This article describes the evolvement of standards-based reform in teacher education, to highlight the debate concerning this reform and to present the critique leveled, first against the notion of teaching standards, and second against the validity of teacher tests. Part of this critique deals with some negative consequences of standards-based…

As part of a major review of teachers' professional conditions of service in Scotland the "Chartered Teacher Programme" has been introduced offering experienced teachers the option of a substantial salary enhancement, not by promotion to a school management role, but by staying in the classroom and engaging in a programme of professional…

Learning outcomes are statements of intended learning within a module. In practice, students may consider various options when undertaking assessments. They may feel they can meet the stated learning outcomes by demonstrating other aspects of study which are termed "distractions." Thirty-three undergraduate students' constructed scientific posters…

Accountability-oriented reforms demand immediate "and" continual gains on achievement test, for all students, and without diminishing other outcomes or undermining instruction. This paper describes a framework for aligning classroom assessment and external testing with the aim of negotiating these seemingly contradictory goals. The framework…

This article focuses on the development of traits of self-regulation within vocational education and training (VET). This perspective is in accordance with the general objective of VET within the German speaking countries and is addressed in the objective "education and training for the ability of self-directed planning, regulation and evaluation…

The study aimed to determine if students in a redesigned course, firstly, hold different perceptions of the assessment demands and, secondly, adjusted their learning strategies towards deeper learning. Contrary to expectations, the students in the original assignment-based (ABL) course (n = 406 students) adopted more deep- learning strategies and…

This study investigates the effect of method of assessment on student performance. Five research conditions go together with one of four assessment modes, namely: portfolio, case-based, peer assessment, and multiple choice evaluation. Data collection is done by means of a pre-test/post-test-design with the help of two standardised tests (N=816).…

The educational goals and objectives provide a reference for curriculum designers, teachers, and educators, and they are required for evaluation or accreditation processes. This article presents a systematic method to state the learning objectives and analyze the consistency of a secondary school science program developed in Spain. The method is…

This article presents three related evaluation studies looking at the effectiveness on achievement and motivation of Reading Together, a cross-age peer-tutoring reading program. The effects on tutees, tutors, teachers, and parents were monitored. The advantages of Reading Together began to accrue during the second and third phases of the program.…

Post-graduate courses are periodically evaluated in accordance with not always very clear criteria by CAPES (Co-ordinating Committee for Teaching Staff Improvement). These criteria try to measure, among other things, academic productivity (including quantity and quality of scientific production), number of classes given by teachers, time to…

In many universities authorship credit plays an important role in academic decision-making, such as for tenure and promotion. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence the placement of names in coauthored works in specific education-related journals, and to identify perceived benefits of single and coauthored publications.…

Instruction and learning are increasingly based on competencies, causing a call for assessment methods to adequately determine competency acquisition. Because competency assessment is such a complex endeavor, one single assessment method seems not to be sufficient. This necessitates Competency Assessment Programs (CAPS) that combine different…

This study conducts a meta-analysis using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to address the questions of the extent of gender differences in reading, whether or not these differences apply similarly across English and non-English speaking countries and decrease with age. Female secondary students performed 0.19 standard deviation units above their…

The Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment (ICLA) is a faculty-developed, state-wide, high-stakes assessment of pre-service teachers' knowledge and application of research based literacy practices. The literacy faculty control all aspects of the test, including construction, refinement, administration, scoring and reporting. The test development…

"Cooltown@Roosevelt," an instructional technology program implemented in 2002-04 based on a five-year collaboration involving Vancouver School District in Washington state, Hewlett-Packard Corporation, and Comcast, provided high-risk students in six elementary classrooms with laptops and wireless internet access at school and at home. A two-year…