Education Commons^™

Assessing Formative Assessment: An Examination Of Secondary English/Language Arts Teachers' Practices, Leigh M. Tolley

Dissertations - ALL

This study examined how “formative assessment” (FA), a term that encompasses all of the assessment and instructional activities undertaken by teachers and their pupils to improve student learning, occurs in a secondary English/language arts (ELA) context. A sequential explanatory mixed methods approach, using a series of weekly self-report checklists about teachers’ assessment practices and semi-structured interviews, was used to address the following: (a) what assessment practices secondary ELA teachers use; (b) how these teachers determine what assessment practices to use and when to use them; (c) what these teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the assessment practices that they use …

Pre-Assessment: Promises And Cautions, Thomas R. Guskey, Jay Mctighe

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

To ensure that pre-assessment is worth the time and effort, keep these principles in mind.

Keeley Probes As A Tool For Uncovering Student Ideas: How Do Teachers Use Formative Assessment Probes To Plan And Adapt Instruction?, Kalin Tobler

Dissertations and Theses

Formative assessment probes, known as Keeley probes, are one tool teachers use to reveal students' scientific misconceptions, so that they can move them closer to conceptual understanding. The purpose of this research was to document how four elementary school teachers used formative assessment probes to plan and adapt instruction to improve student learning. Specifically:

• How did teachers choose appropriate probes? What learning goals did teachers hope to address by using the probe??
• What instructional sequences did teachers envision when planning to use a probe?
• What did teachers notice when analyzing student data from a probe?
• How did teachers use the …

The New York State Annual Professional Performance Review And Teacher Morale : Constructive Guidance Or Demoralization?, Joseph William Lloyd

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Recent educational reform efforts such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Race to the Top Initiative (RTT) have exhibited a proclivity to use centralized, top-down reform tactics to improve student achievement. The requirement of states to revise their previous teacher evaluation systems, in order to procure funding from the Race to the Top Initiative, represents a signature example of such tactics. Emerging research suggests that these policies may also unintentionally reduce teachers’ autonomy, deteriorate professional interactions, decrease teachers’ sense of worth and subsequently weaken teacher morale. Additional research indicates that early career teachers tend to respond …

The Role Of The Standards For Educational And Psychological Testing In The Development Of Student Evaluations Of Teaching Effectiveness In Higher Education, Anna Valentinova Valcheva

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purposes of this study were to 1) investigate the extent to which the standards for instrument development, as articulated by the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA/APA/NCME, 2014) are applied during the process of creating student evaluations of teaching (SETs) in order to ensure their reliability and validity, and 2) the factors affecting the application of the standards. The results were analyzed in terms of the percentage of reported standards followed, as well as in terms of the three relevant sections of the Standards. Eighty-nine professionals involved in the process of developing and/or using SETs at their institutions …

A Written Instrument For Assessing Students’ Units Coordination Structures, Anderson Norton, Steven Boyce, Nathan Phillips, Tessa Anwyll, Catherine Ulrich, Jesse L. M. Wilkins

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Units coordination refers to students’ abilities to create units and maintain their relationships with other units that they contain or constitute. In recent research, units coordination has arisen as a key construct that mediates opportunities for student learning across several domains of mathematics, including fractions knowledge and algebraic reasoning. To date, assessments of students’ stages of units coordinating ability have relied upon clinical interviews or teaching experiments whose time-intensive nature precludes opportunities for conducting large-scale studies. We introduce a written instrument that teachers and researchers can use with large populations of students. We report on the reliability and validity of …

Assessment Of Student Learning In A Business Department With An Entrepreneurial Focus, Suzanne C. Calvert

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This multi-faceted, action-research project utilized researched assessment practices and current practices acquired through case study research. The research question of this study was: How could a department in a small liberal arts college best measure and evaluate the student-learning outcomes to inform the business department with an entrepreneurial focus? The researcher answered this question by comparing assessment best practices to the home-institution department assessment plan and conducting case study analyses of assessment practices utilized by similar departments of other selected institutions. An action plan was developed and focused on home departmental collaboration and use of data.

A Comparative Study Of Competency-Based Courses Demonstrating A Potential Measure Of Course Quality And Student Success, Jackie Krause, Laura Portolese, Christopher Schedler

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

While competency-based education is growing, standardized tools for evaluating the unique characteristics of course design in this domain are still under development. This preliminary research study evaluated the effectiveness of a rubric developed for assessing course design of competency-based courses in an undergraduate Information Technology and Administrative Management program. The rubric, which consisted of twenty-six individual measures, was used to evaluate twelve new courses. Additionally, the final assessment scores of nine students who completed nine courses in the program were evaluated to determine if a correlation exists between student success and specific indicators of quality in the course design. The …

Students And Faculty Indivisible: Crafting A Higher Education Culture Of Flourishing, Eileen K. Camfield

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three separate articles addressing related issues central to the culture and future of higher education. The questions that animate the investigations are: In what ways is writing self-efficacy forged in the learning relationships between student and instructor? In what ways, if any, do traditional assessment practices impact student development? In what ways, if any, does institutional culture shape faculty identity, and what is gained or lost in the process? These queries stem from concerns about possible disconnects between visions of higher education's potential and actual practices in the classroom. The dissertation uses grounded theory to …

Designing And Assessing Learning Outcomes: A Framework For Co-Curricular Sustainability Programs, Heather E. Spalding, Dilafruz R. Williams, Vicki L. Wise

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, Co-Curricular Sustainability Programs (CoCSPs) have been established at many higher education institutions. However, few such programs have developed learning outcomes or assessment processes to measure the types of learning that are occurring within their programs. This case study creates synthesis between sustainability education and student leadership competencies and shares a place-based framework for designing and assessing learning outcomes. By utilizing learning outcomes and assessment processes, leadership educators can strengthen the effectiveness of their sustainability programs and facilitate transformational learning experiences for students across campus.

A Case Study Of The Impact Of A Sytematic Evaluation Process In A Graduate Medical Education Residency Program, Heidi T. Kromrei

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has charged institutions that sponsor accredited Graduate Medical Education programs (residency and fellowship specialty programs) with overseeing implementation of mandatory annual program evaluation efforts to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. Physicians receive scant, if any, training in program evaluation methodology. Human Performance Technology (HPT) offers models suitable for residency program evaluation as well as trained evaluators who are experts in evaluation. Leaders in the field of HPT have called for empirical studies to examine the impact of HPT models in a variety of contexts.

This single case study examined the impact of using …

Evaluating A Ninth Grade Transition Program : Link Crew, Luke Saechao

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

For U.S. students, ninth grade is a critical year in the educational pipeline, often dictating a school-to-school transition period. The author evaluates the ramification on achievement following such a school-to-school transition. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a ninth grade transition program called Link Crew, which was implemented by a large comprehensive urban high school. Do transition programs assist in maintaining achievement and readiness? Participants in the study were transitioning grade nine students from two high schools in central Virginia, in which only one received treatment via the Link Crew transition program. The quantitative study utilized school division …

Faculty Perception And Use Of Learning-Centered Strategies To Assess Student Performance, Matthew Lynn Johnson

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In this study, the researcher explored collegiate faculty use and perception of learning- centered strategies to assess student performance on various learning tasks. Through this study, the researcher identified the assessment strategies that faculty participants most frequently used, as well as the strategies that they perceived to be most effective. In addition to an analysis of the most frequently used assessment strategies for the entire sample, the researcher also investigated differences in strategies used by faculty members in specific discipline sub-groups: Arts and Humanities, Natural and Health Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Participants taking part in this study were …

Designing Innovative Alternatives To Traditional High Schools: What Leaders Need To Know, Chester Roy Edwards

Dissertations and Theses

The need for new and innovative alternatives to traditional high schools has never been greater. Never designed to graduate all students on time, traditional high schools and their high dropout rates have remained unchanged for the last 30 years. Improving secondary schooling for all young people is a worthwhile social and educational objective. Many school leaders want to create alternative high schools but may lack the knowledge of what to do, nor may they have a comprehensive design process to follow.

The research question explored in this dissertation is: What do leaders in education need to know to design innovative …

Impact Of An Extended-Day Kindergarten Intervention On School-Related Variables : A Longitudinal Study, Catherine Bauer

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Increased awareness regarding the effectiveness of educational programs has been generated from recent legislative mandates. Given the significance of kindergarten as the foundation for academic learning, it is critical to evaluate whether district-created programs for entering students who are identified as at-risk are effectively meeting their needs. The current program evaluation study investigated the immediate and long-term effects of an extended-day intervention for kindergarten students identified as at-risk in one school district. Through archival data analysis, students who participated in the extended-day kindergarten (EDK; n=26) intervention beginning in the fall of 2000 and 2001 were compared with a control group …

Planting, Learning, Growing: Utilizing Service-Learning In Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics Among Urban Middle School Students, Carly Jessica Chavez

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is meant to work as a descriptive analysis of service-learning pedagogy and outcomes, through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning opportunities. One of the many challenges facing public education is how to actively incorporate elements of STEM into the classroom curriculum and school-wide.

Effects Of Mathematics Professional Development On Growth In Teacher Mathematical Content Knowledge, Carol Elizabeth Cronk

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was to determine if there was a correlation between teachers' scores on fractions items on project assessments and the percentage of participation time in professional development activities.

Exploring The Influence Of The Japanese Accreditation System Through Managerial And Institutional Lenses, Hirosuke Honda

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In response to the declining quality of Japanese undergraduate education, the Ministry of Education implemented the accreditation system in 2004. As the first cycle of accreditation reviews ended in 2010, the effectiveness of these reviews has been discussed in the policy arena.

Transparency In Higher Educational Student Learning Assessment As Seen Through Accreditation, Linda M. Krzykowski

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract

Applications Of The Well-Educated Mind 2003 Concept By Susan Bauer In The Southern California History Classrooms, Tomasz Bogdan Stanek

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to discover how courses in world history and United States history are taught in Southern California secondary schools. At this stage of the research the study of the history course instruction will be generally defined as an exploratory and investigative inquiry involving the interviews of the history faculty, analysis of their course offerings and syllabi content, and the overall teachers' course content preparation and knowledge.

Measurement Error Adjustment Using The Simex Method: An Application To Student Growth Percentiles, Yi Shang

Yi Shang

Growth models are used extensively in the context of educational accountability to evaluate student-, class-, and school-level growth. However, when error-prone test scores are used as independent variables or right-hand-side controls, the estimation of such growth models can be substantially biased. This article introduces a simulation-extrapolation (SIMEX) method that corrects measurement error induced bias. The SIMEX method is applied to quantile regression, which is the basis of Student Growth Percentile, a descriptive growth model adopted in a number of states to diagnose and project student growth. A simulation study is conducted to demonstrate the performance of the SIMEX method in …

A Few Questions We're No Longer Asking About Assessment : The Assessment Landscape And Possible Futures, Todd Lundberg, Gary R. Brown, Robin Jeffers

Office of Academic Innovation Publications

This presentation addresses the current assessment landscape, possible and quickly emerging futures. Presenters, all experienced assessment designers/practitioners, address the topic from a 4-year/national, a 2-year/Washington state, and an educational policy perspective. To guide the conversation, presenters pose "what if" questions based on the changing needs of students and current research into effective pedagogies.

Compared To What? Reconsidering Assessment In Higher Education, Gary R. Brown

Office of Academic Innovation Publications

There is, as Peter Ewell has recently observed, a tension between accountability and improvement. Batson elaborates, noting the parallel realization is dawning that tracking student outcomes toward learning goals, while a useful and necessary exercise, does not yield as much value as we had thought. Batson argues that developing an accountability system has provided rewards to faculty and student painfully insufficient to warrant the work such development requires. Batson argues that ePortfolios provide a rich alternative. This presentation will demonstrate with real student ePortfolio case studies nested within the context of organizational ePortfolio to provide an example that suggests Batson's …

Assessment Alchemy: Transforming Data Into Action--Why It Is Mostly Myth And What To Do About It, Gary R. Brown

Office of Academic Innovation Publications

There is evidence that institutions and faculty are doing more to assess their programs and their innovations. But subsequent evidence that assessment and research are useful for guiding productive changes in teaching practice and that they improve the student learning experience remains elusive. This presentation will share the story of several different studies that have produced little impact on practice despite substantial or significant results. In comparison, a few (sometimes small) studies have offered insights and avenues that have demonstrated an impact, though not necessarily in ways we might expect. This session will explore conditions and strategies that can make …

Needs Analysis: The First Step In Library Instruction Assessment, Anne Pemberton

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Using instructional design methods, specifically conducting a needs analysis, can provide librarians with a road map for designing an assessment plan for library instruction. Instructional design models are often unfamiliar to librarians and underutilized in library instruction and in information literacy programs. One instructional design model is ADDIE: Analyze Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. The first step in the process, the analysis, can be done by developing a needs analysis for your specific institution in order to measure the gap between what faculty expect students to know and the knowledge and skills that students actually possess. Conducting a needs analysis …

The Validation And Utilization Of The C.A.R.E. Self-Assessment Tool And A Comparison Of Perceived Levels Of Cultural Responsiveness In Benwood I And Benwood Ii Schools, Jennifer R. Spates

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study was conducted to determine teachers' perceptions of culturally responsive policies and practices in sixteen elementary schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Participants completed a survey called the C.A.R.E. (Culturally Aware and Responsive Education) tool, which was developed by the researcher. The survey was administered in two sets of schools with contrasting populations and a comparative analysis between the two sets of schools was conducted. The purpose of this study was to measure teachers' perceptions regarding the level of cultural responsiveness of their school's policies and practices. An additional purpose was to validate the C.A.R.E. The sample of subjects consisted of …

Assessment Issues Direct, Indirect, And Assessment Utility, Gary R. Brown

Office of Academic Innovation Publications

A National University Telecommunications Network webinar presented at the Ohio Learning Network, Central Ohio Regional Center Winter Learning Institute on Jan. 26, 2009. Focuses on assessment, measures to consider, and curriculum review. Discusses improving learning competencies and providing learning experiences that foster the development of critical learning skills. Attempts to answer the question "Does the measure guide improvement?"

Catholic Schools And Student Academic Performance;Does The Urban Catholic School Experience Mitigate Ethnoracial Disparity?, Lanny K. (Lanny Keith) Hollis

ETD Archive

This study examined an inner-city Catholic high school to ascertain the possible existence of an achievement gap. Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses examined academic indicators (GPA and Math and Science OGT results) and demographic and school variables. Students (258 Black, 101 White, and 55 Hispanic) completed questionnaires, which were matched with school data and confirmatory alumni focus groups. Analyses revealed no significant differences (ANOVA) among academic indicator means. Correlations were found between academic indicators and length of Catholic education, good behavior, extracurricular participation, high-school-graduation-oriented peers, and teacher caring scores. Regression models found positive student behavior, peers, female gender, extracurricular …

Proposing Measures For Assessing Systems Thinking Interventions, Megan Aline Hopper

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper presents an analysis of systems thinking interventions in educational settings. Although these interventions have been implemented in K-12 classrooms since the mid 1980s, there is still no clear definition of systems thinking or identification of the best method to test the effectiveness of interventions or methods for teaching systems thinking The goal of this paper is to answer the question: how do we assess the effectiveness of systems thinking interventions in education? In order to answer this question, I had to address the following sub questions: (1) what is systems thinking, (2) what systems thinking interventions are being …

Developing Students' Critical Thinking Skills, Gary R. Brown

Office of Academic Innovation Publications

A presentation delivered at the University of Texas at Arlington, focusing on critical thinking and its implications for practice: assignments, facilitation, and involving students.