Education Commons^™

Teacher Perceptions Of Assessments In Character Education: A Case Study, Sarah Hickman

Senior Honors Theses

Since the time of Aristotle, educators have emphasized character as a necessary part of a student’s education, and currently, many states mandate character education by law. Because of this historical and legal emphasis, there is a growing discussion on the necessity of assessments in character education to ensure that character education programs are effective. While there is research on the large-scale effectiveness of programs with different assessments, there is little research about how teachers perceive assessments and measurements in character education. This study was conducted to begin to address this gap in the research. Through the research design of an …

The Assessment Of Faith And Learning, Beth Green, Albert Cheng, David Smith

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The Practicing Faith Survey (PFS) is a new assessment tool designed to measure the extent to which schoolchildren connect their faith to learning. This paper reviews the landscape of educational assessment and argues that assessment remains a critical element in the design of Christian teaching and learning. It suggests that unease around the concept of educational measurement leads to limited attempts to assess faith formation in the context of learning. The paper discusses PFS as a way to reframe the design process consistent with distinctively Christian practices of teaching and learning.

The Development And Validation Of The Practicing Faith Survey, Albert Cheng, Beth Green, David Smith

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The Practicing Faith Survey (PFS) is a new assessment tool designed to measure the extent to which schoolchildren connect their faith to learning. PFS measures student engagement with five domains of Christian practice in connection with learning: intellectual, relational, introspective, benevolence, and formational practices. We describe the item-development process and then present evidence for the validity and reliability of the PFS based on a sample of 1,300 fifth- through twelfth-grade students who participated in a pilot of the instrument.

Grades Versus Comments: Research On Student Feedback, Thomas R. Guskey

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

Are comments on student work superior to grades? It depends.

How Traditional Grading Contribute To Student Inequities And How To Fix It, Laura J. Link, Thomas R. Guskey

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

Grades have long been identified by those in the measurement community as prime examples of unreliable measurement (Brookhart, 1994; Stiggins, Frisbie, & Griswold, 1989). What one teacher considers in calculating students’ grades may differ greatly from another teacher (Guskey & Link, 2019; McMillan, 2001; McMillan, Myran, & Workman, 2002). A major factor contributing to the unreliability of grades is teachers’ inclusion of aspects of students’ behavior in the grades they assign. Despite the recommendation of experts to separate behavior from academic achievement in formulating students’ grades, teachers at all grade levels typically include student behavior as a contributing factor in …

Context And Regulation Of Homeschooling: Issues, Evidence, And Assessment Practices, Janet F. Carlson

Buros Center: Professional Staff Publications

The article discusses salient factors that influence the current context within which homeschooling occurs. Individual states have applied various approaches to establish regulations that both preserve the rights of homeschooling parents and fulfill the state’s obligation to ensure that its residents receive the education to which they are constitutionally entitled. Case and ethnographic studies or research involving small and selected samples often appear in outlets associated with homeschool advocacy groups or in outlets that are not mainstream. The paucity of empirical evidence derived from methodologically strong research paradigms has led to little certainty about many aspects of homeschooling including its …

Main And Regional Campus Assessments Of Applicants To A Rural Physician Leadership Program: A Generalizability Analysis, Terry D. Stratton, Clarence Kreiter, Carol L. Elam

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

While the selection of qualified applicants often relies, in part, on scores generated from a medical school pre-admission interview (MSPI), the growth of regional medical campuses (RMCs) – many with specialized rural tracks, programs, or missions – has challenged schools to accommodate a wider range of stakeholder input. This study examines the reliabilities of main (urban) and regional (rural) campus interviewers’ assessments of applicants to a Rural Physician Leadership Program (RPLP) located in the southeastern United States.

Data from RPLP applicants completing MSPIs on two campuses from 2009-2017 (n = 232) were examined in a generalizability analysis. In two separate …

Sulitest®: A Mixed-Method, Pilot Study Of Assessment Impacts On Undergraduate Sustainability-Related Learning And Motivation, Alicia Mason

Faculty Submissions

A United Nations international collaboration between the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) resulted in the creation of Sulitest® (aka Sustainability Literacy Test) an open, online training and assessment tool freely available to higher education institutions globally. This study analyzes the effectiveness of the newly developed Sulitest® to not only measure sustainability literacy of higher education student populations, but also act as a catalyst for boosting affective learning outcomes by: (a) generating interest in sustainability-related issues, (b) improving sustainability-related understandings, and (c) enhancing students’ interests in the subject matter. In order to do …

The Double-Edged Sword Of Standardized Testing, Barbara Meyer, Christine Paxson

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Assessment in Pk-12 schools has always been a challenge. Measurement and comparison of students, schools, school districts and states provides accountability for all stakeholders in education. Standardized testing has become the norm, but it is overused. The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers is one test adopted on a large scale to measure whether students are prepared for college and career. Parents are one of the stakeholders who had had concerns about another standardized test, but they also recognize the need. A survey was conducted of parents whose children took PARCC to learn their expectations of the …

Setting The Foundation For Democratization: Assessing The Quality Of A Political Science Program In Egypt, Yasmin Khodary

Political Science

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the quality of a political science program in an Egyptian private university through assessing three particular dimensions: knowledge of political science core facts and theories; reading comprehension skills; and critical thinking (CT).

Design/methodology/approach – A case study research approach was used. The study relies also on a quantitative methodology. Quantitative data were collected from students in the second and fourth years of political science to assess their knowledge of core political science facts and theories, reading comprehension and CT through the online California Critical Thinking Skills Test.

Findings – Unlike …

Spring, Summer, Fall 2019 Graduation Survey Responses, Uno Office Of Instituional Effectiveness

Graduation

Spring, Summer, Fall 2019 Graduation survey responses master file without identifiers.

Report From The Stem 2026 Workshop On Assessment, Evaluation, And Accreditation, Rebecca Bates, Angela Arnold, Cary Komoto, Peggy Brickman, R. Alan Cheville, Elizabeth Longley, Jose Mestre, Mihaela Sabin, James Warnock

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

A gathering of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) higher education stakeholders met in November 2018 to consider the relationship between innovation in education and assessment. When we talk about assessment in higher education, it is inextricably linked to both evaluation and accreditation, so all three were considered. The first question we asked was can we build a nation of learners? This starts with considering the student, first and foremost. As educators, this is a foundation of our exploration and makes our values transparent. As educators, how do we know we are having an impact? As members and implementers of …

Report From The Stem 2026 Workshop On Assessment, Evaluation, And Accreditation, Rebecca Bates, Angela Arnold, Cary Komoto, Peggy Brickman, R. Alan Cheville, Elizabeth Longley, Jose Mestre, Mihaela Sabin, James Warnock

Reports

A gathering of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) higher education stakeholders met in November 2018 to consider the relationship between innovation in education and assessment. When we talk about assessment in higher education, it is inextricably linked to both evaluation and accreditation, so all three were considered. The first question we asked was can we build a nation of learners? This starts with considering the student, first and foremost. As educators, this is a foundation of our exploration and makes our values transparent. As educators, how do we know we are having an impact? As members and implementers of …

Exploring The Factors Teachers Consider In Determining Students’ Grades, Thomas R. Guskey, Laura J. Link

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to investigate the specific factors teachers consider when assigning students’ report card grades. Data were gathered from 943 K-12 teachers from five school districts in a southeastern state in the United States who completed the Teachers’ Grading Practices Survey. Analyses focused on how teachers weigh different factors in determining report card grades, and if these factors and weights differ among teachers who teach at different grade levels and have different amounts of classroom experience. Results revealed statistically significant differences among teachers at different grade levels but no differences associated with teachers’ years of …