Meta‐Analytic Methodology and Inferences About the Efficacy of Formative Assessment

In a recent article published in EM:IP, Kingston and Nash report on the results of a meta‐analysis on the efficacy of formative assessment. They conclude that the average effect of formative assessment on student achievement is about .20 SD units. This would seem to dispel the myth that effects between .40 and .70 can be attributed to formative assessment. They also find that there is considerable variability in effect sizes across studies, and that only the content area in which the treatment is situated explains a significant proportion of study variability. However, there are issues in the meta‐analytic methodology employed by the authors that make their findings somewhat equivocal. This commentary focuses on four methodological concerns about the Kingston and Nash meta‐analysis: (1) the approach taken to select studies for inclusion, (2) the application of study inclusion criteria, (3) the extent to which the effect sizes being combined are biased, and (4) the relationship between effect size magnitude and characteristics of outcome measures. After examining these issues in the context of the Kingston and Nash review, it appears that considerable uncertainty remains about the effect that formative assessment practices have on student achievement.     

Who Should Pay for Higher Education?

Policies that shift the costs of higher education from the taxpayer to the university student or graduate are increasingly popular, yet they have not been subjected to a thorough normative analysis. This paper provides a critical survey of the standard arguments that have been used in the public debate on higher education funding. These arguments are found to be wanting. In their place, the paper offers a more systematic approach for dealing with the normative issues raised by the funding of higher education. This approach is drawn from the political theory of John Rawls, whose view seeks to reconcile the values of equality, efficiency, and liberty. I show that, contrary to what we may think at first, an egalitarian approach like Rawls' does not in principle rule out policies that shift the funding burden from taxpayers to students or graduates. Which funding policy that approach selects as most fair will instead depend on the likely impact on the lifetime income prospects of the worst‐off group in society, and this is a question which will need to be settled by empirical evidence.     

DATA‐DRIVEN DELIVERY OF IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORTS IN A MULTI‐TIERED FRAMEWORK: A PILOT STUDY

For multi‐tiered systems of support, such as Response‐to‐Intervention and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, to effectively impact student outcomes, interventions delivered across the tiers must be implemented as planned (i.e., with adequate treatment integrity). However, research suggests that most school personnel struggle to deliver interventions with treatment integrity, which negatively impacts the potential effectiveness of these interventions. Numerous strategies to support treatment integrity have been developed, but no guidance has been provided regarding how to efficiently and effectively use them. The purpose of this study was to conduct a pilot evaluation of these strategies delivered through a Multi‐Tiered Implementation Supports framework; that is, proactive, feasible treatment integrity strategies were initially delivered to all implementers and based on their responsiveness, increasingly intensive implementation supports were provided as needed. Results suggest that (a) all teachers responded to these supports, but response magnitude was different across teachers and supports; (b) higher levels of treatment integrity generally were associated with fewer disruptive behaviors; and (c) the duration of these support strategies increased across tiers. Future directions for research and implications for the feasible provision of implementation support in schools are described.     

Educating Sentiment: Hume's Contribution to the Philosophy of the Curriculum Regarding the Teaching of Art

From the perspective of art education, the worst‐case philosophical scenario is the hedonist‐subjectivist account of art. If we measure art by the pleasure we gain from it, it may seem senseless to attempt teaching the reception of art. David Hume's ‘Of the Standard of Taste’ provides an argument for the art‐education enthusiast, explaining that—even on a subjectivist account—art education crystallises our own preferences. While I refer to a historical debate and provide a close reading of an 18^th‐century essay, my goal is to offer a philosophical solution to an ongoing dilemma; I use Hume's essay to ground the justification of art education.     

Interpretive responses to images in picture books by primary and secondary school students: Exploring curriculum expectations of a ‘visual grammatics’

As well as maintaining the central role of literature, the new Australian Curriculum: English emphasises the multimodal nature of literacy and requires students in primary and secondary schools to develop explicit knowledge about visual and verbal grammar as a resource for text interpretation and text creation. This study investigated the use of visual grammatics in interpreting picture books by students across Years Four, Five, Seven and Ten following an intensive professional learning programme undertaken by their teachers. A proposed framework describes variation in students' interpretive stance from tactical to diegetic to semiotic. Levels of student semiotic understanding are differentiated and differences between students' oral and written interpretations are discussed in relation the need for explicit teaching of written interpretive responses to multimodal literary texts, drawing on an articulated visual and verbal grammatics appropriate to the teaching of English in primary and secondary schools.