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Full-Text Articles in Teacher Education and Professional Development

Informed And Uninformed Naïve Assessment Constructors’ Strategies For Item Selection, Helenrose Fives, Nicole Barnes Jan 2017

Informed And Uninformed Naïve Assessment Constructors’ Strategies For Item Selection, Helenrose Fives, Nicole Barnes

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

We present a descriptive analysis of 53 naïve assessment constructors’ explanations for selecting test items to include on a summative assessment. We randomly assigned participants to an informed and uninformed condition (i.e., informed participants read an article describing a Table of Specifications). Through recursive thematic analyses of participants’ explanations, we identified 14 distinct strategies that coalesced into three families of strategies: Alignment, Item Evaluation, and Affective Evaluation. We describe the nature of the strategies and the degree to which participants used strategies with frequency and effect size analysis. Results can inform teacher education on assessment construction through explicit instruction in …


Multimodal K-12 Assessment Frameworks And The Interactive Audience: An Exploratory Analysis Of Existing Frameworks, Ewa Mcgrail, Nadia Behizadeh Jan 2017

Multimodal K-12 Assessment Frameworks And The Interactive Audience: An Exploratory Analysis Of Existing Frameworks, Ewa Mcgrail, Nadia Behizadeh

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Multimodal writing often occurs through membership in an online, participatory culture; thus, the audience for student writers potentially can shift from imagined readers to actual, accessible readers and responders. In this article, we thoroughly review the idea of audience and then report results from an exploratory review of K-12 assessment frameworks and analyze how key frameworks address the need for consideration of an interactive audience. We found that multimodal composition is being defined consistently across all frameworks as composition that includes multiple ways of communicating, but the majority of multimodal composition examples were texts that were non-interactive composition types (as …


Vmed 646: Animal Physiology Ii—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Renee M. Mcfee Jan 2017

Vmed 646: Animal Physiology Ii—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Renee M. Mcfee

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This Peer Review of Teaching Project portfolio focuses on the Animal Physiology II course which is required for first year veterinary medicine students. Weekly quizzes assess baseline knowledge and had been administered individually and in groups. I hypothesized the discontinuation of group quizzes would increase student effort when preparing for quizzes. Unit exams involve scenario-based questions and require students to apply information. I hypothesized the implementation of group exams would help under-performing students improve their ability to apply information they had learned. Exams were still taken individually prior to being taken in groups to encourage adequate preparation. Student impacts were …


Educational Development Efforts Aligned With The Assessment Cycle, Phyllis Blumberg Jan 2017

Educational Development Efforts Aligned With The Assessment Cycle, Phyllis Blumberg

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Using an assessment cycle as an organizing framework, this article illustrates how educational development and assessment mutually complement each other. It describes an assessment study conducted to determine if two colleges at a small university met their strategic goals to increase the adoption of learning-centered teaching. This study served the parallel function of assessing the impact of sustained educational development efforts by the Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to promote learning-centered teaching. The majority of interviewed faculty reported using learning-centered approaches. The data collection method itself also served as a teachable moment for faculty who do not attend CTL …


The Aspirational Curriculum Map: A Diagnostic Model For Action-Oriented Program Review, Eric Metzler, George Rehrey, Lisa Kurz, Joan Middendorf Jan 2017

The Aspirational Curriculum Map: A Diagnostic Model For Action-Oriented Program Review, Eric Metzler, George Rehrey, Lisa Kurz, Joan Middendorf

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

When the process of curriculum mapping begins with the faculty’s articulations of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students should master upon graduation, a curriculum map results that enables faculty to review the curriculum for effectiveness, see the workings of the whole curriculum at a glance, plan assessments, and recognize where adjustments or changes need to be made. This article explains these benefits and lays out a step by step process for building such a curriculum map that can be adapted to any institutional context. We also describe a variety of outcomes from and reactions to our process.


Evaluating Centers For Teaching And Learning: A Field-Tested Model, Susan R. Hines Jan 2017

Evaluating Centers For Teaching And Learning: A Field-Tested Model, Susan R. Hines

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This paper provides a program evaluation model, along with field-testing results, that was developed in response to the need for an evaluation model able to support systematic evaluation of teaching and learning centers (CTLs). The model builds upon the author’s previous studies investigating the evaluation practices and struggles experienced at 53 CTLs. Findings from these studies attribute evaluation struggles to contextual issues involving evaluation capacity, ill- structured curricula, and ill-conceived evaluation frameworks. This field-tested Four-Phase Program Evaluation Model addresses these issues by approaching evaluation in a comprehensive manner that includes an evaluation capacity analysis, curricular conceptualization, evaluation planning, and plan …


Assessment From An Educational Development Perspective, Mary C. Wright, Molly Goldwasser, Wayne Jacobson, Christopher Dakes Jan 2017

Assessment From An Educational Development Perspective, Mary C. Wright, Molly Goldwasser, Wayne Jacobson, Christopher Dakes

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As assessment, already well established in higher education, gains attention in the field of educational development (ED), we ask: What does it mean to practice assessment from an ED perspective? In response, we examine four principles that are central to this endeavor: (a) bridging work across communities and multiple institutional levels; (b) collective, collaborative ownership; (c) action-oriented focus on student-centered learning; and (d) intentionality about inclusiveness to recognize diverse experiences of participants and stakeholders. We apply these principles to four examples of assessment practice at different institutions and offer a rationale for why this lens has utility for the improvement …


Influence Of Proportional Number Relationships On Item Accessibility And Students’ Strategies, Michele B. Carney, Everett Smith, Gwyneth R. Hughes, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Angela Crawford Dec 2016

Influence Of Proportional Number Relationships On Item Accessibility And Students’ Strategies, Michele B. Carney, Everett Smith, Gwyneth R. Hughes, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Angela Crawford

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Extensive evidence points to the need for mathematics instruction to tap into students’ informal understandings in order to conceptually develop formal mathematical ideas (Ahl, Moore, & Dixon, 1992; Freudenthal, 1973, 1991; Treffers, 1987). Contextual problems are a common means of helping students access their informal mathematical ideas (Lamon, 1993; Moore & Carlson, 2012). However, to successfully use context in this manner, we must ensure these problems are accessible to students and have the potential to promote connections to deeper or more formal mathematics (Jackson, Garrison, Wilson, Gibbons, & Shahan, 2013; Stein, Smith, Henningsen, & Silver, 2000). There is thus a …


Creating A Context For Growth-Focused Assessment, Nicole Barnes, Helenrose Fives Oct 2016

Creating A Context For Growth-Focused Assessment, Nicole Barnes, Helenrose Fives

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

We present a naturalistic case study of one teacher’s development of a growth-centered context for classroom assessment. In-depth interviews, analysis of student work, and observations were used to identify the processes this teacher used to engage her students in the assessment process. Data were analyzed using listening guide analysis to garner a holistic perspective on the nature of teaching, learning, and community established in this classroom. Findings are described by aligning the specific techniques used by this teacher to the growth mindset supportive instructional strategies noted in the literature and then providing tips for implementation in a middle grades classroom.


Correlating English Language Learner Crct Scores On The Basis Of English Language Learner Access Scores, Nancy Mcneal Sep 2016

Correlating English Language Learner Crct Scores On The Basis Of English Language Learner Access Scores, Nancy Mcneal

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to test the sociocultural theory that relates English language learner students’ scores on the Georgia Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State (ACCESS) test to English language learner students’ scores on the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). The assessments scored students in language use and proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, English/language arts, math, science and social studies. Specifically, the study assessed the predictive power of student scores on the ACCESS test on the criterion variable of student scores on the Georgia CRCT. The participants in the study were …


Program Monitoring Practices For Teachers Of The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing In Early Intervention, Anne E. Thomas, Christine Marvin May 2016

Program Monitoring Practices For Teachers Of The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing In Early Intervention, Anne E. Thomas, Christine Marvin

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Program monitoring is an important and necessary assessment practice within the field of early childhood deaf education. Effective program monitoring requires a focus on both the consistent implementation of intervention strategies (fidelity) and the assessment of children’s ongoing progress in response to interventions (progress monitoring). Teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing (TODs) who provide early intervention services need to conduct regular program monitoring to evaluate the merit of their efforts. However, progress monitoring is a practice often overlooked by practitioners within the field of early intervention. It is recommended that TODs monitor children’s progress “regularly,” but evidence of …


Building Exemplary Teaching Practices: Following The Paths Of New Science Teachers, Elizabeth B. Lewis, Ana Rivero, Aaron A. Musson, Jia Lu, Lyrica Lucas Apr 2016

Building Exemplary Teaching Practices: Following The Paths Of New Science Teachers, Elizabeth B. Lewis, Ana Rivero, Aaron A. Musson, Jia Lu, Lyrica Lucas

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Posters and Presentations

There are few comprehensive studies of beginning science teachers that describe enacted teaching practices in terms of inquiry-based instruction, classroom discourse, assessment, and curricular choices, and explore how these factors interact with teaching self-efficacy. We conducted a 3-year, longitudinal study of four cohorts of master’s level science teacher education program graduates. We coded and analyzed 319 science lessons of new teachers from student teaching to third year post-program to describe teachers’ enacted practices and gathered annual teaching self-efficacy reports to examine teachers’ beliefs. Our analysis resulted in key findings relevant to future programmatic improvements. First, when we reviewed specific inquiry-based …


Binning For Equity And Access: Formative Assessment–Focused Teacher Professional Development For Middle School Mathematics Classrooms, Brent Duckor, Carrie Holmberg, Joanne Becker Apr 2016

Binning For Equity And Access: Formative Assessment–Focused Teacher Professional Development For Middle School Mathematics Classrooms, Brent Duckor, Carrie Holmberg, Joanne Becker

Faculty Publications

While research has shown for over a decade that teachers who engage in formative assessment (FA) practices may have the most powerful impact on student learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Hattie, 2012) less is known about the development of teachers’ knowledge and use of formative assessment as they plan, enact, and reflect on their practice. Our qualitative case study focuses on how in-service middle school math teachers take up the specific moves (Author, 2014a) associated with formative assessment practice as they plan, enact, and reflect on their practices as part of a FA-focused professional development cycle of inquiry. The study …


Multiple Problem-Solving Strategies Provide Insight Into Students’ Understanding Of Open-Ended Linear Programming Problems, Marla A. Sole Jan 2016

Multiple Problem-Solving Strategies Provide Insight Into Students’ Understanding Of Open-Ended Linear Programming Problems, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

Open-ended questions that can be solved using different strategies help students learn and integrate content, and provide teachers with greater insights into students’ unique capabilities and levels of understanding. This article provides a problem that was modified to allow for multiple approaches. Students tended to employ high-powered, complex, familiar solution strategies rather than simpler, more intuitive strategies, which suggests that students might need more experience working with informal solution methods. During the semester, by incorporating open-ended questions, I gained valuable feedback, was able to better model real-world problems, challenge students with different abilities, and strengthen students’ problem solving skills.


Are We Teaching Them Anything?: A Model For Measuring Methodology Skills In The Political Science Major, Christi Siver, Seth W. Greenfest, G. Claire Haeg Jan 2016

Are We Teaching Them Anything?: A Model For Measuring Methodology Skills In The Political Science Major, Christi Siver, Seth W. Greenfest, G. Claire Haeg

Political Science Faculty Publications

While the literature emphasizes the importance of teaching political science students methods skills, there currently exists little guidance for how to assess student learning over the course of their time in the major. To address this gap, we develop a model set of assessment tools that may be adopted and adapted by political science departments to evaluate the effect of their own methods instruction. The model includes a syllabi analysis, evaluation of capstone (senior) papers, and a transcript analysis. We apply these assessment tools to our own department to examine whether students demonstrate a range of basic-to-advanced methodological skills. Our …


An Exploration Of Fairness In The Assessment And Process Of Student Group Work, Rita Gibson, Emma Geoghegan, Oscar Macananey, Andrew Hines, Lorraine D'Arcy Jan 2016

An Exploration Of Fairness In The Assessment And Process Of Student Group Work, Rita Gibson, Emma Geoghegan, Oscar Macananey, Andrew Hines, Lorraine D'Arcy

Practitioner Research Projects

This project was driven by a motivation to be as fair as possible in the assessment of students' group work. Achieving fairness in assessment is a recurrent them in group project assessment literature (Nordberg, 2009). All authors of this report teach modules with group projects, and acknowledged that discrepancies often exist between a mark assigned to a group and an individual's contribution. Our aims were to (a) collectively enhance our understanding of the issues that need to be considered when assessing a group work project and (b) collectively build our confidence in approaches chosen to overcome these challenges. The findings …


Methods For Deriving Individual Marks From Group Work, Miriam Delaney, Lucy Bowe, Breiffni Fitzgerald, Peter Maccann, Christina Ryan Jan 2016

Methods For Deriving Individual Marks From Group Work, Miriam Delaney, Lucy Bowe, Breiffni Fitzgerald, Peter Maccann, Christina Ryan

Practitioner Research Projects

Group assessment is a valuable teaching and learning method (Springer et al., 1999). This has been comprehensively demonstrated in the teaching and learning literature both in general (Johnson et al., 1991) and in specific contexts. This assessment practice promotes questioning, discussion and debate and encourages students to become active team players (DIT, 2013). However, when using this form of assessment, it is important to recognise that it is "individuals who graduate and gain qualifications" (Gibbs, 2009, p.4). The problem of freeloading has been identified and one of the suggested methods of reducing this is to incorporate individual assessment into the …


Facilitating Group Work: A Guide To Good Practice, Ronan Mccrea, Irene Neville, David Rickard, Ciara Walsh, David Williams Jan 2016

Facilitating Group Work: A Guide To Good Practice, Ronan Mccrea, Irene Neville, David Rickard, Ciara Walsh, David Williams

Practitioner Research Projects

Oakley et al. (2004) and Gibbs (2009) observe that owing to the extensive literature on group work, lecturers searching for a succinct guide on how to facilitate this activity effectively would find it challenging to digest such a large corpus. We extensively reviewed the literature in order to produce a quick and accessible guide for lecturers to use. It is our aspiration that this could be referred to when planning and facilitating group work projects with insights and recommendations informed by our research. Moreover, as this work draws on publications from educators in a wide range of disciplines, we expect …


Don’T Box Me In: Rubrics For Ártists And Designers, Natasha Haugnes, Jennifer L. Russell Jan 2016

Don’T Box Me In: Rubrics For Ártists And Designers, Natasha Haugnes, Jennifer L. Russell

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Two faculty developers at a professional art and design university were met with uneasy faculty attitudes toward grading when they opened their CTL 13 years ago. Conversations revealed that the faculty artists and designers suspected that grading would somehow shatter the fragile muse of creativity, which is so central to the processes of producing art and design. The developers’ quest for transparent, consistent grading, and assessment practices resulted in an approach to rubric creation that taps into artists’ reverence for the critique. This narrative account reveals how the approach allowed an interactive introduction of rubrics as teaching tools, ensured their …


Development Of Culturally Proficient Practice Across A Teacher Preparation Program, Lisa Vasquez, Elizabeth J. Sandell, Beth Beschorner, Lori Piowlski Nov 2015

Development Of Culturally Proficient Practice Across A Teacher Preparation Program, Lisa Vasquez, Elizabeth J. Sandell, Beth Beschorner, Lori Piowlski

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

No abstract provided.


The Edtpa And Pds Collide In A Culture Of Care (Coc) Model, Lori Piowlski, Elizabeth Finsness Oct 2015

The Edtpa And Pds Collide In A Culture Of Care (Coc) Model, Lori Piowlski, Elizabeth Finsness

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

No abstract provided.


Plunging Beneath The Surface: Uncovering Internal Dispositions, Lori Piowlski, Karen Colum Feb 2015

Plunging Beneath The Surface: Uncovering Internal Dispositions, Lori Piowlski, Karen Colum

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

Teacher preparation programs face the challenge of measuring candidates’ competencies that can be considered internal dispositions; which impact the quality of their instruction. This study delves into candidate edTPA scores in correlation with their IDI mindsets to support program development.


Understanding Cognition Across Modalities For The Assessment Of Digital Resources, Valeriana Colon Jan 2015

Understanding Cognition Across Modalities For The Assessment Of Digital Resources, Valeriana Colon

Teaching and Learning Publications

Drawing from the theories of the cognitive process, this paper explores the transmission, retention and transformation of information across oral, written, and digital modes of communication and how these concepts can be used to examine the assessment of digital resource tools. The exploration of interactions across modes of communication is used to gain an understanding of the interaction between the student, digital resource and teacher. Cognitive theory is considered as a basis for the assessment of digital resource tools. Lastly, principles for the assessment of digital resource tools are presented along with how assessment can be incorporated in the educational …


Authentic Assessment, Sinead Freeman, James Fox, Vanessa Murphy, Nicola Hughes Jan 2015

Authentic Assessment, Sinead Freeman, James Fox, Vanessa Murphy, Nicola Hughes

Practitioner Research Projects

No abstract provided.


Msym 109: Physical Principles In Agriculture And Life Sciences—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, David Mabie Jan 2015

Msym 109: Physical Principles In Agriculture And Life Sciences—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, David Mabie

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark course portfolio was developed for MSYM 109 - Physical Principles in Agriculture and Life Sciences. The class is a general service course taken by majors as a prerequisite for future coursework along with several other CASNR majors to fulfill their physics course requirement. MSYM 109 is a high enrollment course, with 115 students in lecture, along with four separate 30 person recitation sections. This portfolio was developed to assess the following objectives: 1. Identify, evaluate, and justify the course objectives 2. Assess and evaluate the course pedagogy and assessment methodology 3. Analyze the historical students assessment results against …


Tech Edge Student Rubric Grades 2-3, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin Oct 2014

Tech Edge Student Rubric Grades 2-3, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This rubric can be used to evaluate formative and summative assessments of technology integrated products across the curriculum for grades 2-3.


Tech Edge Student Rubric K-1, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin Oct 2014

Tech Edge Student Rubric K-1, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This rubric can be used to evaluate formative and summative assessments of technology integrated products across the curriculum for grades K-1.


Tech Edge Student Rubric Grades 4-5, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin Oct 2014

Tech Edge Student Rubric Grades 4-5, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This rubric can be used to evaluate formative and summative assessments of technology integrated products across the curriculum for grades 4-5.


Providing The Fuel Needed To Blast Teacher Candidates Into Employment, Lori Piowlski, Peggy Ballard Oct 2014

Providing The Fuel Needed To Blast Teacher Candidates Into Employment, Lori Piowlski, Peggy Ballard

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

The 21st century learner has many facets that a teacher must be able to gleam and respond to, as identified in the increasing number of teaching standards that require teachers to meet the needs of all diverse learners through instruction and assessment that engage and encourage all students. The increasing diverse composition of students brings new challenges that teacher preparation programs must address to prepare effective teachers ready to embrace these students in a classroom that is responsive to the needs of all students. This study focuses on the program development of teacher candidates learning in block three courses (the …


Self-Assessment Inspires Learning, Lori Desautels Aug 2014

Self-Assessment Inspires Learning, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Self-reflection is self-assessment, and one of the most significant learning tools we can model for our students. Ultimately, we want our children and adolescents to be the self-assessors of their work, dispositions, and goals. Research repeatedly reports that the difference between good teachers and superior teachers is that superior teachers self-reflect.