A framework for classroom assessment,learning, and self-regulation

ABSTRACT

We present a conceptual framework that leverages synergies between classroom assessment (CA) practices and self-regulated learning (SRL) theory to support academic growth and instruction. We articulate the processes shared by CA and SRL, drawing on a model of SRL with three phases: forethought, performance, and self-reflection. We blend this SRL model with CA to create the CA:SRL framework in four stages: (1) pre-assessment, (2) the cycle of learning, doing, and assessing, (3) formal assessment, and (4) summarizing assessment evidence. We elucidate how SRL processes are involved at each stage and can be drawn on to support learning development and teacher understanding and co-regulation of learning. This framework is important in that it depicts how assessment and learning processes interact dynamically for both teachers and students in classrooms, and demonstrates that such interactions encompass the full breadth of purposes in CA, from planning through summation of evidence.     

Comprehensive Staff Development Programs: Implications for the Office of Institutional Research and Planning

Abstract

An increasing number of two-year colleges are drawing on an emerging model of comprehensive staff development. The model includes not only instructional improvement, but organizational and personal development as well. In this model, as staff development becomes an integral part of the college, the planning of such a program becomes an essential part of institutional planning.

The office of institutional research and planning should serve as a major resource in the formulation and implementation of the staff development program. Three major areas where this can occur are discussed: setting goals for the program, assessing staff development needs, and evaluating the impact of the program.     

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Online Learning: Implications for the Globalized Community College

Implicit in the open-door mission of the community college is the mandate that every learning experience should offer full equity and inclusion for all learners, including those of diverse cultural backgrounds. This mission is paramount, given the cultural diversity represented among learners served by the globalized community college. This paper presents a cross-section of research, practice, and discourse focused on expanding our knowledge and understanding of the diverse learning needs of community college learners. The relevance of the literature to the planning, design, and implementation of distance-learning is discussed. In the end, the authors offer distance-learning instructional strategies that may accommodate the unique needs of Hispanic/Latino learners. Implications for community college educators are discussed.     

News in Special Education

ABSTRACT

India has accorded a mission status to ‘Education for All’ over the past decade. Since Independence this goal remains elusive, due to certain disadvantaged groups remaining out of the fold of education. One such group is the ‘disabled’, within which those with severe learning difficulties (SLD) pose even more problems. This paper highlights the need to implement a community‐based model of integration for the SLD, and strongly advocates a holistic, community‐responsive educational approach. The model views the primary school as an integral part of the community environment, placing equal importance on other organizational structures. The role of the community as an active and vital partner in planning and implementation of education and support services seems to hold the key to success in achieving integration and education for all by the year 2000.     

Characteristics of effective collaboration: A study of Nurse-Family Partnership and child welfare

BackgroundIn February 2018, President Trump signed into law the Family First Prevention Act, legislation in the United States aimed at providing prevention services for families at risk of entering the child welfare system. The effectiveness of these prevention efforts is dependent on the formation of collaborative relationships between prevention-programs and child welfare.ObjectiveTo identify factors that influence the ability of the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) and Child Protective Services (CPS) to collaborate in serving high-risk mothers and their children.Participants123 NFP, CPS workers, and community partners.SettingSeven sites in the U.S. state of Colorado selected to include an array of community sizes, geographies, apparent levels of collaboration, and variations in internal structures and practices.MethodsUsing an adapted grounded theory approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with frontline NFP and CPS workers and supervisors. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, validated, and coded in NVivo 10.ResultsAlignment of core organizational mission and methods was key in determining collaboration levels between NFP and CPS. Only when workers perceived there to be alignment in organizational mission, did other factors such as program eligibility, communication channels, and risk and safety assessment practices influence the perceived benefits and efforts undertaken to enhance collaboration.ConclusionsHigh-risk families frequently require services that go beyond the scope of any one organization. As programs that serve high-risk families refine their efforts to serve them effectively, collaborative efforts should focus on examining opportunities and challenges involved in creating greater mission alignment.     

Assessment of Student Performance: a framework for improving practice

Assessment of student performance and the evaluation of courses and teaching are critical elements in the teaching‐learning environment and are central to each higher education institution's mission of preparing students for the future. There are increasing internal and external pressures for institutions to review and improve their practice in this area. While a vast knowledge‐base exists to inform good practice in assessment of student performance, change in practice seems to be slow. A framework for improving assessment practice, based on a simple quality management model, is provided as are some examples which illustrate application of the model/framework. Some suggestions are also made about support mechanisms and resources required for effecting significant improvement to practice.     

Exploring the Impact of Assessment on Medical Students’ Learning

Abstract

What and how students learn depend largely on how they think they will be assessed. This study aimed to explore medical students’ perception of the value of assessment and feedback on their learning, and how this relates to their examination performance. A mixed methods research design was adopted in which a questionnaire was developed and administered to the students to gain their perceptions of assessments. Perceptions were further explored in focus group discussions. Survey findings were correlated with students’ performance data and academic coordinators’ perceptions. Students’ perceptions of the level of difficulty of different assessments mirrored their performance in examinations, with an improvement observed in clinical assessments as students progressed through their degree. Students recognised that feedback is important to allow improvements and seek more timely, better quality and personalised feedback. Academic coordinators identified that some of the students’ suggestions are more realistic than others. Students had a positive attitude towards assessment, but emphasised the need for educators to highlight the relevance of assessment to clinical practice.     

Work in “value-added” analysys of schools' performance at the National Foundation for Educational Research

Abstract

The article presents a revision of the added value model in school assessment, understood to mean the extent to which the school achieves greater student performance, once other factors have been controlled, such as the socio-cultural context and the initial level of knowledge. Firstly, the evolution of this concept over the last few years is analysed, on account of an advance in three areas: studies on effective schools; performance measures; and changes in educational ideology. In point two there is some reflection on the contributions this model makes towards the most classical assessment approach, but attention is also drawn to the risk which may be run in doing so. Part three presents the assessment and research projects which are conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) within this theoretical framework. Finally, there is an appendix with a guide on taking the necessary decisions for working from the added value approach.     

Developing an Eating Disorder Peer Advocate Program on Campus: A Report on the Eating Disorder Awareness and Advocacy Program (EDAAP)

ABSTRACT

This article describes the development and implementation of a peer advocate program for eating disorders and body image outreach on a college campus. Empirical and conceptual literature on the use of peer educators and peer advocates in college student mental health is reviewed. Peer advocate program mission, history, implementation, and training components are described. Learning outcome assessment findings of peer advocate learning are discussed. A counseling center perspective on benefits, challenges, and limitations of facilitating this peer advocate program is shared.     

Learning Organisations,Investors in People and New Labour's Learning Society

In this article I intend to explore two models of what constitutes a Learning Organisation. One model is a broader and developmental one which comprises: anticipating future problems; paying attention to the external environment; continuously seeking improvement; approaching problem solving through conceptual analysis and on an organisation-wide basis; rewarding initiative and creativity; defining jobs to encourage risk-taking, exploration, initiative and knowledge sharing. The second model is the much more functional and mechanistic one proposed under the Investors in People (IiP) with its emphasis on 'commitment, planning, action, evaluation'     

Young people's comparisons of cross-gender and same-gender bullying in British secondary schools

Background: Data-based decision-making in education often focuses on the use of summative assessment data in order to bring about improvements in student achievement. However, many other sources of evidence are available across a wide range of indicators. There is potential for school leaders, teachers and students to use these diverse sources more fully to support their work on a range of school improvement goals.

Purpose and sources of evidence: To explore data-based decision-making for school improvement, this theoretical paper discusses recent research and literature from different areas of data use in education. These areas include the use of formative assessment data, educational research study findings and ‘big data’. In particular, the discussion focuses on how school leaders and teachers can use different sources of data to improve the quality of education.

Main argument: Based on the literature reviewed, an iterative model of data use for school improvement is described, consisting of defining goals for data use, collecting different types of data or evidence (e.g. formal data, informal data, research evidence and ‘big data’), sense-making, taking improvement actions and evaluation. Drawing on the literature, research insights are discussed for each of these components, as well as identification of the research gaps that still exist. It is noted that the process of data use does not happen in isolation: data use is influenced by system, organisation and team/individual level factors.

Conclusions: When it comes to using data to improve the quality of teaching and learning, it is evident that some of the most important enablers and barriers include data literacy and leadership. However, what is less well understood is how we can promote the enablers and remove the barriers to unlock, more fully, the potential of data use. Only then can data use lead to sustainable school improvement.     

Research Abstracts and Bibliographies

ABSTRACT

The authors address the reliability of scores obtained on the summative performance assessments during the pilot year of our research. Contrary to classical test theory, we discussed the advantages of using generalizability theory for estimating reliability of scores for summative performance assessments. Generalizability theory was used as the framework because of the flexibility this approach provides for examining sources of inconsistency within a complex assessment. Two major sources of inconsistency on scores considered in this study were raters and agencies (teachers' rating vs. researchers' rating). Overall, results showed that the inconsistency in scores attributable to raters and agencies was relatively small. Suggestions regarding improvement of consistency in the subsequent years of our research were provided.     

Change,choices, and consequences: A guide to mega thinking and planning by Roger Kaufman,CPT

Roger Kaufman, CPT, is professor emeritus from Florida State University, director of Roger Kaufman & Associates, and Distinguished Research Professor at the Sonora Institute of Technology. He has published 38 books and over 250 articles on strategic planning, performance improvement, quality management and continuous improvement, needs assessment, management, and evaluation. Change, Choices, and Consequences (ISBN: 0–87425–924‐X) is published by HRD Press and ISPI. The publisher may be reached online at www.hrdpress.com or by phone at 800–822–2801.     

Computer-Assisted Tutoring in Success for All: Reading Outcomes for First Graders

Abstract

This article presents a randomized experiment evaluating a computer-assisted tutoring program. The software program, Alphie's Alley, provides reading tutors with assessment and planning tools and performance support. It provides students with animated presentations and engaging activities. In a yearlong study involving 25 schools using the Success for All reading program, 412 low-achieving first graders were randomly assigned to be tutored daily for 20 min with or without Alphie's Alley. Tutors were also randomly assigned. On individually administered reading measures, controlling for pretests, there were no significant differences overall, but among students with tutors rated as “fully implementing,” those who experienced Alphie's Alley scored significantly better on three of four measures. These results suggest that if well implemented, technology that enhances the performance of tutors has promise in improving the reading performance of at-risk children.     

A Survey of Virginia Public School Principals on the State of Environmental Education

ABSTRACT:

The National Survey of Evaluation Methods and Results in Resident Outdoor Education Programs (1981–82) identified methods used by administrators to evaluate outdoor education programs. 144 surveys were returned (41%), and 171 evaluation instruments were submitted. Most programs evaluate by a combination of methods; 45% use subjective methods, 12% objective, and 36% both. Major uses of evaluations are for improvement pnd planning. Over 100 questions needing research were submitted. Evaluations most frequently assess overall satisfactions with the program, operational aspects, and students' attitudes. A model of the evaluation development process is included.     

Fluid reasoning,working memory and planning ability in assessment of risk for mathematical difficulties

ABSTRACT

The demands on mathematical problem-solving have increased in almost all school systems internationally and may constitute a barrier for children with special educational needs (SEN). This study explored the role of fluid reasoning (FR), working memory (WM) and complex executive function of planning (EF) in children (N = 62) referred for assessment of SEN, and specifically of risk for mathematical difficulties (MD). Performances on FR, WM and complex EF of planning were used to predict risk for MD. Results showed that planning ability predicted children at risk for MD, beyond FR or WM ability, when comparing with children not at risk for MD. It was concluded that assessing the complex EF of planning in addition to FR and WM ability is crucial in identifying children at risk for MD. The importance of understanding how planning ability affects children’s mathematical problem-solving is discussed, in relation to assessment and teaching practices.     

The Practicalities of Staff Development

Abstract

This paper introduces the assessment procedures which are currently being utilised by the NCVQ. The emphasis on the performance of the Trainee is suggested as a major variable and Trainee competence is shown to revolve around being seen to perform efficiently.

Two theoretical positions are shown to underpin the NCVQ version of competence assessment. Functionalism and behaviourism in their more basic forms are very near to the surface of NVQ accreditation. It is demonstrated that both of these theoretical approaches are evident in the developing and emerging NVQ model. Finally, the question of suitability is raised. That is, it is suggested that the model of competence assessment currently being used in Further Education and soon to be introduced into Higher Education, may be unsuitable except perhaps at the more basic level.     

The Psychodynamic Formulation of Marital Discord

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses the contribution of object relations theory to an understanding of marital pairs in conflict. Both insight-oriented and briefer, “here and now” communication skills enhancing approaches are informed by a psychodynamic formulation of marital discord model. Utilized frequently in the treatment of individuals, the relevance of a psychodynamic formulation of conflict in couples is explored in detail for complex assessment, treatment planning, and as a guide in predicting the nature of the therapeutic alliance. This model, utilizing object relations theory, is presented conceptually and clinically with reference to a marital therapy case that required a variety of treatment strategies.     

Measuring Pupil Progress at Key Stage 1: Using baseline assessment to investigate value added

This paper presents results from an LEA-commissioned value-added project conducted with 107 primary schools in Surrey. The project was designed to explore the use of baseline assessment at entry to reception classes to measure pupil progress across Key Stage 1 (KS1). Pupil performance in KS1 assessments of the core curriculum areas English (reading and writing), mathematics and science were analysed. The results of multi-level analyses, the impact of pupil background factors, the feedback of results to schools and the way Surrey Education Service and schools are using the information in school improvement activities are described.