Integrating Scaffolding Strategies Into Technology-Enhanced Assessments of English Learners: Task Types and Measurement Models

This article investigates ways to improve the assessment of English learner students' English language proficiency given the current movement of creating next-generation English language proficiency assessments in the Common Core era. In particular, this article discusses the integration of scaffolding strategies, which are prevalently utilized as an instructional strategy for English learner students, into the design of technology-enhanced assessment tasks. The article includes sample tasks and student responses to illustrate the design of scaffolding assessment tasks and their potential to increase the accuracy of measuring students' English language proficiency. We also explore possible scoring and psychometric models for the scaffolding tasks in large-scale standardized assessments.     

Ethics in classroom assessment practices: Issues and attitudes

Student evaluations should “be ethical, fair, useful, feasible, and accurate” [JCSEE (2003). The student evaluation standards. Arlen Gullickson, Chair. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin]. This study focuses on defining ethical behavior and examining educators’ ethical judgments in relation to assessment. It describes the results from a web-based survey of educators in which they read a brief scenario and indicated whether the student evaluation practice in the depiction was ethical or unethical. Results showed strong agreement among the educators on fewer than half of the scenarios presented in this study. These findings suggest that assessment is currently an educational realm without professional consensus.     

The relationships among sex,gender identity factors,and career-decision-situation-specified personality traits

The present study revealed that gender identity involved the integration of various gender identity factors as suggested by Spence (1993) and that career-decision-situation-specified personality variables could be classified into higher order personality trait dimensions as suggested by Tellegen (1985). The results also indicate that the pattern of the relationships found in this study among masculine personality traits, feminine personality traits, and careerdecision-situation-specified personality variables reflecting higher-order personality trait dimensions of Tellegen’s (1985) model was similar to that of the relationships among masculine personality traits, feminine personality traits, and general personality traits reflecting higher-order personality trait dimensions in Lubinsky, Tellegen, and Butcher’s (1981, 1983) studies. Multiple regression analyses showed that the addition of a gender identity role attitude factor and a gender identity behavioral interest factor to sex and a gender identity personality trait factor did not improve significantly the prediction of the career-decision-situation-specified personality variables.     

Adopting an active learning approach to teaching in a research-intensive higher education context transformed staff teaching attitudes and behaviours

The conventional lecture has significant limitations in the higher education context, often leading to a passive learning experience for students. This paper reports a process of transforming teaching and learning with active learning strategies in a research-intensive educational context across a faculty of 45 academic staff and more than 1000 students. A phased approach was used, involving nine staff in a pilot phase during which a common vision and principles were developed. In short, our approach was to mandate a move away from didactic lectures to classes that involved students interacting with content, with each other and with instructors in order to attain domain-specific learning outcomes and generic skills. After refinement, an implementation phase commenced within all first-year subjects, involving 12 staff including three from the pilot group. The staff use of active learning methods in classes increased by sixfold and sevenfold in the pilot and implementation phases, respectively. An analysis of implementation phase exam questions indicated that staff increased their use of questions addressing higher order cognitive skills by 51%. Results of a staff survey indicated that this change in practice was caused by the involvement of staff in the active learning approach. Fifty-six percent of staff respondents indicated that they had maintained constructive alignment as they introduced active learning. After the pilot, only three out of nine staff agreed that they understood what makes for an effective active learning exercise. This rose to seven out of nine staff at the completion of the implementation phase. The development of a common approach with explicit vision and principles and the evaluation and refinement of active learning were effective elements of our transformational change management strategy. Future efforts will focus on ensuring that all staff have the time, skills and pedagogical understanding required to embed constructively aligned active learning within the approach.     

高师数学系建构性教学策略探讨

本从建构主义理论出发，分析了建构主义的数学教学论，提出了数学教学应是建构地学与教的统一，并构筑了高师数学系建构性教学的几条策略。     

The Relationship between Phonological Awareness and Early Reading for First Grade Korean Language Learners with Reading Difficulties

This study investigated the differences in four components of phonological awareness (i.e., judgment, deletion, blending, and substitution) and early reading ability across reading levels, and the correlation between phonological awareness (PA) and early reading ability in low and average-achievement groups. 27 students with reading difficulties and 34 students with average reading abilities participated in the study, and all participants were native Korean students in Grade One. The results indicated significant differences between low-achievement and averageachievement groups in PA and early reading measures, which revealed features of Korean phonology as different from English. Furthermore, phonological awareness showed significant positive correlation with both word identification and reading fluency for the low and average-achievement groups. For the low-achievement group, the correlation between phonological awareness and reading fluency was higher than between phonological awareness and word identification.     

Identifying Aberrant Data in Structural Equation Models With IRLS-ADF

In structural equation models, outliers could result in inaccurate parameter estimates and misleading fit statistics when using traditional methods. To robustly estimate structural equation models, iteratively reweighted least squares (IRLS; Yuan & Bentler, 2000) has been proposed, but not thoroughly examined. We explore the large-sample properties of IRLS and its effect on parameter recovery, model fit, and aberrant data identification. A parametric bootstrap technique is proposed to determine the tuning parameters of IRLS, which results in improved Type I error rates in aberrant data identification, for data sets generated from homogenous populations. Scenarios concerning (a) simulated data, (b) contaminated data, and (c) a real data set are studied. Results indicate good parameter recovery, model fit, and aberrant data identification when noisy observations are drawn from a real data set, but lackluster parameter recovery and identification of aberrant data when the noise is parametrically structured. Practical implications and further research are discussed.     

师范院校应注重学生信息能力的培养

师范生信息能力的培养是实现国家教育信息化政策的必然要求.培养师范生的信息能力:要树立现代师范教育理念,重视师范院校教师信息能力的培养,创造良好的信息技术环境,增加信息技术课程.     

江苏省企业经营者能力分析

经营者队伍基本情况 1 男性占绝对优势 根据抽样问卷,江苏省男性企业经营者占绝大多数。从性别分布看,江苏省企业经营者中男性占86.2％,女性只占12.4％,男性在企业经营者中仍处于绝对优势的地位。 2 年龄以36-55岁为主 江苏省企业经营者队伍中,年龄在36-55岁的企业经营者占总数的比例达到86.7％,35岁以下的仅占8.2％,55岁以上的也仅占5％。