Exploring the Influence of Efficacy Beliefs and Homework Help in Predicting Reading Achievement Among Underserved Children in an Afterschool Program

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a local afterschool program in helping underserved elementary school students improve their reading achievement. The study followed a cohort of students with 28 participants who were low-income, ethnic minority children in the 1st–6th grades between the ages of 6 and 12. Data on students’ developmental assets and school progress were collected at two different time points. Overall, students showed increased perceptions of efficacy about having the ability and skills to do well on a task and getting good grades in school, as well as improvements in reading achievement over time. While changes in homework completion predicted changes in reading achievement, changes in efficacy beliefs and program exposure did not. Results suggest that teacher perceptions of homework completion may be an important pathway through which afterschool programs can help narrow the reading achievement gap experienced by ethnic minority students from disadvantaged backgrounds.     

Synergy and Tension between Large-Scale and Classroom Assessment: International Trends

The synergy, or lack thereof, between large-scale and classroom assessment has been fiercely debated in both academic and policy spheres for decades around the world. This paper seeks to explicate how different countries are utilizing large-scale testing and test results at the classroom level. Through country profiles, this paper analyzes contemporary developments on the tensions and synergies between large-scale assessment and classroom teaching, learning, and assessment observed across seven international jurisdictions: United States, Canada, Australia, England, Germany, Finland, and Singapore. The paper concludes with an analysis of international trends leading to a synthesis of root causes contributing to the current limited uptake of large-scale assessment results at classroom levels.     

Reflecting on the EFA Global Monitoring Report's framework for understanding quality education: A teacher's perspective in Eritrea

This paper considers issues concerning the quality of education in Eritrea using the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report's (GMR) framework for quality education. Drawing on 2 years school-based professional experience in the country, the multiple factors affecting quality in schooling are discussed. The applicability of the GMR framework is then assessed. Given the recent militarisation of the Eritrean school system, it finds the framework seriously lacking, by failing to enable a critique of some of the issues that arguably go to the heart of the quality of education in the country.     

LEARNING TO LAUGH AT OURSELVES: HUMOR,SELF‐TRANSCENDENCE,AND THE CULTIVATION OF MORAL VIRTUES

In this essay Mordechai Gordon begins to address the neglect of humor among philosophers of education by focusing on some interesting connections between humor, self‐transcendence, and the development of moral virtues. More specifically, he explores the kind of humor that makes fun of oneself and how it can affect educational encounters. Gordon begins his analysis by discussing the nature and purpose of humor in general, while distinguishing it from laughter and amusement. In the next part of the essay, he takes a close look at the characteristics and benefits of the type of humor that we use when we make fun of ourselves. He then turns his attention to exploring the relation between laughing at ourselves, self‐transcendence, and a number of moral virtues. The final part of this essay briefly examines what might happen to the quality of educational encounters when teachers become more comfortable with laughing at themselves.     

结论及未来发展方向

(一)增强职业教育与培训吸引力的政策和措施 职业教育与培训对个人的吸引力以雇佣机会和收入及使他们获得这些效益的能力和职业技能为基础.当职业教育与培训能够为企业提供满足他们需要的技能型劳动力时,职业教育与培训也会受到企业的认可.     

The challenges of online nursing education

To meet the current critical need for qualified nurses, many colleges have initiated online programs, primarily aimed towards registered nurse (RN) to BS students. Despite the growing number of online nursing programs, there is little research on instructor views of online learning. This study used interviews to investigate nursing instructor experiences in online learning. Results revealed instructor concerns with identifying the most effective assessment methods to judge students' ability to apply their lessons in real-world settings. Online nursing exhibits unique challenges, such as providing nursing students with online authentic learning experiences that relate to real-world nursing situations, which comprise both high-stake medical and interpersonal elements. Results also indicated that providing support and ensuring that the faculty have sufficient time to develop effective courses, with adequate assessment for the students, is necessary to ensure the quality of online nursing education.     

Extending participation in standard setting: an online judging proposal

In order for standard setting to retain public confidence, it will be argued there are two important requirements. One is that the judges’ allocation of students to performance bands would yield results broadly consistent with the expectation of the wider educational community. Secondly, in the absence of any change in educational performance, that the percentages in the corresponding bands should be stable over time. It is argued that the use of a small team of judges makes it more difficult to satisfy these conditions. However the cost and logistics of organizing a larger number of judges in the time-pressured atmosphere of public examining can lead to sub-optimal standard setting. Two parallel systems of awarding performance bands are empirically compared, one based on teams of six judges, the other based on a population of teachers. It is shown that the latter system gives more stable results over time for the same large student population. A proposal is outlined for extending participation in standard setting through the web-based presentation of materials and the capturing of cutscores from a population of teachers.