French Secondary Education

High-stakes, standardized teacher performance assessments (TPAs) are dramatically shifting the landscape of educator preparation. In this article, we examine illusions of objectivity and rigor embedded in edTPA, focusing on the reductive nature of standardized teacher assessments and the corrosive impact of the burgeoning TPA industry. We assert that TPAs corrupt the preparation process by discouraging authentic, multifaceted, longitudinal evaluations of candidate readiness, thereby undermining the very rigor and accountability they purport to ensure.     

组织变革准备对心理授权的影响研究——基于浙江民营企业的实证分析

基于浙江民营企业的实际情况,对4个维度的组织变革准备和4个维度心理授权进行相关分析和回归分析。通过198份问卷样本,从组织变革准备各个维度探讨其与心理的关联性及影响,并提出企业提高员工的心理授权,就应加强组织沟通,使员工积极参与变革。     

Defining and Measuring College and Career Readiness: A Validation Framework

This article reviews the intended uses of these college‐ and career‐readiness assessments with the goal of articulating an appropriate validity argument to support such uses. These assessments differ fundamentally from today's state assessments employed for state accountability. Current assessments are used to determine if students have mastered the knowledge and skills articulated in state standards; content standards, performance levels, and student impact often differ across states. College‐ and career‐readiness assessments will be used to determine if students are prepared to succeed in postsecondary education. Do students have a high probability of academic success in college or career‐training programs? As with admissions, placement, and selection tests, the primary interpretations that will be made from test scores concern future performance. Statistical evidence between test scores and performance in postsecondary education will become an important form of evidence. A validation argument should first define the construct (college and career readiness) and then define appropriate criterion measures. This article reviews alternative definitions and measures of college and career readiness and contrasts traditional standard‐setting methods with empirically based approaches to support a validation argument.     

Measuring School Readiness: Conceptual and Practical Considerations

Recent interest and investment in early childhood education as a means of promoting children's school readiness has prompted the need for clear definitions of school readiness. Traditionally school readiness has been viewed within a maturationist frame, based on a chronological set-point, which led to the emergence of readiness testing. Following a brief review of this literature, this article provides an overview of the conceptual and practical considerations that must be given to such a definition. Among conceptual concerns are the lack of agreement about the key components of school readiness and theoretical models to connect them. Also of concern is the need to consider multiple purposes of assessment, and the appropriate use of assessments. Practical considerations include the need to incorporate multiple stakeholders' views in a definition, the availability of adequate measurement tools and how resultant data can be used. The article closes with a discussion of possible future directions by laying out a series of assumptions about the nature of school readiness.     

Developing Embedded Signature Assessments for Continuous Improvement in Teacher Education

The development and use of assessment systems to measure the performance and progress of teacher candidates and inform the continuous improvement of teacher education programs has been a longstanding priority in teacher education for the past 30 years. Teacher educators in the School of Education at a small public midwestern university revised and improved their assessment system by developing seven Embedded Signature Assessments (ESAs). ESAs are formative performance assessments that are implemented in professional education courses to measure a teacher candidate’s performance prior to student teaching and readiness for student teaching. This article describes the development and implementation of ESAs at one university, with attention to the benefits and challenges.     

Getting beyond “gut feeling”: understanding how mentors judge readiness to teach

Assessing whether or not a teacher candidate is ready to take their own class is a high-stakes decision that requires consideration of multiple, often competing, sources of information. Three research instruments were designed to explore how mentors judge readiness to teach during final practicum placements. This article describes the three instruments. It discusses how the three tasks worked as ways to understand how people judge readiness to teach and as ways to develop mentors’ judgement making. While there was broad agreement about what was important in this judgment, the data from all three instruments suggest that individual judges rely on their own experience and frames of reference when deciding about readiness to teach, leading to variability in the decisions they make.     

Establishing empirical links between high school assessments and college outcomes: An essential requirement for college readiness interpretations

As states evaluate whether they should continue with their current assessment program or adopt next-generation college readiness assessments, it is important to ascertain the degree to which current high school assessments can be used for college readiness interpretations. In this study, we examined the ability of a state assessment to serve as an indicator of college readiness. Empirical evidence is presented summarizing relationships between performance on the standards-based high school assessment and performance in college. Benchmarks were set on the Reading, Mathematics, and Science tests by linking assessment scores directly to grades in college courses. The accuracy of the benchmarks was similar to that of a traditional college admission test. Students who met the college readiness benchmarks earned higher grades in general education college courses and had higher first-year college grade point averages. Implications for states and other stakeholders are discussed.     

北欧国家幼儿教育和保育政策话语的新变迁

通过对北欧五国幼儿教育和保育的最新政策话语进行文献调查和文本分析,发现北欧国家幼儿教育和保育政策话语的最新变化包括:幼儿教育和保育的定位从作为民主实践场转变为社会投资品、教育内容从重视保育和游戏到关注终身学习、教育评估更重视对质量的监管与评估.虽然北欧幼儿教育和保育政策所根植的历史传统仍旧强大,但教育全球化的冲击促使北欧的幼儿教育和保育在与强调"入学准备"的英美政策话语的冲突与妥协中走向融合.     

篮球裁判员心理受挫探析

篮球裁判员是特殊的执法者,在复杂而细致的裁判工作中,需要有接受各种艰巨任务和承受各种困难的心理准备.本文对心理受挫因素进行调研分析,旨在为篮球裁判员克服和消除心理挫折提供可靠的经验和科学理论依据.     

College Readiness for English Language Learners (ELLs) in California: Assessing Equity for ELLs under the Local Control Funding Formula

English Learners (ELs) represent critical mass of K-12 students in public schools across the nation. However, states have failed to improve EL student academic outcomes, including college readiness. In 2013, California altered its school funding policy, providing additional support for English learners. Drawing on Vertical Equity and a Critical Community Strength Framework, this study examines the impact of local funding on college readiness among EL students by analyzing accountability plans and secondary data of 13 districts and assessing reforms using markers of college readiness. Document analysis shows: 1) school districts’ prioritization, 2) resource allocation based on those priorities, and 3) different approaches to operationalizing the construct of equity. Secondary data analysis reveals EL students lagged behind peers in performance on state assessments and enrollment in college preparatory and Advanced Placement varied across districts. These data confirm the critical need for intervention and targeted investment to raise overall college readiness rates among EL students in California and have national implications for states with growing Latino and EL student populations.     

Performance,Perseverance, and the Full Picture of College Readiness

Although college readiness is a centerpiece of major educational initiatives such as the Common Core State Standards, few systems have been implemented to track children's progress toward this goal. Instead, college‐readiness information is typically conveyed late in a student's high‐school career, and tends to focus solely on academic accomplishments—grades and admissions test scores. Late‐stage feedback can be problematic for students who need to correct course, so the purpose of this research is to develop a system for communicating more comprehensive college‐readiness diagnoses earlier in a child's K‐12 career. This article introduces college‐readiness indicators for middle‐school students, drawing on the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS), a nationally representative longitudinal survey of educational inputs, contexts, and outcomes. A diversity of middle‐school variables was synthesized into six factors: achievement, behavior, motivation, social engagement, family circumstances, and school characteristics. Middle‐school factors explain 69% of the variance in college readiness, and results suggest a variety of factors beyond academic achievement—most notably motivation and behavior—contribute substantially to preparedness for postsecondary study. The article concludes with limitations and future directions, including the development of college‐readiness categories to support straightforward communication of middle‐school indicators to parents, teachers, and students.     

Child, family, and community characteristics associated with school readiness in Jordan

The present study investigated demographic differences in school readiness within Jordan, a particularly interesting context because of wide-spread national reform currently sweeping the education system in Jordan. Teacher reports and researcher direct assessments of the school readiness of a national sample of 4,681 Jordanian first grade children were used to describe the levels of school readiness of children with respect to seven demographic characteristics. Higher levels of school readiness were associated with male gender, higher family income, higher paternal education, higher maternal education, smaller family size, fewer siblings, and urban residence. Taken together, the findings highlight the importance of Jordanian education reform, one aim of which is to improve the school readiness of all children by implementing public kindergartens, especially in poor, rural areas.     

中澳大学生自我导向学习能力之比较——基于上海大学与澳大利亚悉尼科技大学的对比研究

本研究采用自然调查法,对受试样本进行了预测问卷和正式问卷的调查,数据分析结果表明:中澳大学生的自我导向学习准备度差异较大;两国大学生在自我导向学习意识上体现出显著性差异;在自我导向学习具体技能上没有体现出显著性差异.差异主要源于两国不同的教学理念、课堂形式和学习评价标准.     

Teachers’ experiences with a state-mandated kindergarten readiness assessment

This study used an embedded mixed method design to examine teachers’ experiences with a state-mandated kindergarten readiness assessment during its inaugural year. Participants were 143 kindergarten teachers from one county in a Midwestern state. In general, teachers did not perceive the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment as useful for one of its intended purposes of guiding instruction. Our findings did not indicate an adversity to assessment in general. Rather, perceptions that the new KRA was less useful for practice seemed to stem from administration issues, problems with the content assessed by the KRA, and participants’ misunderstandings regarding the purpose of the KRA. Furthermore, participants reported that the KRA took away valuable time needed to help students adjust to their first time in formal schooling and needed to create a classroom community. Implications for creating and implementing kindergarten readiness and other assessments as well as preparing teachers to use readiness assessments are discussed.     

Group Development as a Framework to Understand and Promote School Readiness to Engage in an Organizational Development Project

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the relationship between successful organizational development efforts in schools and the school's level of group development. The utility of organizational development (OD) for school improvement is discussed. Research findings regarding the factors associated with successful and unsuccessful OD projects in schools are outlined. Next, the relationship between these factors and the stages of group development described in the social psychological literature is demonstrated. Finally, steps that can be taken to increase the level of group development in a school and its readiness to engage in an OD school improvement project are described.     

Can holistic school readiness evaluations predict academic achievement and special educational needs status? Evidence from the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile

This study examined the predictive validity of holistic school readiness evaluations using the ‘good level of development’ outcome from the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). The EYFSP assesses a range of abilities at school entry including academic, language, socio-emotional, and motor skills. In particular, we examined whether the assessment predicted reading, writing, maths, and science ability two years later and future special educational needs (SEN) status (N = 3739–5768). Children who reached a good level of development had higher odds of performing at expected (vs. below expected) levels on later academic assessments. This was particularly true for children with SEN. Reaching a good level of development also increased the odds of performing at above expected (vs. expected) levels on the academic assessments and lowered the odds of requiring SEN support. This demonstrates that holistic school readiness evaluations are powerful tools that can identify ‘at risk’ children.     

Readiness for school of children having attended language immersion kindergarten in their teachers' and parents' opinions

In multicultural societies, much attention is given to children's language learning possibilities. In Estonia, the early language immersion programme for kindergarten children was started in the year 2000. The programme, while considered to be successful, has raised the question of whether the children participating in it are adequately prepared for school. The objective of the present study is to observe the readiness for school of those children who have participated in the early language immersion programme, taking into consideration the objectives of the curriculum and their teachers' and parents' assessments. The method of this study was a questionnaire employed over a three-year period (2009–2011) involving the teachers and parents of those children who were beginning their primary school education. The results of the study revealed that, according to the assessments of their teachers and parents, the readiness for school of the children having completed the early language immersion programme was very good. Data prove that language immersion programmes provide children with enough preparation to make a smooth transition from kindergarten to school life.     

美国学前教育改革的新动向——入学准备研究

学龄前儿童的入学准备研究,是目前美国学前教育改革的一个热门话题。文章揭示了影响入学准备的两个重要因素:学生和学校,并概述当前美国各州入学准备研究的情况以及对我国学前教育改革的一些启示。     

Authentically assessing graduate teaching: outside and beyond neo-liberal constructs

In this paper, we challenge the current focus on ‘best practice’, graduate teacher tests, and student test scores as the panacea for ensuring teaching quality and argue for ways of thinking about evidence of quality beginning teaching outside and beyond the current neoliberal accountability discourses circulating in Australia and other countries. We suggest that teacher educators need to reinsert themselves as key players in the debates around quality beginning teaching, rather than being viewed as a source of the problem. To enable teacher educators to assume accountability for quality beginning teachers, we propose the framework of a capstone teacher performance assessment—a structured portfolio called the Authentic Teacher Assessment (ATA)—and examine examples of these assessments through the lens of critical discourse analysis. As a measure of ‘readiness to teach’, the ATA is compared with supervising teachers’ assessments of preservice teachers. We argue that structured portfolios that include artefacts derived from preservice teachers’ practice in classrooms along with graduate teacher self assessments provide a stronger accountability measure of effective beginning teaching and demonstrably address the current anxiety regarding ‘evidence’. We suggest that such an approach should be reliable enough to be ‘read’ by external assessors (and moderated across other teacher education institutions). Rigorous research on a national basis is called for in order to develop and implement a structured portfolio as rich evidence of graduates’ quality and readiness to teach.