Education Commons^™

Assessment Matters #14, Nov 2011, Assessment In Action Committee

Assessment Matters @ WMU

No abstract provided.

Testing The Tests: An Investigation Into The Effectiveness Of Alternative Assessment Methods For Bilingual Language-Impaired Children, Lena G. Caesar

The Hilltop Review

Alternative language assessment procedures are gaining in prominence as authentic alternatives to traditional measures, but scant data exist regarding the relative effectiveness of the data they provide. This paper first summarizes the criteria for effective language assessment of bilingual children as documented in the literature, and then comparatively evaluates the effectiveness of research studies employing the three most-cited alternative assessment approaches: descriptive, dynamic, and curriculum-based. Conclusions regarding the impact of appropriate assessment on issues of over- and under-representation of bilingual Hispanic students are also discussed.

Assessment Matters #13, July 2011, Assessment In Action Committee

Assessment Matters @ WMU

No abstract provided.

Assessment Matters #12, Feb 2011, Assessment In Action Committee

Assessment Matters @ WMU

No abstract provided.

Teaching Reading In The Secondary Content Area Classroom:Teacher Attitudes And Predictors, Sara L. Norton-Ejnik

Dissertations

Strategic teaching of reading occurs at the elementary level, and students are expected to "read to learn" once they enter high school. The majority of the nation's secondary students do not have all the requisite skills to read and learn from high school texts and materials, and even drop-out rates have been attributed to students' inability to keep pace with the literacy skills demanded by the secondary curriculum. No Child Left Behind legislation now mandates secondary school reading initiatives, from high stakes testing to remediation. Despite the national focus on secondary reading, teachers in America's secondary schools are not teaching …

The Impact Of The Head Start Parent Teacher Partnership On Home Based Mathematical Interventions Provided By Single Rural Head Start Mothers, Curtiss J. Babcock

Dissertations

Increased research in the area of early childhood education has expanded knowledge in the area of educating young children and improving school readiness. In Head Start, as well as other preschool programs, attention has recently focused on the pre-mathematics component of early education and school readiness.

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the home-based mathematic activities and experiences single rural Head Start mothers use to provide math-related instruction to their children prior to Head Start entry. Also examined was the preschool teacher's influence on parent initiated in-home mathematics practices.

This study looked for relationships between the …

Bayesian Item Response Theory: Statistical Inference And Power Analysis, Jason W. Bodnar

Dissertations

The regulatory pharmaceutical approval process is flawed in that industry clinical trials (ICTs) are always powered for efficacy and rarely powered for safety. The key safety parameter is the adverse event (AE). This practice may result in efficacious products with confounded safety. An ICT’s ability to be powered for detecting AE trends may improve patient safety. Therefore, this dissertation’s purpose was to determine if power analysis resulted in feasible sample sizes for substantiating AE hypotheses. AEs were modeled with three Bayesian 2PL IRT models. The unidimensional latent trait, transfusion-related AE, was modeled as a patient predisposition for experiencing an AE. …

Death By Boredom: The Role Of Visual Processing Theory In Written Evaluation Communication, Stephanie D. H. Evergreen

Dissertations

Evaluation reporting is an educational act and, as such, should be communicated using principles that support cognition. This study drew upon visual processing theory and theory-based graphic design principles to develop the Evaluation Report Layout Checklist intended to guide report development and support cognition in the readers of evaluation reports. It was then reviewed by an expert panel and applied by a group of raters to a set of evaluation reports obtained from the Informal Science Education evaluation website with maximum variability sampling. Results showed fairly high exact percent agreement and strong to very strong correlation with the author’s ratings. …

Daily Practices Elementary Principals Utilize To Increase Student Readingachievement: A Case Study Of Successful Michigan Elementary Schools, Susan L. Johnson

Dissertations

This case study examined three K-5 schools, one 3-5 school, and two K-2 Analysis of the data provided six dominant themes related to the research questions: Behavior/Positive Behavior Support, Visibility, Professional Development, Team/Distributed Leadership, Data, and Deliberate/Focused. The dominant themes were cross tabbed with the theoretical frameworks from Marzano et al. (2005) and Fullan (2008a). Connections were made to both Marzano et al.'s Seven Responsibilities of the School Leader for Second-order Change and 21 Responsibilities of the School Leader as well as to four of Fullan's Six Secrets of Change. This study supports previous research and adds to the literature …

Differentiated Instruction In The Secondary Classroom: Analysis Of The Level Of Implementation And Factors That Influence Practice, Duane Kiley

Dissertations

Differentiated instruction is designing and implementing instruction to meet the needs of every student. Differentiated classrooms adjust to individual student’s needs through a combination of practices proven effective in teaching at the student’s point of learning acquisition.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which secondary teachers differentiate instruction and whether selected independent variables influence teachers’ use of differentiated instruction. Academic teachers were surveyed to determine the extent to which they utilized differentiated instructional strategies. Focus group meetings were conducted to delve deeper into understanding the information received from the teacher survey. Statistical analysis of the …

Stability Of Popular R-Cbm Progress Monitoring Tools: Dibels® Next And Aimsweb®, Christine Russell

Dissertations

Currently there is no agreed-upon method for determining the difficulty level, referred to as the readability level, of Reading Curriculum-Based Measurement (R-CBM) passages. A key tenant of R-CBM is that the passages across each grade level are equivalent in difficulty level and therefore can be used to monitor student academic improvement. The primary objective in this study was to evaluate the homogeneity of oral reading fluency progress monitoring passages of two popular passage sets that are used frequently in schools. The purpose of this research was to examine the stability of each R-CBM progress monitoring passage set as well as …

Efficacy Of The Celcis Intensive English Program, Robert J. Dlouhy, Jason T. Burkhardt

Assessment Grants

The Center for English Language and Culture for International Students (CELCIS) program at Western Michigan University provides English language instruction to international students wishing to conduct academic study in the United States.

This study intends to answer three questions:

1. Do CELCIS graduates perform as well in their university studies as students who have been granted restricted admission, but have not completed CELCIS?

2. How does the university performance of students who have completed CELCIS compare with students who have attended CELCIS but not completed its curriculum?

3. What recommendations could encourage further capitalization of the strengths and needs of …

General Education Assessment, Mary Allen

Assessment in Action Conference

The assessment of General Education presents unique challenges to an institution. We will discuss strategies for effective General Education assessment.

Wmu Assessment In Action Day Conference Program 2011, Office Of Assessment And Undergraduate Studies

Assessment in Action Conference

No abstract provided.

Strategic Planning And Assessment, Sue Stapleton

Assessment in Action Conference

The fundamentals of strategic planning in higher education along with design of metrics for assessment will be discussed in this presentation.

Assessing Professional Behaviors, Carrick D. Craig

Assessment in Action Conference

Participants in this session will receive tips for assessing professional behaviors, tools for reviewing your current policy and advice for responding appropriately to a variety of situations that may include dismissing students from your professional program.

Rubric Development Workshop, Mary Allen

Assessment in Action Conference

Rubrics specify the criteria we use to assess student products and behaviors. After a brief introduction, participants in this workshop will draft a rubric. You are encouraged to come with a colleague and work together to develop a rubric that will be useful to your program.

Assessment For Administrative And Student Affairs Units, Mary J. Allen

Assessment in Action Conference

No abstract provided.

Foundations In Assessment, Mary Allen

Assessment in Action Conference

Effective assessment engages campus professionals in meaningful discussions that focus on student development. We will review the foundations of effective assessment.

How To Say Yes To Assessment: Breaking Down Barriers, David S. Reinhold

Assessment in Action Conference

This presentation will discuss some of the common obstacles to doing effective assessment and ways in which we may be able to overcome those obstacles. Participants will be encouraged to share additional issues that can impede the successful implementation of assessment plans.