An analysis of interviews with 28 students constituted four qualitatively different conceptions of the ‘Oxford Tutorial’. These ranged from the tutorial involving the tutor explaining to the student what the student did not know, to the tutorial involving the tutor and the student in exchanging different points of view and both coming to a new understanding of the topic under discussion. These different conceptions also appeared to be related to variations in students’ views of the role of the work done in preparation for the tutorial, their view of the student’s and tutor’s roles in the tutorial, and the conception of knowledge that students adopted in relation to the tutorial. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of the relations between students’ conceptions of tutorials and their anticipated learning outcomes and its implications for contexts outside of Oxford in terms of students’ conceptions of academic tasks.     

Dissonance in students’ regulation of learning processes

In this article, dissonance in students’ way of learning is explored from a regulation of learning perspective. First, consonant patterns of interrelations among learning elements are sketched. These patterns were identified in studies with university students by means of a diagnostic instrument, the Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS), that assesses four learning components: cognitive processing strategies, metacognitive regulation strategies, mental models of learning, and learning orientations. Consonant patterns of linkages among these components result in four qualitatively different ways of learning or learning styles: undirected, reproduction-directed, meaning-directed and application-directed learning. Next, several studies that used the ILS as a research instrument were examined for indications of dissonant patterns of interrelations among these learning components. The students in these studies ranged from early secondary school to adult university students. Five phenomena of dissonance could be identified: lack of differentiation within learning components, lack of integration between learning components, incompatibility of learning strategies, models and orientations, missing learning style elements, and a lack of distinct application-directed learning. These phenomena are described and documented. Finally, the results are discussed in relation to other recent studies on dissonant study orchestrations and in terms of their practical meaning. A developmental explanation for the occurrence of some manifestations of dissonance is offered.     

Does Fidelity of Implementation Account for Changes in Teacher–Child Interactions in a Randomized Controlled Trial of Banking Time?

This study examined fidelity of implementation in a randomized trial of Banking Time, a classroom-based intervention intended to improve children's behavior, specifically for those at risk for developing externalizing behavior problems, through improving the quality of teacher–child interactions. The study sample comes from a randomized controlled trial that took place over three years and included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children recruited across three sites. Results exploring fidelity of implementation indicated that Banking Time practices were present across treatment and nontreatment groups. In addition, the presence of more Positive Banking Time Practices accounted for improvements in teacher–child interactions while Restricted Banking Time Practices showed inconsistent patterns, relating both to positive and negative teacher–child interactions. Further, random assignment to Banking Time resulted in the presence of more Positive Banking Time Practices and fewer Restricted Banking Time Practices, which accounted for the improved teacher–child interactions. Thus, findings point to the critical need to better account for intervention fidelity across conditions in randomized trials, allowing for better understanding of the mechanism through which interventions lead to intended outcomes.