Summative National Curriculum assessments of primary aged children with special needs

Ann Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Warwick, examines what has been learned about the use of standard tests and tasks with primary age children perceived as having special educational needs. She also raises wider issues about the assessment of all children with special needs and considers the implications for the fostering of supportive school environments for a range of children.     

毕业设计辅助信息管理系统的设计

针对目前高等教育的大众化、培养方式和途径多元化,设计实现了一套基于B/S模式的涵盖课题申报发布、学生选题、设计指导、设计评定等毕业设计工作环节和任务的管理系统。本系统经试运行,可有效地帮助普通高等院校完成毕业设计的辅助管理。     

Reworking practice through an AfL project: an analysis of teachers’ collaborative engagement with new assessment guidelines

In recent years, the concept of Assessment for Learning (AfL) has travelled across countries, giving rise to a range of educational policy initiatives and school development projects. While researchers have focused on issues such as how formative assessment can support student learning and lead to more efficient classroom practices, less attention has been paid to the collaborative work required to develop shared assessment practices at the school level, and to the integration of AfL‐related principles and tools in the collective practice. This paper focuses on the challenges emerging for a teacher team engaging with an AfL project in a lower secondary school in Norway. By employing concepts and perspectives from social practice theory, AfL is understood as a problem complex that needs to be explored and developed locally. We have analysed data from seven video‐recorded meetings of an AfL team, supplemented by interviews and field notes, in order to make visible the micro processes of teachers' collaborative work. The analysis shows how the teachers needed to rework historically established practices and principles, which in turn called for a negotiation and re‐contextualisation of new concepts and artefacts in their efforts to develop shared assessment practices. This again required ways of representing existing practices and imagining future scenarios. Based on these observations we recommend that AfL projects be understood in their wider curricular, institutional, and social contexts, and that the constructive dimensions of teachers' collaborative work in such projects should be acknowledged.     

Developing teachers’ capacities in assessment through career-long professional learning

Abstract

In a context of increasing demand for quality and equity in education and a sharp focus on accountability, classroom teachers are also expected to support and improve learning outcomes for pupils in response to their individual needs. This paper explores three issues: how teachers understand assessment in relation to their students’ learning, the curriculum and their pedagogical choices; how teachers’ capacity to use assessment to improve students’ learning can be developed through career-long professional learning (CLPL); and how teachers’ learning can be implemented and sustained in schools, both locally and nationally. In considering these issues, recent thinking about learning and assessment and CLPL are considered alongside empirical evidence from the development and implementation of assessment processes and approaches to professional development in Scotland. The paper emphasises the importance of a dynamic framework of CLPL that recognises the individuality of teachers’ learning needs and the consequent need for tailored professional learning opportunities with different combinations of support and challenge at school, local and national levels.     

The Development of an EPS Information Booklet for Primary Age Pupils

The focus of this paper is based on a research project undertaken in an outer London EPS. The research was in line with recent legislative and policy changes, highlighting the importance of the active participation of children in discussions made about them and their school life. Central to the project was the decision that pupils should be provided with an information booklet, regarding the educational psychologist's (EP) role within the assessment process-and by thus doing, promoting direct access and involvement between the pupil and the EPS. After initial research into this area had been undertaken, a pupil information booklet was produced. This booklet is currently being trialled in all primary schools within the education authority.     

'It was Better than Sitting in a Group and Talking'. An Evaluation of a Film-Making Project with Young People in Trouble or 'At Risk' in School

This paper will explore some issues raised by an evaluation of a Scottish video making project which works with young people in trouble or 'at risk' in school. In the paper we reflect on the problems of evaluating work with troubled and troublesome pupils and on the difficulties of both collecting and presenting appropriate evidence. It offers a contribution to continuing debates over educational exclusion and inclusion and to the research literature on strategies for supporting young people in school. The paper also raises key questions about the planning and evaluating of support services for young people by schools.     

Efficacy of an early intervention education program for moderately handicapped infants

This paper focuses on the evaluation of special education services for handicapped infants. The research question posed is whether early intervention programming results in reduced need for specialized services when children are age-eligible for elementary school. The primary focus of the paper is the development of a predictive model which may be useful in assessing the efficacy of early intervention services. The predictive model is applied using longitudinal data from a small sample of moderately handicapped infants. The preliminary findings support the contention that earlier intervention results in a lessened need for special education services in subsequent years. The paper also discusses the benefit-cost issues related to the efficacy question under investigation.     

Philosophical differences between early childhood education and special education: Issues for school psychologists

Increasingly, professional psychologists are extending their services from school-age children to young handicapped children. Psychological intervention and education issues regarding this group of children are complicated by the fact that the field of early childhood special education itself is in its infancy. This article presents the emerging field of early childhood special education, clarifies some major concerns in educating young handicapped children, and raises issues for school psychologists working in this area.     

Learning by teaching: undergraduate engineering students improving a community's response capability to an early warning system

This paper reports on a project in which students designed, constructed and tested a model of an existing early warning system with simulation of debris flow in a context of a landslide. Students also assessed rural community members’ knowledge of this system and subsequently taught them to estimate the time needed for evacuation of the community in the event of a landslide. Participants were four undergraduate students in a civil engineering programme at a university in Thailand, as well as nine community members and three external evaluators. Results illustrate project and problem-based, experiential learning and highlight the real-world applications and development of knowledge and of hard and soft skills. The discussion raises issues of scalability and feasibility for implementation of these types of projects in large undergraduate engineering classes.     

Academic Standards and the Assessment of Student Learning: Some Current Issues in Australian Higher Education

This paper reports a recent national studyby the Centre for the Study of HigherEducation into contemporary practices in studentassessment in Australian higher education and theissues of quality assurance facing thesector in the light of public speculationand concern about academic standards. Amajor issue emerging from the project isthe importance of defining the relationshipsbetween approaches to student assessment andgrading, quality assurance and academic standards. The paper discusses the issues surrounding academicstandards in Australia in the context ofthe new national framework for highereducation quality assurance and the role of theAustralian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA).     

School Innovation in Science: Improving science teaching and learning in Australian schools

School Innovation in Science is a major Victorian Government initiative that developed and validated a model whereby schools can improve their science teaching and learning. The initiative was developed and rolled out to more than 400 schools over the period 2000–2004. A research team worked with 200+ primary and secondary schools over three years, supporting them in developing new initiatives in science, and monitoring the impact on school and classroom practice, and student outcomes. The research effort underpinning the development phase included the development and validation of a set of components describing effective teaching, the refinement of a school and teacher change strategy, the development of instruments to monitor teacher classroom practice and a variety of student outcomes, and the development of insights into the change process using questionnaires, observations, and interviews across four years. This paper describes the project and its major outcomes, and raises a number of issues concerning the nature of school and teacher change, pedagogy, school and community, and student learning, and the way these interact. A number of research issues are raised by the size and developmental nature of the project, the range of research methods, and the different audiences served by the research. The issue of sustainability of such system‐wide change initiatives is discussed.     

School Management and Pupil Care

This paper opens with a debate about the importance of care in education and the author suggests it is not near the heart of current policy. He then explores some of the special challenges for care and this includes a focus on some pupils whose need for care is extra great. He then highlights key aspects of secondary–school management including issues around the curriculum, assessment, the role of pastoral leader, the use of ICT and the use of support staff. He uses his range of experience to critically review developments since his first writing on this topic in the 1970s.     

Increasing the use of evidence-based strategies by special education teachers: A collaborative approach

This article describes a process developed to increase the use of evidence-based instructional strategies by teachers of students in special education programs in a middle school and high school. The project developed a working partnership between university researchers and parents, teachers and administrators of students in special education programs. The partnership produced manuals for the teachers that outlined effective strategies for teaching reading, encouraging family involvement, providing academic feedback, and engaging in positive behavior support in the classroom. The results of assessing implementation fidelity, implications of the study, and future research issues are presented.     

Development Co-operation and Linkages in Higher Education: Key Issues Concerning Policy and Organisation

The term linkage is used to indicate co-operation between an institution in the North and an institution in the South. Donor organisations have generally used linkages to support the development of higher education and research in developing countries. Over time, there has been a trend away from co-operation on individual academic projects towards broader development co- operation and concentration on selected institutions. This shift raises questions about organisation, procedures and support mechanisms, and about the mandate and capabilities of universities in the North, given the frequently asymmetrical relationship between Northern institutions with their own research agendas and Southern beneficiaries. The recent restructuring of Canadian, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish support for higher education and research is the result of a search for new, more appropriate models of co-operation. This paper examines the evolution of key issues of policy and organisation within the international donor community.     

Quality in Group Day Care Provision: UK self‐assessment models in Hungarian day care centres

The importance of quality in the provision of day care services for young children is well established. A project designed to address issues of assessing, maintaining and enhancing standards of service provision in the UK developed a set of self‐assessment materials for use in group day care settings. This paper describes a project to evaluate whether versions of the same materials might be effective in group day care settings in Hungary. Differences and similarities between service provision in the UK and Hungary are described. In a study involving 76 Hungarian day care centres, > 80% of staff involved thought using the materials raised their awareness of quality issues, although the materials did not have a significant impact on the quality of care provided. Key differences between service provision in the UK and Hungary are identified as influencing the potential effectiveness of the materials in assessing, maintaining and enhancing quality.     

An evaluation of the role of email in promoting science investigative skills in primary rural schools in England

This project evaluated the effect of collaboration via email links on the quality of 10–11 year old students’ science investigative skills in six primary rural schools. After a joint planning meeting, sixty children collected, identified and shared information via email about moths in their area, in order to produce a joint booklet. All email traffic was monitored throughout the project. Indepth structured observations and interviews were carried out at the schools. Children completed daily diaries. The children demonstrated a variety of science skills, particularly observation and recording. Their competence and confidence in using computers, handling email and in manipulating a data base developed during the project. The project identified a number of important issues relating to teacher inservice training requirements, the importance of a suitable progression of IT experiences throughout the school, development in cooperative groupwork for children, and software design.     

A Model for Assessing Learning Outcomes for Australian Students in Special Schools

Questions contine to be raised about the relevance of educational outcomes for young people with learning difficulties. Margaret Dowrick, lecturer in special education at the University of Western Sydney, suggests that there is ongoing concern that education services fail to prepare students with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties 'for the demands of adult life'. In this article, Margaret Dowrick describes a project that brought together professionals, parents and students in order to generate consensus about the skills that young people with learning difficulties need to gain before leaving school. The results of these consultations were fed back to schools in order to support the process of curricular review. Although this paper is written from an Australian perspective, the author makes telling links with the situation in North America and the United Kingdom and raises issues that will be of interest to specialist educators everywhere.     

Thinking about Assessment

This paper defends certain of Andrew Davis's arguments on assessment from critique by John Gingell and Christopher Winch. It emphasises the role of personal acquaintance in assessing 'rich' understanding, criticises Antony Flew's claim that assessment is a necessary part of teaching, and rejects the argument that public assessment is necessary for purposes of accountability. It also suggests that parents' monitoring of their young children's progress could act as a yardstick, suitably modified, for what might be done in formal education. The conclusion raises problems about the assessment of moral development and about the justifiability of leaving assessment under political rather than professional control.     

Litigation and Learning: Tensions in improving university lecturers' assessment practice

Current debate about assessment in higher education raises educational and political issues. Lecturers who wish to make their assessment more reliable and rigorous, as well as more effective in improving students' learning, need more than technical help to do so. This paper reports findings from an action research project which focused on assessment practice at the University of Sunderland, UK. It highlights tensions between genuine educational concerns to improve practice and more instrumental pressures, for example, to defend one's assessment practice from challenges by students, colleagues and external bodies. It is argued that improvement, rather than mere change, will require the commitment of people who possess intimate day-to-day contextual knowledge of assessment, and who recognise its educational and political complexities. The findings highlight two areas for further research: ways of inducting and involving students in an 'assessment community', and institutional staff development designed to improve assessment practice.     

A trio of evaluation and assessment models from pre ICT innovations: Lessons from the past

Three major evaluations of innovative projects designed and implemented in the US during the 1960s and 1970s provide models for the design and analysis of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects. Large in scope, sophisticated in design and explicit in reporting, the three evaluations were: an analysis of major factors in “change agent” projects conducted by the Rand Corporation; an evaluation of Follow Through, a program to continue supporting “disadvantaged” children in elementary school; and a multi-year evaluation of the Comprehensive School Mathematics Program, a multi-grade project designed to change mathematics instruction and, at the same time, develop suitable assessment tools. Each of the studies provides a model of how ICT projects, both those in place and those in the design stages, may be evaluated in order that important questions — “What happened?” and “Why?” and “To what effect?” — can be answered. The three evaluations stress the importance of defining project characteristics, working from clearly defined practices, assessing fidelity of implementation, studying the multiple reactions of all the stakeholders, and conducting assessments of pupil progress at appropriate times and with appropriate measures. The models can serve ICT educators as guidelines as they look for complex, meaningful and educationally sound ways of determining the impact of ICT on all stakeholders.