The Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) provides educators with a tool for principal evaluation based on principal, teacher, and supervisor reports of principals' learning-centered leadership. In this study, we conduct a known group analysis as part of a larger argument for the validity of the VAL-ED in US elementary and…

In the USA, trends in educational accountability have driven several models attempting to provide quality data for decision making at the national, state, and local levels, regarding the success of schools in meeting standards for competence. Statistical methods to generate data for such decisions have generally included (a) status models that…

Information and communication technology (ICT) literacy education has become an important issue, and the necessity of computational literacy (CL) has been increasing in our growing information society. CL is becoming an important element for future talents, and many countries, including the USA, are developing programs for CL education.…

Value-added models are considered one of the best alternatives not only for accountability purposes but also to improve the school system itself. The estimates provided by these models measure the contribution of schools to students' academic progress, once the effect of other factors outside school control are eliminated. The functional form…

With the implementation of teacher performance pay in 2009 in China, teacher performance evaluation has become a heated topic. This research study follows up on two previous studies of teacher evaluation in China and continues the dialog by analyzing the latest trends in the context of teacher performance pay. There were two sources of information…

The global spread of national assessment testing activities, and the growing pressure to move beyond basic measures of participation in educational monitoring, means that student achievement measures are likely to become increasingly relevant indicators of systemic progress in the developing world. Using data from the CESSP project in Cambodia,…

The purpose of the study was to develop an improved teaching evaluation questionnaire based on students' learning experiences and selected teacher characteristics identified as indicators of teaching quality. Teaching evaluation questionnaires are commonly designed either based on agreed indicators of teaching excellence, students' suggestions of…

Using Singapore as an example, we argue that schools need to equip and encourage teachers to adopt authentic assessment in teaching and learning so as to develop the students' higher-order thinking. The importance of teaching and assessing higher-order thinking in Singapore classrooms is encapsulated in the vision of "Thinking Schools" launched by…

This paper presents observations on the nature of school audit methods in light of the implementation of Scotland's incoming Curriculum for Excellence and the major normative, technological, and cultural changes affecting schools. It points to a mismatch between the concepts and structures of the incoming curriculum and that of the universalistic…

Teachers make a difference in student academic growth. Students from low-income, minority communities attend schools with less resources and less qualified teachers than students in wealthier communities. The Race to the Top (RTTT) policy by the U.S. Department of Education has attempted to address the achievement gap based on SES and the…

This article refers to a study on how the school principal engaged in the process after a school self-evaluation. The study examined how two primary schools followed up the evaluation. Although they both used the same evaluation tool, the schools' understanding and application of results differed greatly. This paper describes and discusses the…

The study investigated how well report card grades communicate to students and parents that state educational standards are being met, standards that are objectively measured by infrequently administered mandated assessments. Data sources were report card grades and external assessment scores for 2006-09 for Ontario Canada. The information that…

Assessment of educational effectiveness provides vitally important feedback to Institutions of Higher Education. It also provides important information to external stakeholders, such as prospective students, parents, governmental and local regulatory entities, professional and regional accrediting organizations, and representatives of the…

Secondary data on 1,028 graduate students nested within 24 programs and admitted into either a Ph. D. or Ed. D. program between 1990 and 2006 at an American public university were used to illustrate the benefits of employing multilevel discrete-time hazard analysis in understanding the timing of doctorate completion in Education and the factors…

Value-added measures can be used to allocate funding to schools, to identify those institutions in need of special attention and to underpin government guidance on targets. In England, there has been a tendency to include in these measures an ever-greater number of contextualising variables and to develop ever-more complex models that encourage…