V. THE NEUROBIOLOGICAL TOLL OF EARLY HUMAN DEPRIVATION

Children raised in institutions frequently suffer from a variety of behavioral, emotional, and neuropsychological sequelae, including deficits in attention, executive functions, disorders of attachment, and in some cases a syndrome that mimics autism. The extent and severity of these disorders appear to be mediated, in part, by the age at which the child entered and, in some cases, left the institution. Here we review the neurobiological literature on early institutionalization that may account for the psychological and neurological sequelae discussed in other chapters in this volume.     

THE ECOLOGY OF CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

Research on classroom assessment has tended to focus on standardized tests and has paid minimal attention to teacher-developed assessments. As a result, we have a narrow understanding of the classroom assessment environment. This study was designed to broaden that understanding by exploring the nature and quality of teacher-developed assessment. Teachers from a range of grades, subjects, and school districts described their patterns of test use, concerns about assessment, and use of performance assessment by completing an extensive questionnaire. When responses are summarized across teachers, the results suggest that the foundation and structure of classroom assessment consists primarily of teacher-developed assessments, with performance assessment serving as one of the key assessment tools. Teachers are concerned about assessment and know that improvement may be needed, but they will need help to bring about necessary changes. Action plans are suggested for enhancing the quality of teacher-developed tests.     

THE INFLUENCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION ON THE ASSESSMENT OF STUDENTS OF PHYSIOTHERAPY

The majority of physiotherapists are trained in hospital‐based schools outside the mainstream of further and higher education. It has been assumed that professional standards of competence are maintained through central control of the syllabus, nationally set examinations and centrally appointed examiners.

During the last decade, a small number of schools have transferred to polytechnics and begun to develop internally examined courses. It is essential that students who are successful in these examinations are automatically eligible for Membership of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

This paper describes the planning of an internally examined course which is acceptable to the professional bodies as well as to the Sheffield City Polytechnic. It explores some of the conflicts which have arisen concerning the extent to which control of the profession should extend to control of the curriculum in any and every institution. It concludes that the Chartered Society's need to control right of entry to the profession and to monitor standards of competence is reconcilable with lecturers’ desire to design a course and appropriate methods of assessment which reflect their overall rationale.     

面向学生的真实评价--适应新课程的考试与评价研究

真实评价是指用各种不同于传统标准化测验的手段获得学生学习表现的所有方法和技术，包括档案式评价和表现性评价，它有利于克服标准化测验的诸多弊端。其对课程与教学改革的意义表现在：1．真实评价有助于学生的主体性发展；2．真实评价将使课程优化成为可能；3．真实评价改善教师的角色。     

工业支柱产业的综合评估及判定——以桂林工业为案例

工业支柱产业的综合评估与判定是一个地区进行产业布局、制定工业政策和区域经济发展战略规划的重要内容。评估、判定准确、可以优化地区经济结构，增强工业核心的竞争力，对避免产业结构同化具有重要的现实意义。运用这一综合评估和判定方法，得出桂林市的工业支柱产业可确定为医药制造业、客车工业及配件制造业和饮料制造业，这种分析结果与桂林市工业发展实际情况基本相符，具有较高的客观性和现实性。     

ASSESSMENT OF PROFESSIONAL POTENTIAL IN THE PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENT

This report considers the problems of assessing Professional Potential and makes some suggestions for assisting students in the professional socialisation process     

THE USE OF LEARNING PROFILES IN ASSESSMENT AND IN THE EVALUATION OF TEACHING

This paper reports how individual students respond to a nine‐week course in plant anatomy using two teaching techniques: self‐instruction and group interaction.

Students vary widely in their responses to teaching by these techniques. Over the four years of the study (1975–78) four major patterns of response have emerged. These are described as learning profiles. The profiles are composed from curves depicting the attainment of individual students, measured in seven weekly assessment tests given during group sessions. The assessment tests measured performance in four capacities, based on Bloom's criteria, viz. recall of knowledge, comprehension, application and short‐chain problem solving. Learning curves for each of these four capacities were obtained for each individual student. Other variables, e.g. general ability, age, sex, anxiety, motivation, time spent etc. were also determined for each student.

The purpose of the course is to train students to solve problems in plant anatomy. Although strategies for solving long‐chain problems were not practised in groups, the component skills used in their solution were practised in the weekly test items.

From the profile types — i.e. the patterns of individual response to the teaching ‐ it was possible to make some prediction about performance in the final examination, although this examination was predominantly one to test capacity to solve long‐chain, multi‐step problems.     

SELF ASSESSMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE McMASTER PROBLEM SOLVING PROGRAMME

Self assessment is applied to develop students' confidence in their problem solving ability in the context of a four‐course sequence in Chemical Engineering, called the McMaster Problem Solving (MPS) programme. The issues in using self assessment are explored and then illustrated in the context of the MPS programme. The criteria for assessment are public, explicit and related to the learning objectives for each of 35 separate skills, topics or Units that comprise the programme. The criteria are primarily generated by faculty, but the students can generate their own to obtain higher levels of accomplishment. Students use journal writing as the main method of providing evidence, satisfying the criteria and demonstrating achievement. The students rationalise their self assessment in an interview with the instructor. The self assessment counts for between 10 and 27% of their grade. The students receive 6 hours of training on self assessment early in the course. Self assessment is applied to all of the subsequent activities in the MPS programme.

Comparisons are given between students' summative assessments and their performance on a written final examination and their overall mark in the course. The average deviation is usually less than 10%.

The approaches taken in this MPS programme are compared with those of others. Suggestions for development and improvement are noted.     

THE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF A NEW EXAMINATION OF THE CLINICAL COMPETENCE OF MEDICAL STUDENTS

This paper describes a new examination of the clinical competence of medical students developed because the traditional approaches used by many medical schools have been shown to be unreliable and invalid. A problem‐based criterion‐referenced approach was adopted. Studies have confirmed that the new approach achieved a satisfactory level of validity and reliability. One of the main aims of the project was to exert a positive influence on the students learning in the direction of the Faculty's clinical objectives. A questionnaire survey showed a high degree of satisfaction with the new test and a high level of perceived relevance of the content to future practice. These seemed to be the main reasons why students’ study habits were directed in the desired direction.     

THE ROLE OF SELF‐ASSESSMENT IN STUDENT GRADING

While the educational benefits of student self‐assessment are being increasingly recognised and self‐assessment procedures introduced into post‐secondary courses of many different kinds, the use of self‐assessment for grading purposes is a more controversial matter. Is there a role for student self‐assessment in formal assessment proceedings? If there is to be a role, what should it be? This paper focuses on these questions and examines why a marking role for self‐assessment should be considered and what evidence is available on the reliability of student‐generated marks. The implications of these findings are considered and strategies are proposed to improve student markers reliability and to incorporate self‐assessment indirectly into the formal assessment process.     

THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The use of the computer and in particular the micro‐computer, by the student provides the opportunity for a significant review of the syllabus and the way in which it is taught. The commercial use of the computer should make us re‐evaluate the content of certain syllabuses, particularly those dominated by mathematical modelling.

Structural Analysis, in the disciplines of Civil and Structural Engineering is a particular case in point since virtually all of the professional numerical analysis of structures is now carried out by a computer. If this is the case, we must seriously ask ourselves why we are teaching the students to carry out lengthy calculations which will never be used in practice.

The computer may be the engine of change for the syllabus content but it offers in return facilities for learning, particularly in formative assessment, unavailable before.

The student may use the computer to test various ideas about the way a structure works under various loading conditions and thereby acquire an understanding of structural behaviour which may not be available in the design office.     

对本科教学合格评估背景下高校教学秘书队伍建设的思考

本科教学合格评估对新建本科院校加强本科建设,深化教育教学改革提出了新的任务和更高的要求.教学秘书作为高校院系教学管理一线工作者,在高校教育教学工作处于重要地位,应大力加强教学秘书队伍建设以适应新的形势.在本科教学合格评估背景下高校教学秘书队伍建设存在一些问题,新形势下应采取有效措施如何加强教学秘书队伍建设.     

论高教评估参与者的角色定位和行为探析

由于多种因素如认识、经验、时间、利益等影响,评估参与者对自身的角色还存有"理解模糊",由此造成行为上的偏差和趋同,影响了评估的效度和信度.高等教育评估的功效应切实得到保障性发挥,那么评估的参与者--政府、评估机构、评估对象和社会大众首先须明确自身的角色定位和行为取向,在角明、位清、行显的前提下围绕评估开展好工作,并妥善处理好彼此关系.     

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF THE ADDITION OF A WRITING ASSESSMENT ON ADMISSIONS DECISIONS

The effects that adding a writing measure to theGraduate Management Admissions Test would have on thegender and ethnic composition of an admissions pool wereevaluated. Data from the first operational administration of the Analytical WritingAssessment in October 1994 were used. Standardizeddifferences from the white male reference group werecomputed separately for men and women in four ethnicgroups: white, Asian-American, African-American, andHispanic/Latino. Within the white, African-American, andHispanic/Latino groups, women received higher scoresthan men on the Analytical Writing Assessment; in the Asian-American group, men receivedhigher writing scores, but the difference was not asgreat as on the Verbal score. Examinees whose bestlanguage was not English scored relatively higher on the Analytical Writing Assessment than on theVerbal measure. Simulations of eligibility for anadmissions pool suggested that the addition of theAnalytical Writing score would noticeably increase thenumber of women in the pool, but would have virtuallyno impact on ethnic minorities. Rater and scorereliability were reasonably consistent across ethnic andgender groups.