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Descriptors:
Performance Based Assessment; Teacher Education; Data Analysis; Student Leadership; Testing; Resident Advisers; Statistical Analysis; Substance Abuse; Leadership; Workshops

Abstract:
A primary goal of assessment is to deliver truthful and clear information that can be used to inform and improve outcomes. Although there are multiple ways to achieve this goal, common approaches can be broken down into two major categories: (1) direct assessment; and (2) indirect assessment. Indirect assessment typically relies on general measures and students' self-reports of what they have learned. Direct assessment, on the other hand, is a good way to observe very tangible evidence of assessment outcomes. Direct assessments are those using "structured, predetermined response options that can be summarized into meaningful numbers and analyzed statistically." Whereas indirect assessments provide a picture of student perspectives, direct assessments indicate what they actually know or are able to do. Direct assessment can take many forms, such as quizzes, commercial tests, and portfolios. All of these direct assessments share a common theme of being able to demonstrate the students' learning. Conducting direct assessment can provide assessment data that are viewed as more valid and legitimate by both staff and faculty alike. In this article, the authors outline how three separate departments at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) used direct assessments to develop a better understanding of what their students knew, as well as to enhance their trainings and workshops. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Higher Education; Quality Control; Rewards; Strategic Planning; Public Policy; Sustainability; Educational Change; Political Influences; Performance Factors; Financial Support; Performance Based Assessment; College Faculty; Competition; Leadership Role; College Administration; Educational Improvement; Educational Policy

Abstract:
The renewal of strategy development and implementation is important in the context of the changing higher education landscape. Changing government policy and the political agenda require a university to engage in careful strategy development and implementation which result in long-term sustainability. The political interest of the government will place more pressure on universities to align their strategy and directions as performance-based rewards are linked to institutional performance outcomes in teaching and research. It is yet to be seen how performance-based funding could improve internal quality assurance in universities as more focus will be on aligning resources to attract performance funding. Such a strategy may not lead to internal enhancements and it may also scrutinise academic work in assessing and rewarding teaching and research performance. Lack of emphasis on careful planning and implementation could have implications for institutions in the current competitive environment. The author concludes that careful and intelligent strategy development and effective implementation and monitoring are based on the quality of institutional leadership which drives change and improvement. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Higher Education; Student Financial Aid; Accountability; Federal Aid; Costs; Educational Policy; Debt (Financial); Accreditation (Institutions); Futures (of Society); Performance Based Assessment; Presidents

Abstract:
For 40 years, federal money has sustained higher education while enabling its worst tendencies. That is about to change. The end may have come on February 12, 2013, when President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address. "Skyrocketing costs," the president said, "price way too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsustainable debt." In a policy document released after the speech, the president proposed the most sweeping change in federal aid since the great debates of the early 1970s. In addition to value-driven accountability measures for colleges, he called for "establishing a new, alternative system of accreditation that would provide pathways for higher-education models and colleges to receive federal student aid based on performance and results." Against a backdrop of a growing number of reports on reforming financial aid, in a handful of words, the president had proposed nothing less than a postinstitutional future of higher education--one in which "colleges," as defined by other colleges, as defined by higher education itself, would no longer have a monopoly over the receipt of public funds. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Performance Based Assessment; Reliability; Evaluation Methods; Outsourcing; Case Studies; Oral Language; Language Proficiency; Longitudinal Studies; Telecommunications; Foreign Countries; Language Tests; Language Usage; Rating Scales; English for Special Purposes; Measures (Individuals); Intercultural Communication

Abstract:
This case study discusses the development and use of an oral performance assessment instrument intended to evaluate Filipino agents' customer service transactions with callers from the United States (US). The design and applications of the instrument were based on a longitudinal, qualitative observation of language training and customer service support practices of Philippine-based agents employed by a US-owned call centre company. Although language training in Philippine call centers continues to improve (Lockwood, 2012), there are still clear limitations to how the oral performance of Filipino agents is evaluated internally by call centre companies. Specialized assessment instruments, following ESP/EOP norms, broadly used by the industry are still relatively untested and many call centers maintain their own metrics that often measure agents' language use and service quality separately (Friginal, 2007, 2009). In this study, the assessment instrument was adapted from the Melbourne Medical Students' Diagnostic Speaking Scale (Grove & Brown, 2001) and further developed to include ESP/EOP approaches in this context of inter-cultural communication. A conveniently sampled set of recorded calls (N = 100) across different task categories (e.g., troubleshooting interactions, product inquiry) was used to test the instrument for initial reliability measures. Results and analysis of the instrument's context suitability and limitations are discussed below. (Contains 4 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Performance Based Assessment; Rating Scales; Scores; High Stakes Tests; National Competency Tests; Prevocational Education; Teachers; Foreign Countries

Abstract:
In recent years many countries have introduced authentic performance-based assessments in their national exam systems. Teachers' ratings of their own candidates' performances may suffer from errors of leniency and range restriction. The goal of this study was to examine the impact of manipulating the descriptiveness, balancedness, and polarity of the rating scales on the elevation and spread of the performance ratings. The study was conducted in the field setting of a (simulated) high-stakes national exam in Dutch pre-vocational education. A total of 55 teachers rated the performances of 652 candidates (aged [plus or minus]16) on four authentic performance-based tasks. Multivariate multilevel analyses found the psychometric quality of the teachers' performance ratings to be more favorable for positively unbalanced scales than for balanced scales. Positively unbalanced rating scales yielded the lowest (i.e., least generous) and most discriminative ratings. The descriptiveness and polarity of the rating scales were of lesser importance for the rating distributions. On the basis of the findings it was decided to introduce positively unbalanced scales in the national exams for pre-vocational education. (Contains 2 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Teacher Effectiveness; Accountability; Program Effectiveness; Stakeholders; Performance Based Assessment; Teacher Education; Teacher Education Programs; Graduates; Educational Change; Politics of Education; Educational Policy; Policy Analysis; Outcomes of Education; College Outcomes Assessment; Position Papers; College Programs; Curriculum Evaluation; Teacher Education Curriculum; Influences; Best Practices

Abstract:
Currently there are multiple teacher education reform policies being proposed, piloted, and debated at a variety of levels and by various interest groups, stakeholders, and policy-makers. Along with an unprecedented sense of urgency about these important goals, what most U.S. reforms have in common is increased accountability. Using a discourse approach to policy analysis, which we label "the politics of policy," this article analyzes three complicated and evolving contemporary accountability initiatives in the United States: (1) "Our Future, Our Teachers," which is the Obama administration's proposed blueprint for the reform of teacher education programs, in particular its call for the assessment of preparation programs based on the impact of program graduates on their eventual K-12 students' test scores; (2) the "Teacher Performance Assessment," which is a nationally accessible instrument for assessing beginning teaching performance currently being piloted in 25 states through a partnership of Stanford University and Pearson Education, Inc.; and, (3) "Building Better Teachers: A National Review of Teacher Preparation Programs," which is an evaluation of collegiate teacher preparation programs conducted by the National Council on Teacher Quality with results to appear in "U.S. News and World Report." Our analysis makes clear that policy (and policy proposals) is unavoidably political, and that policy-making involves contentious debate as well as complicated political maneuvering and strategies, including resistance and litigation. (Contains 1 figure.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Teacher Effectiveness; Evidence; Performance Based Assessment; Program Improvement; Preservice Teacher Education; Preservice Teachers; Teacher Education; Accountability; Teacher Education Programs; Classroom Techniques; Higher Education; Tenure

Abstract:
One of the important rationales for the development and implementation of a rigorous classroom-based measure of preservice teacher quality is that such a tool will provide new sources of data that are highly relevant to the task of improving programs of teacher preparation. However, research on data utilization within organizations from a variety of disciplines makes it clear that even when relevant and useful data are available, they are often not used for decision making. We studied three "high-data-use" programs from among the 32 California institutions implementing the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) to identify organizational practices associated with the use of PACT data for program improvement. We describe practices within and across these programs that were identified by informants as important to their success in using teacher performance outcome data to make decisions about program renewal and improvement. (Contains 2 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Program Effectiveness; Performance Based Assessment; Organizational Change; Leadership; Models; Program Implementation; Power Structure; Participative Decision Making; Holistic Approach

Abstract:
This article explores leadership practice and change as evidenced in multiple data sources gathered during a self-study implementation of a teaching performance assessment. It offers promising models of distributed leadership and organizational change that can inform future program implementers and the field in general. Our experiences suggest that the role of program leaders was to manage key disturbances to the system, to organize activities that emerged from faculty inquiry, to support distributed leadership alignments, and to facilitate private work into the public space. Our data also suggest that distributed leadership among all program faculty was an important element in developing an inquiry versus compliance orientation to implementation. (Contains 1 table, 5 figures and 3 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
High Stakes Tests; Program Effectiveness; Performance Tests; Performance Based Assessment; Teacher Education Programs; Program Evaluation; Summative Evaluation; Teacher Certification; Accountability; Curriculum Development; Goal Orientation; Alignment (Education)

Abstract:
Dilemmas abound in the design, implementation, analysis, and interpretation of the outcomes of a summative performance assessment of teaching when used for licensing, for individual and program evaluation, and for accountability purposes. In this article, we explore the impact of the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) on the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP). Specifically, we explore ways in which this high-stakes assessment influences programmatic priorities and drives structural and curricular decisions that might or might not be at odds with the conceptual frame and stated mission of the program. We highlight two thorny dilemmas that have challenged our program in the implementation of the PACT Teaching Event--a high-stakes performance assessment for teachers--and our attempts to manage these dilemmas "satisficingly." (Contains 3 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Faculty; Performance Based Assessment; Evaluation Methods; Teaching Methods; Higher Education; Teacher Education; Scoring; Program Evaluation; Feedback (Response); Scoring Rubrics; Summative Evaluation; Professional Development; Accountability; Language Acquisition

Abstract:
This article uses Dewey's (1938) concept of "end in view" to frame one California State University's purposeful action in implementing the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT). The authors provide a chronology of events that reveal the ways in which teacher education faculty were engaged in examining PACT outcomes and candidate performance through informal, "mock scoring" events, and the design of formative, embedded signature assessments, and the resulting changes in the program assessment system, curriculum, and instructional practices. The article closes with concerns and suggestions for sustaining the "end in view" during high-stakes and low-budget circumstances. (Contains 1 figure and 6 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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