A Validity Framework for Evaluating the Technical Quality of Alternate Assessments

This article presents findings from two projects designed to improve evaluations of technical quality of alternate assessments for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. We argue that assessment technical documents should allow for the evaluation of the construct validity of the alternate assessments following the traditions of Cronbach (1971) , Messick (1989, 1995) , Linn, Baker, and Dunbar (1991) , and Shepard (1993) . The projects used the work of Knowing What Students Know ( Pellegrino, Chudowsky, & Glaser, 2001 ) to structure and focus the collection and evaluation of assessment information. The heuristic of the assessment triangle ( Pellegrino et al., 2001 ) was particularly useful in emphasizing that the validity evaluation needs to consider the logical connections among the characteristics of the students tested and how they develop domain proficiency (the cognition vertex), the nature of the assessment (the observation vertex), and the ways in which the assessment results are interpreted (the interpretation vertex). This project has shown that in addition to designing more valid assessments, the growing body of knowledge about the psychology of achievement testing can be useful for structuring evaluations of technical quality.     

American Influence on British Higher Education: Science,Technology, and the Problem of University Expansion, 1945–1963

The increased support of science andtechnology were fundamental factors in theexpansion of university education in post-warBritain. American technical assistance toWestern Europe, exemplified by the MarshallPlan, also focused upon the role of appliedscience and technology as a means of boostingproductivity and competitiveness. This commonconcern for science and technology led Britainto consider the adoption of American models,specifically a British version of MIT, in thesearch for an effective higher education policyfor applied science and technology. However,this paper argues that, whilst America offeredimportant models for change, British policieswere ultimately shaped by British traditions.     

The Question of Representation: research in gender and education in Scandinavia

This article gives a review of feminist research into gender, school and education in Scandinavia in the light of feminist theory and politics. It is claimed that research up to now has been inspired by an ideological thinking, following the main concepts of feminism: (a) liberal feminism based on the philosophy of ‘sameness’ and equal opportunities, and (b) radical feminism based on the philosophy of ‘difference’ and equal worth. They have both been designed to qualify critique of the gender divided education pyramid, having either integration or segregation as the political perspective and either male as a norm or female as an ideal. However, the main point in the article is that at least in the Scandinavian countries and seen as a general trend we are now witnessing a breakdown of the former education pyramid. Women as a whole, but especially the young generation, have achieved a more equal position and they have moved into many former male‐dominated subjects and areas. This situation requires a new theoretical framework and a more specific research than we have seen up to now. At the same time post‐feminism is from a theoretical viewpoint challenging the former concepts, maintaining that we have to leave the essential thinking and absolute strategies in order to open up a field of research to plurality and a constructive uncertainty. The article ends by pointing out new directions and a theoretical outset.