Assessment and examinations in Armenia

This profile describes traditional assessment practices in Armenia – many of which are typical of those formerly practised throughout the Soviet Union – and the ongoing efforts to reform formal examinations and school‐based evaluation techniques. The extraordinarily high stakes associated with the examination currently used to select applicants for university places are discussed, as are the consequences for teaching and learning of having entrance tests based on published, rather than unseen, item banks. Progress towards introducing a new, dual‐purpose school‐leaving/university selection examination is outlined and the remaining hurdles described.     

Comments from the Editors

Second‐career individuals are entering the teaching profession in greater numbers. These older, mature individuals bring diffent experiences to teaching than do younger, traditional preservice and beginning teachers. Lyle, a second‐career teacher, began his first year of teaching in a junior high school, a setting that did not allow him to teach in ways that he believed he should. This paper presents a record of Lyle's struggles as he negotiates the role of teaching and his relationships with students. The conclusions examine some factors that mitigated against Lyles’ smooth transition into the teaching profession and suggest that second‐career teachers such as Lyle may be disadvantaged by traditional teacher education programs, the pressures under which they accept teaching positions, and their sometimes distant perspective of teachers, teacher's work, and students.     

Suitable for Teaching? Applicants' Views on Selection for Initial Teacher Training

Selection for admission to initial teacher training is an interface between the teaching profession and those who aspire to join it. Well-managed selection can communicate a positive image of teaching as a career and can encourage applicants to maintain their interest in joining the profession. In an earlier report [4] issues in selection were considered from the standpoint of Scotland's seven colleges of education. This paper presents the views of applicants to the profession. Its principal focus is the views of candidates who did not subsequently enter on course because either they changed their minds or they were not offered places. To balance this, information gained from a smaller number of applicants who did enroll on a teaching course is also considered. Applicants' views on selection are obviously of importance in obtaining a rounded view of the strengths and weaknesses of current practice.     

美国大学入学考试SAT与ACT对我国高考的启示——对我国高考的近期与远期改革建议

美国大学入学考试主要有两种:SAT与ACT。美国大学在选拔新生时强调素质的全面考查,但SAT、ACT等大学入学考试的成绩也至关重要。美国大学入学考试SAT或ACT每年均开展多次,大学入学考试与高校录取工作相对独立地开展,实行"招考分离"。学生亦可报名参加多次SAT或ACT考试,高校以最高成绩为选拔依据。SAT、ACT考试编制的科学化程度较高,试题难度稳定,得到了多数大学的信任。变"一次高考机会"为"多次高考机会",实行"招考分离",是我国高考改革的大势所趋。但具体改革的操作细节应深入研究,谨慎实施,以免发生执行上的偏差。     

University Admissions and the Prediction of Degree Performance: an Analysis in the Light of Changes to the English Schools’ Examination System

The United Kingdom's Department for Education has recently changed the nature of the AS‐level examinations normally taken by students aspiring to enter higher education degree courses one year into their post‐compulsory education. In the face of protests from universities and other institutions that this would both harm students’ progression towards the A‐level qualifications, on which entry to English universities is normally based, and make it difficult for universities determining which of their applicants were best placed to benefit from their degree courses, the Department conducted research which it claimed showed that degree outcome could be predicted as well from the results of GCSE examinations taken one year before AS‐levels as from AS‐levels themselves. This paper critiques those analyses and their conclusions showing, through a re‐analysis and extended interpretation of the Department's data, that AS‐levels provide a more reliable predictor of degree performance in 2011 than GCSEs and that many students who performed better at AS‐level than at GCSE gained a place, and performed well, at a university with high entrance standards.     

做好高中物理阶段性考试的复习工作研究

在高中物理教学中,教师会多次组织学生进行除高考之外的阶段性小型考试,如单元、章、节的测试,期中、期末考试等。文章探讨做好高中物理阶段性考试复习的策略:让学生明确各章知识点、明确自己的薄弱环节,交换出题、相互考,提升学生的考试技巧,以考前模拟让学生放松心态,不同阶段采取不同的复习策略。     

论学校要教会学生"学会做人"

学校教育的本质是既教书又育人。教师不仅要传授知识,更重要的是要引领青年学生健康成长。目前学校在教书方面各具所长,其目的主要是应对升学考试。但不容忽视的问题是,学校教育在教会学生做人方面却出现了漏洞,问题迭出。针对现状,有必要做一些思考和探讨。作为教书育人的学校必须懂得,为什么要教会学生学会做人和如何教会学生做人,做怎样的人。     

Learning from students,inquiry into practice,and participation in professional communities: Beginning teachers' uneven progress toward equitable science teaching

In this research project, we investigated two beginning secondary science teachers' efforts to learn to teach science in ways that build from and celebrate the ethnic, gender, linguistic, and academic diversity of their students. To do so, we followed Troy and Brian from their preservice teacher education experiences through their first year of teaching 8th grade physical science at local junior high schools. We also conducted a follow‐up observation and interview with each participant after he had moved past the beginning stage of survival in the teaching profession—once in his fourth year of public school science teaching. Through qualitative analysis of interviews, classroom observations, and teachers' written work, we identified patterns and explored commonalities and differences in Troy and Brian's views and practices tied to equity over time. In particular, we examined successes and challenges they encountered in learning to teach science for all (a) from their students, (b) from inquiry into practice, and (c) from participation in professional communities. In our implications, we suggest ways teacher educators and induction professionals can better support beginning teachers in learning to teach science to all students. In particular, we highlight the central roles both individual colleagues and collective school cultures play in aiding or impeding beginning teachers' efforts to learn from students, from practice, and from professional communities. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 586–612, 2007.     

中国高师传统教育实习模式比较

我国高师传统教育实习模式主要有清末仿日模式、小学期制、学年制、仿苏模式和自主应用型5种。从各模式的结构和质量看,可分为简单体验型和复合提高型两大类。前者是师范教育初级阶段的产物,后者是师范教育培养模式走向成熟的表现。在高等教育大众化的迅猛发展中,我国原有的师范教育体系瓦解了,新的师范教育体系正在建设,分析比较传统教育实习模式的特点,可以为新模式的建构提供有益的借鉴。     

Outstanding Students Should Be Encouraged to Apply for the Entrance Examinations to Key Schools

Mustering strength to run key schools successfully is one of the major tasks on the educational front. Many ordinary schools regard it as an unshirkable duty to supply key middle schools with junior high graduates who do well in their studies. Nevertheless, there are now some ordinary schools that, proceeding from selfish departmentalism, do not encourage their junior high graduates with better scholastic attainments to sign up for the entrance examination to senior grades of key middle schools. Instead, they caution the students, "If next semester you will continue to study at our school in senior grade one, we'll put you in the key class. If you apply for the entrance examination to a key school and return to our school when rejected, then it would be impossible for us to assign you to the key class." Some even warn, "You will not be accepted if you come back." In this way, a batch of students who do well in their studies are pressured not to sign up for the entrance examinations to key schools. They are afraid that they may have no opportunity to study at all if they fail in the entrance examinations. This practice is obviously wrong. If every school does things this way and every student with better scholastic aptitude does not apply for the key school, how can the key school recruit the better qualified? Where can the "better qualified" come from?     

体育中考存在的问题及对策研究

对体育中考中失分原因的分析，提出了教师在增强事业心和责任心，以及在制定教学总体目标和计划中的一些解决策略，旨在为提高体育中考成绩找到出路．     

Pathways to Teaching: Latino Student Choice and Professional Identity Development in a Teacher Training Magnet Program Special Issue: Partnering for Equity

This paper reports on one component of a school-university collaborative in El Paso, Texas, to create pathways to college and the teaching profession for Latino and Latina high school students. As part of the Institute for Educational Inquiry's “Diversity in Teaching and Teacher Education” initiative (1997–2000) at The University of Texas—El Paso, the authors developed a program of mentoring, professional development, college socialization, and research activities with high school students and teachers at Riverside High School's Socratic Institute (SI), an innovative, predominately Latino teacher training magnet school. This article reports on a part of the school-university collaborative that brought university faculty and Latino doctoral students into contact with high school SI students in organized research. Through surveys and semi-structured interviews, Socratic student participants reveal what they know about teaching, how they assess and make sense of teaching practice, and how they take on and articulate their identity and emerging teaching personae. Responses reveal why these Latino students choose teaching as a career, and point to the Socratic Institute as an important pre-pre-service model for the recruitment of Latino/a students to the teaching profession and college.     

不等式恒成立问题的等价转换策略

不等式恒成立问题是高中数学教学和数学竞赛培训中的一个难点.处理好不等式恒成立问题,是即将参加高考和数学竞赛的同学获得高分的有力保证,而等价转换是解决此类问题的重中之重.     

对初中诗歌写作教学的一点思考

诗歌有着独特而丰富的审美价值，在初中阶段进行一点诗歌写作的训练对提高学生的审美能力是大有裨益的，但是诗歌写作长期被视作各种升学考试的禁区而在初中作文教学中得不到应有的重视。近年来在升学考试中诗歌写作已从被限制到了部分不受限制，初中作文教学也有从强调文体到淡化文体的变化。我们应该运用新的课程理念对诗歌写作的重要性和必要性作一点理性的思考。     

Learning to allow temporary failure: potential benefits,supportive practices and teacher concerns

The main problems faced by Russian education and consequently by trainers of school teachers are the question of values, along with finance and the legacy of Soviet power and of the Russian tradition. These problems are illustrated by the position in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia. Methods of recruiting young teachers, their supply and the institutions in which they are trained are described, and a significant mismatch is discovered between training and the employment patterns of graduates. Deep-seated cultural attitudes towards the status of institutions, training methodology, curricula and workload are revealed which would inhibit the adoption of procedures common in W estern countries, even if that were thought desirable. A need for the considerable extension of joint activities, most of all extended work placements for teacher-trainers, is perceived; the aim of this would be to build up 'global' attitudes in Russia and extend Western understanding of the Russian tradition.     

Education of Chinese Youth in Russia

It is very difficult to estimate the number of Chinese students in Russia, because the Soviet government never announces it in public and the administration is being done outside the framework of official relations with the Chinese embassy in Russia. Therefore, even the Chinese legation does not have definite information regarding the number, profession, and home address of Chinese in Russia, although the legation roughly estimates the number at about 10,000. (1, 2)     

The Impact of Self-assessment on Achievement: The effects of self-assessment training on performance in external examinations

Can the quality of students' work be improved through training in self- assessment practices? This paper considers the impact of training high school students on their performance in external examinations. Teachers were selected from a sample of high schools and trained in how to develop students' self-assessment skills. Ten high schools representative of the top, middle and bottom levels of academic achievement in national examinations were chosen and students trained in self-assessment by their normal class teachers as part of their final year curriculum. An experimental group comprising 256 participants received formal training in self-assessment skills for the entire three terms of the academic year. A control group was selected from matched classes not receiving such training. A significant difference favouring those trained in self-assessment was found overall and in each curriculum area. While it is demonstrated that self-assessment training can have an impact on student performance the paper considers the circumstances of the study and whether similar outcomes might be possible in less favourable conditions.     

The Fundamental Theory and Practice for the Uniform General Admissions Examination for Colleges and Universities in China

China has a territory of 9.6 million square kilometers, and a population of 1.1 billion. There are 1,075 general colleges and universities throughout the country, enrolling a total of approximately 2 million students. Each year we have about 2.5 million graduates from upper middle school, which, added to the number of graduates from previous years, make for a pool of candidates for admission to college and university of about 2.8 million in any given year. In the last two years, in accordance with the state's planning, we have admitted about 700,000 new students to the general colleges and universities each year (which is approximately 3 percent of the total number of people of the same age in the country at large and about 20 percent of the graduates from upper middle schools for that year). To guarantee that the limited resources and funds that the state invests in higher education may take greater effect, we have to select the new students of the highest quality and qualifications to admit to the colleges and universities. At the same time, however, we also have to make it convenient for the broad masses of graduates from upper middle schools to take part in examinations locally and apply for admissions to all the appropriate colleges or universities in the country. Since 1952 we have begun to adopt a system whereby the questions for all general colleges/universities entrance examinations throughout the country are unified, and all colleges and universities are pledged to admit new students on the basis of competitive merit. Thus the plans of colleges and universities in terms of new student admission, the subjects of examination, the questions in the examinations, and the standard answers, as well as the scoring standards or criteria of evaluating results, are all formulated in a uniform way by the state, with the provinces (or autonomous regions or municipalities that are under the direct jurisdiction of the center) carrying out the work of printing the examinations, conducting or holding the examinations, evaluating scores and, finally, admissions. With the exception of a hiatus of twelve years' time during the period of the Cultural Revolution, this nationwide uniform examination system for college and university admission has been in place ever since, and has always been there to ensure, effectively, the quality of the new students being admitted to general colleges and universities, and to ensure the smooth and effective completion of the state's plans for college and university admissions. At the same time, to a certain extent, this system also promoted the enhancement of the quality of teaching and learning in the middle schools, by avoiding repetitive and redundant work and labor in the area of admissions examinations, saving large amounts of human, material, and financial resources.     

Teaching teaching skills

Abstract

The paper examines concerns about the teaching profession as expressed by students in their teacher education program. Differences are analyzed between the concerns of entry‐level (second‐year) students and students in their student teaching (fifth) year. Items students chose as interview questions to ask a practicing teacher were used as measures of concerns. Using content analysis techniques, categories of concerns were developed. Findings indicate that entry‐level students were primarily concerned with their career choice and with the impact of the profession on their own lives. Fifth‐year students were more interested in technical classroom skills and in the impact they would have on their future students. Implications of these findings for teacher education programs are discussed.