When Portfolios Become a Site of Ethical Conflict: Using Student Portfolios for Teacher Accountability

This article presents a case study of a high school English department's decision-making process during portfolio scoring to call attention to one of the unintended consequences of using portfolios for accountability. Applying Fritz Oser's definition of a moral conflict, as well as his hierarchy of decision-making strategies, I analyze the teachers' participation in the assessment. I determine that because they could not be equally just, caring, and truthful toward all the stakeholders affected by the test, the teachers experienced ethical conflict. Although most of the teachers experienced tension and dissatisfaction, I see this discomfort as a necessary component of professional growth. I conclude that although teachers cannot be expected to accept sustained periods of moral conflict for which there seems to be no responsible resolution, focusing on justice without balancing justice with care and truthfulness reduces teachers' ability to make ethical professional judgments.     

Does an Argument-Based Approach to Validity Make a Difference?

Drawing on experience between 2000 and 2007 in developing a validity argument for the high-stakes Test of English as a Foreign Language™ ( TOEFL ®) , this paper evaluates the differences between the argument-based approach to validity as presented by Kane (2006) and that described in the 1999 AERA/APA/NCME Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing . Based on an analysis of four points of comparison—framing the intended score interpretation, outlining the essential research, structuring research results into a validity argument, and challenging the validity argument—we conclude that an argument-based approach to validity introduces some new and useful concepts and practices .     

论行政问责的效力范围

作为一种行政活动,行政问责的效力作用于一定的主体和事物,问责的效力范围即由问责的主体范围和客体范围所决定.行政问责效力范围的确定,既有利于保护基于问责形成的法律状态,又能防范问责机关之权力的滥用,保护公务员之正当权利免受不当问责之侵害.行政问责约束的行为主体包括:违法行为人,表明违法行为人需承担相应的不利性后果;问责机关,表明问责机关不能随意撤销、变更问责决定,亦不能对违法行为人进行重复评价;不特定主体,表明其需尊重基于问责形成的法律状态.行政问责作用客体则包括:劳动关系,表明问责机关可以解除与违法行为人的劳动关系;职务关系,表明问责机关可以撤销违法行为人之职务;岗位关系,表明问责机关可以调整违法行为人的工作岗位.     

The Graduation Efficiency Index: Validity and Use as an Accountability and Research Measure

Legislatures and coordinating boards are looking for efficiency measures as greater numbers of students wish access to higher education. We propose the Graduation Efficiency Index (GEI) as an efficiency measure that is more valid and useful than elapsed time from matriculation to degree (time to degree). The index is computed by subtracting the number of transfer credits from the minimum credits required for the degree, then dividing the remainder by the sum of the enrollment census day credits in which the given student has enrolled while in college. Research is reported in which this index is applied to data from 1993–94 University of Washington bachelor-degree recipients. Among the results, nontransfers were found to graduate with more efficiency than transfers and B.A.-degree recipients with more efficiency that B.S. recipients. The GEI correlated only modestly with time to degree and part-time vs. full-time enrollment status, and correlations with admissions data were quite small.     

Assessing Writing Portfolios: issues in the Validity and Meaning of Scores

This article discusses an approach to analyzing performance assessments that identifies potential reasons for misfitting items and uses this information to improve on items and rubrics for these assessments. Specifically, the approach involves identifying psychometric features and qualitative features of items and rubrics that may possibly influence misfit; examining relations between these features and the fit statistic; conducting an analysis of student responses to a sample of misfitting items; and finally, based on the results of the previous analyses, modifying characteristics of the items or rubrics and reexamining fit. A mathematics performance assessment containing 53 constructed-response items scored on a holistic scale from 0 to 4 is used to illustrate the approach. The 2-parameter graded response model (Samejima, 1969) is used to calibrate the data. Implications of this method of data analysis for improving performance assessment items and rubrics are discussed as well as issues and limitations related to the use of the approach.     

Validity of Inferences from Test-based Educational Accountability Systems

Many states have adopted test-based accountability systems before the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 became law. NCLB has added a new dimension to test-based educational accountability systems. Features of state and NCLB accountability are discussed with an emphasis on questions of the validity of inferences that are made about school quality. It is concluded that none of the current approaches toe test-based accountability support causal inferences about school quality. It is also shown that tracking progress toward the important goal of closing gaps in achievement requires more than just monitoring changes in the percentages of students who are proficient.     

认知语用视角下的语言测试效度

语言测试是语言教学和研究的一个重要组成部分。本文在回顾语言测试发展历程和传盟的语言能力观的基础上,以认知语用学理论为指导,对测试效度的本质进行了初步探讨。文章指出,语言测试的最终目的是考察受试者的认知语用能力并为语言教学服务。     

Hermeneutic Haunting: E. D. Hirsch,Jr. and the Ghost of Interpretive Validity

This article applies criteria for validity in interpretation to Eric Donald Hirsch, Jr.'s interpretations of John Dewey. Specifically, three criteria that Hirsch, himself, established in his earlier work are used to evaluate Hirsch's interpretation of John Dewey as a member of a class (romantics) who embraced a naive naturalism (trait) more often than not (instances within a class) to the great detriment of other salient aspects of education. Hirsch calls his K–8 Core Knowledge sequence revolutionary. His revolution's justification rests, in part, on his rejection of an educational tradition that he attributes to John Dewey and his disciples. Hirsch uses his interpretation of Dewey to portray those who continue to take Dewey's ideas seriously as naive, dogmatic obstructionists who are blocking positive educational reform. Because Hirsch falls short of his own standards for validity in his interpretation of John Dewey, this article suggests that professors of education who continue to rework Dewey's ideas may be sources of potential insight in addressing educational challenges rather than intransigent obstructionists.     

对合同有效推定的探讨

在我国的司法实践中，大量的已成立合同被作为无效合同处理，新合同法将合同的效力单列一章，也未能有效解决这一问题；为保障交易安全，提高交易效率，本文试图从理论上探讨合同有效推定的可能性，以期促进司法的公正。     

The Return to Final Paper Examining in English National Curriculum Assessment and School Examinations: Issues of Validity,Accountability and Politics

There are sound educational and examining reasons for the use of coursework assessment and practical assessment of student work by teachers in schools for purposes of reporting examination grades. Coursework and practical work test a range of different curriculum goals to final papers and increase the validity and reliability of the result. However, the use of coursework and practical work in tests and examinations has been a matter of constant political as well as educational debate in England over the last 30 years. The paper reviews these debates and developments and argues that as accountability pressures increase, the evidence base for published results is becoming narrower and less valid as the system moves back to wholly end-of-course testing.     

美国医学教育中的职业化问题:从证据到责任

职业化是维护公众对医学职业信任的核心要素,也是医患关系的本质所在.但有证据表明,公众对医学职业的信任日渐消失,医生也在维护医学职业价值观念时面临着各种挑战.本文在医学教育背景下界定"职业化"的定义和框架,描述了职业化面临的各种挑战,也详细论述了医学院校和教学医院在维护医学职业化过程中的角色和作用.此外,还评述了现行和试行中的评价职业化的工具、方法.最后,作者还提出一些建议供医学院校和教学医院参考.     

Vision in an Age of Accountability

A case is presented against a data collection system that is intended to provide increased accountability of teachers, professors and the profession. The utilization of some current data collection systems may in fact jeopardize the integrity of the profession's mission and goals. The cause of concern is the use of the easiest form of data collection (e.g., fitness, skills, math, and science scores) rather than evidence viewing the student as a complex organism that would require a more appropriate and complex assessment system (i.e., “life skills” activity participation and social skills rather than a fitness test). I also note that a focus on increased accountability and simplified data collection provides the impetus that research in higher education needs to consider a paradigm shift to be more collaborative and holistic. In presenting these issues, I note that the vision of Delphine Hanna was similar, specifically more collaborative, more holistic, and more humanistic in making scholarly and professional decisions.     

On the Distinction between False Belief Understanding and Subscribing to an Interpretive Theory of Mind

2 groups of 5–8-year-olds were examined in an effort to explore the developing relations between false belief understanding and an awareness of the individualized nature of personal taste, on the one hand, and, on the other, a maturing grasp of the interpretive character of the knowing process. In Study 1, 20 children between 5 and 8 all behaved in accordance with hypotheses by proving to be indistinguishable in their already good grasp of the possibility of false beliefs and in their common assumption that differences of opinion concerning matters of taste are legitimate expressions of personal preferences. By contrast, only the 7- and 8-year-old children gave evidence of recognizing that ambiguous stimuli especially allow for warrantable differences of interpretation. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings with a group of 48 5-8-year-old subjects, again showing that while 5-year-olds easily pass a standard test of false belief understanding, only children of 7 or 8 ordinarily evidence an appreciation of the interpretive character of the knowing process.     

Application of Interpretive Theory to Business Interpretation

Interpretive theory brings forward three phases of interpretation: understanding, deverberlization and re-expression. It needs linguistic knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge. This essay discusses application of interpretive theory to business interpretation from the perspective of theory and practice.     

Advancing an Equity Agenda at the Community College in an Age of Privatization,Performance Accountability,and Marketization

In this article we introduce and explain a funding framework for advancing an equity agenda at the community college. The need for the framework is premised on (a) Dowd's observation that the traditional community college commitment to student access no longer suffices as an adequate strategy to achieve greater equity in society and (b) the recognition that community colleges are becoming more entrepreneurial as a result of challenges posed by privatization, state performance accountability systems, and marketization. A new approach to advancing equity is needed in this environment. We propose a funding framework that reflects lessons learned from a review of funding systems used in English further education systems and community college systems in Colorado and California.     

Maximal Criterion Validity and Scale Criterion Validity: A Latent Variable Modeling Approach for Examining Their Difference

This article studies the difference between the criterion validity coefficient of the widely used overall scale score for a unidimensional multicomponent measuring instrument and the maximal criterion validity coefficient that is achievable with a linear combination of its components. A necessary and sufficient condition of their identity is presented in the case of measurement errors being uncorrelated among themselves and with a used criterion. An upper bound of the difference in these validity coefficients is provided, indicating that it cannot exceed the discrepancy between the maximal reliability and composite reliability indexes. A readily applicable latent variable modeling procedure is discussed that can be used for point and interval estimation of the difference between the maximal and scale criterion validity coefficients. The outlined method is illustrated with a numerical example.     

Application of Interpretive Theory to Business Interpretation

Interpretive theory brings forward three phases of interpretation:understanding, deverberlization and re-expression. It needs linguistic knowledge and non-linguistic knowledge. This essay discusses app...     

Situated Learning with Online Portfolios, Classroom Websites and Facebook

In this article we describe the evolution of an elective course designed specifically for undergraduate students in our pre-service teacher education program. This course is intended to prepare these undergraduate students as future teachers—helping them to make effective and creative uses of technology in learning settings. This course emphasizes learning to learn with and about technology, in the ever-changing context of educational technology. Generally speaking, we outline and describe three key goals of teaching young teachers to thoughtfully integrate technology into a real-world classroom. First, the course emphasizes learning to explore and learn proactively by engaging in learning by design activities. Second, students are given an opportunity to try a wide variety of innovative technologies through explorations of their own choosing. Finally, we attempt to leverage the power of online community building for learning by harnessing the ubiquity and convenience of tools like Facebook. We look into the future with great hope and enthusiasm that our preservice teachers will lead the way in integrating new technologies into their teaching in ways that will benefit their students, colleagues, and the greater education community.     

Rethinking Electronic Portfolios to Promote Sustainability among Teachers

Electronic portfolios (eportfolios) can increase reflection, develop content and pedagogy skills and facilitate communication between teachers and administrators. However, they have limitations. Despite resources that teacher institutions devote to eportfolios, research suggests that most implementations are of limited duration. In a climate where sustained professional development and lifelong learning are necessary to remain competitive, organizations should reevaluate how eportfolios are implemented to sustain use and maintain skills deemed important by teaching organizations. Using principles of change theory, this article identifies several eportfolio challenges and how they may be improved through principles of personal learning environments. Implementation procedures and limitations are also provided.