Using Collaborative Assessment to Examine the Relationship between Self-Reported Beliefs and the Documentable Practices of Preschool Teachers

A team of researchers used a collaborative assessment protocol to compare the self-reported teaching beliefs of a convenience sample of preschool teachers (N = 57) to their documentable practices (i.e., practices that could be observed, recorded, and categorized using a deductive strategy). Data were examined from survey instruments, detailed classroom observations and time-sampling, curriculum materials, and program artifacts. Results indicated that when child-directed choice/play time, emergent literacy and language development activities were emphasized, teachers self-reported beliefs were more strongly aligned with developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) as a philosophy of practice. When consistent routines, organized classrooms, preplanned curriculum, and teacher-directed learning were the dominant behaviors, the teachers were found to report more “traditional” or academic-oriented beliefs.     

Clarifying the Preschool Assessment Process: Traditional Practices and Alternative Approaches

Preschool assessment is a complex process through which children's eligibility for special education services is determined. The assessment process requires decisions based on information gathered at several steps. To make these decisions, teams of professionals and families require information gathered from multiple sources. This article provides an overview of traditional and nontraditional sources of assessment information.     

A model for portfolio assessment in early childhood education programs

It is necessary for teachers to consider alternative means of evaluating their students. One method proving to be effective for gathering and organizing student productivity, growth, and development is the portfolio approach. This article describes the Early Childhood Portfolio Assessment Preparation (ECPAP) Model that was used to facilitate the use of student portfolios in two different early childhood education programs. The goals of the model, the six steps followed and the participants' responses to this project are discussed. This article may serve early childhood directors and supervisors who are preparing teachers to implement student portfolios as a supplement or an alternative to the existing assessment and evaluation programs. Also early childhood teacher education students can benefit from the design and implementation of ECPAP.     

成长记录袋在大规模、高利害评价中的应用

成长记录袋是一种新兴的质性评价方式。除课堂评价外,国外已尝试将其应用于大规模、高利害评价。这种做法的好处主要体现为对教学和教师专业成长的促进,而弊端则集中在信度、效度等问题上,我国在中考改革中引入成长记录袋必须积极、稳妥地进行。     

Developing Portfolios to Evaluate Teacher Performance in Early Childhood Education

One goal of the teacher's professional portfolio is to describe the full range of abilities and document effective teaching over an extended period of time. In this article we discuss the procedure that teachers can use in developing their own portfolio assessment to help generate data for making decisions about teaching performance. The development of a teacher portfolio requires planning, time, organization and cooperation from students, colleagues, parents and supervisors. The format of the portfolio may vary from individual to individual and be based upon personal preference. Organizations and contents of the teacher portfolio are suggested. Questions and associated lists of teaching artifacts are discussed based on the authors' experiences as early childhood classroom teachers and university professors. The answers to these questions will guide the selection of activity-generated products to best represent the essence of the teacher performance.     

提升幼儿教师评价素养的制约因素及建议

幼儿教师评价素养是直接影响幼儿发展评价有效性的重要因素,也是决定评价是否发挥其实质性功能与作用的关键要素。它包括评价理念与专业品质、评价态度与主体意识、评价策略与实践智慧等三方面内容与判断标准。目前,国内幼儿教师评价素养的提升尚受到外部支持系统以及教师自身知识与技能水平的制约,因此需要通过提供积极的外部环境支持、加强对幼儿教师评价知识与技能的园本培训、探寻幼儿教师评价素养自主提升等途径,切实提高幼儿教师评价素养。     

Using Authentic Assessment to Evidence Children’s Progress Toward Early Learning Standards

The increasing emphasis on accountability in early care and education has created an opportunity for programs to revisit their child assessment practices. This article presents a model for using authentic assessment practices to document children’s progress toward a set of program standards, specifically the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework, as well as describe how authentic assessment processes can inform curriculum planning. Programmatic implementation issues are discussed and a case study is presented.     

Parent involvement in early childhood: a comparison of English language learners and English first language families

This study evaluated parents’ communication, involvement and knowledge of their children’s abilities in reading and mathematics among parents who spoke English as a first language (EL1) and those who were English language learners (ELL). Forty‐two kindergarten‐aged children, their parents and their teachers participated in the study. Results indicated that EL1 parents communicated more frequently with the teacher than ELL parents. However, there were no language group differences in parents’ involvement in their children’s education (as rated by the teacher). For both groups of parents (EL1 and ELL), parents’ ratings of their children’s abilities in reading did not predict children’s reading scores. However, parents’ ratings of their children’s abilities in mathematics did predict their children’s mathematics scores. Further analyses indicated that this relationship was not mediated by parents’ communication or involvement. It is concluded that parents’ accurate knowledge of their children’s abilities in mathematics may be the result of their involvement at home and particularly for ELL parents, their greater understanding of and emphasis on mathematics learning.     

Attitudes to the Use of Alternative Assessment Methods in Mathematics: A Study with Secondary Mathematics Teachers in Sydney,Australia

Given issues related to differences in learner characteristics, effective sampling across the content domain, and recent emphases on assessing meaningfully contextualised abilities and higher-order cognitive processes, the traditional mathematics test arguably does not provide a valid measure of student ability. Consequently, there is a need to incorporate alternative methods of assessment that are able to effectively assess the range of students mathematical abilities. The present study investigated methods of assessment used by 60 mathematics teachers from 11 secondary schools in metropolitan Sydney, as well as their attitudes to a range of alternative assessment methods, together with reasons why they would or would not implement these. Results showed that teachers were satisfied with traditional tests as valid measures of student ability, particularly for senior school years. Teachers generally did not favour implementing alternative assessment methods, although those with the least years teaching experience reported more positive attitudes. A major concern raised by teachers about the use of alternative assessment methods related to their perceived subjectivity. Explanations for these findings are advanced for teachers who have varying lengths of teaching experience.     

Discrete Choice Modeling in Education: An Innovative Method to Assess Teaching Practices

Self‐reported measures are an easy, time‐efficient, and low‐cost way to collect research data compared to other assessment methods. They are, however, characterized by several limitations regarding the quality and the clarity of the data they produce, especially when they are implemented in education. The main purpose of the current study was to use a method called discrete choice modeling (DCM) in education, in order to develop a self‐reported instrument that will reduce the bias for socially desirable responses and to assess teachers’ practices in physical activity. DCM method has the ability to overcome the respondents’ tendency to answer in a socially desirable way. A nationally representative sample of 531 Greek early educators participated in this study and were administered a self‐assessment questionnaire based on DCM. Results showed that the DCM based newly developed instrument manages to assess effectively educators’ practices and provided evidence of the applicability of the method in education. Further implications and future recommendations regarding the effective application of DCM in education are discussed.     

PISA在中国:教育评价新探索

本文通过对当前国际上颇具影响力的大规模教育评价项目——"学生能力国际评价("PISA)的评价理念和技术的解析,结合教育部考试中心开展PISA2006中国试测研究实践收获的启示,阐述了作者对我国教育评价研究与发展的思考和建议。     

Assessment to improve learning in higher education: The BEAR Assessment System

This paper discusses how assessment practices in higher education can improve or hinder learning. An example is given to illustrate some common educational practices that may be contributing to underpreparation and underperformance of students. Elements of effective learning environments that may better address underlying metacognitive issues are discussed. The principles of the Berkeley Evaluation & Assessment Research Assessment (BEAR) System are introduced, and their use to improve learning is described in the context of the UC Berkeley ChemQuery project.     

Science Education in Early Childhood Teacher Education: Putting Forward a Case to Enhance Student Teachers' Confidence and Competence

New Zealand is moving towards increased qualification requirements for early childhood educators. There is an underlying assumption that there is a correlation between quality early childhood education, teacher qualifications and quality practices in teaching and learning. Two fields of literature, early childhood pedagogy and science specific pedagogy, are reviewed briefly to provide a framework with which to consider why student teachers' attitudes, misunderstandings and misconceptions in science can limit their ability and willingness to create quality teaching and learning opportunities. The study reported in this paper highlights, in general, that early childhood student teachers' subject knowledge in science was poor. It also emerged that the student teachers were unaware of how little they knew and how this might affect their ability to provide appropriate science experiences for young children.     

Modeling-Oriented Assessment in K-12 Science Education: A synthesis of research from 1980 to 2013 and new directions

Scientific modeling has been advocated as one of the core practices in recent science education policy initiatives. In modeling-based instruction (MBI), students use, construct, and revise models to gain scientific knowledge and inquiry skills. Oftentimes, the benefits of MBI have been documented using assessments targeting students’ conceptual understanding or affective domains. Fewer studies have used assessments directly built on the ideas of modeling. The purpose of this study is to synthesize and examine modeling-oriented assessments (MOA) in the last three decades and propose new directions for research in this area. The study uses a collection of 30 empirical research articles that report MOA from an initial library of 153 articles focusing on MBI in K-12 science education from 1980 to 2013. The findings include the variety of themes within each of the three MOA dimensions (modeling products, modeling practices, and meta-modeling knowledge) and the areas of MOA still in need of much work. Based on the review, three guiding principles are proposed for future work in MOA: (a) framing MOA in an ecology of assessment, (b) providing authentic modeling contexts for assessment, and (c) spelling out the connections between MOA items and the essential aspects of modeling to be assessed.     

《欢乐时光,儿童乐园——澳大利亚幼儿保育框架》简介

《欢乐时光,儿童乐园——澳大利亚幼儿保育框架》于2011年颁布。该《保育框架》着眼于提高幼儿的幸福感,促进幼儿发展,对幼儿保育和教育的目标、原则和实践作了具体规定。《保育框架》对我国幼儿教育工作具有启示意义。     

CILT2000: Using Technology to Support Ongoing Formative Assessment in the Classroom

This article emphasizes the importance of formative assessment in the teaching and learning process and the role technology can play in advancing assessment practices. It describes work undertaken by attendees of the CILT workshop, highlighting key issues that were discussed and areas for further development including how to address important equity concerns.     

Supporting Oral Second Language Use: A Learning Experience in a First Grade German Immersion Class

This article describes a learning context in which the first grade classroom teacher creates a learning community where she uses different teaching strategies to encourage children’s second language use and learning. The first graders share, discuss, and learn both the second language (German) and content.     

Telephone Testing and Teacher Assessment of Reading Skills in 7-year-olds: I. Substantial Correspondence for a Sample of 5544 Children and for Extremes

Many research questions require the assessment of reading in large samples of children. We compared two nonconventional procedures for early reading assessment: test administration by telephone, and teacher assessment. Five thousand five hundred and forty four children participating in a longitudinal twin study were assessed by telephone using the Test of Early Word Reading Efficiency, and by their teachers using the UK National Curriculum criteria. A correlation of 0.69 was obtained between the TOWRE and Teacher Assessment for Reading. There was also good agreement between the two procedures for identification of children at the lower extreme. Both appear to be practical and valid for research studies.     

加拿大高校学生学习成果评估的内容、方法及启示

作为全球第二个实现高等教育普及化的高等教育强国,加拿大高校学生学习成果评估体系富有特色:在评估内容方面,构建起了高等教育系统、院校以及学科(专业)等不同层面的学生学习成果体系;在评估方法方面,形成了由标准化测试、评价量规、表现性评估以及问卷调查等四种类型构成的多元化学生学习成果评估方法体系。其对我国的启示是:构建和完善高校学生学习成果评估的内容体系,为学生学习成果评估奠定共识基础;开发多元化的学生学习成果评估方法与工具,提高评估活动的科学性;加强以结果为导向的评估制度建设,促使学习成果评估常态化。     

Realizing children's right to participation in early childhood settings: some critical issues in a Norwegian context

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has during recent decades influenced professionals and policy‐makers in Norway as well as in other countries, resulting in changes in documents regulating early childhood institutions. Little is known, however, about the way this right is understood and realized in everyday practice. How is the concept of participation understood by professionals in the field? What issues emerge as problematic in everyday practice? Combining findings from an evaluation study and research from early childhood institutions, it is possible to unravel three problem areas. They are described under these headings: (a) Interpreting participation with a bias towards individualism? (b) Play and playful interaction – an integral part of children's right to participation? (c) Are the youngest children ‘mature’ enough? The article is rounded off by pointing to the need to pay critical attention both to what is happening on policy levels, and to theoretical perspectives influencing the professionals in the field.