Oregon State University (OSU) is located in Corvallis, a community of 53,000 people situated in the heart of the Willamette Valley between Portland and Eugene. Approximately 15,700 undergraduate and 3,400 graduate students, including 2,600 U.S. students of color and 950 international students, are currently enrolled at OSU across 11 academic…

Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC), located in Phoenix, Arizona, is part of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD). PVCC was founded in 1987 and in the fall of 2007 served 8,739 students in credit courses. Since 1997, PVCC has been on a quest to become a "more learning centered" college. As a result of placing…

California State University, Sacramento, commonly referred to as "Sacramento State," is a booming metropolitan university located on 300 acres in the state capital of California. The university, the seventh largest in the California State University system, enrolls a multicultural student body of approximately 29,000 students. At…

The purpose of this article is to describe a procedure that has been used successfully to evaluate the critical thinking (CT) abilities of a population of undergraduates having limited proficiency in the English language. The results of this study demonstrate that it is possible to obtain reliable evaluations of CT skills in undergraduates who…

In this article, the author describes a project designed to take the dread out of discussion in a first-year interdisciplinary humanities course at Sewanee: The University of the South, a private liberal arts college in Tennessee. The Responsible Intellectual Discussion project, known as RID, was created in conjunction with the college's Eloquence…

There are numerous studies in literature related to the use of cartoons in physics, chemistry and mathematics education. However the studies on the use of cartoons as an alternative assessment tool are highly limited. This study was concerned with the use of cartoons as an alternative assessment method. There were five cartoons prepared related to…

The idea of a diagnostic process to identify students likely to benefit from additional support originated from two separate investigations relating to the performance of entry-level mathematics students at the University of South Africa (UNISA). One project explored the relationship between reading skill and mathematical performance. This…

We illustrate the use of formative and summative assessment in evaluating a therapeutic classroom program for children with serious emotional disturbances. Information was analyzed based on data gathered for clinical decision-making during treatment (formative assessment) and measurement of outcomes at discharge (summative assessment) from a…

The impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is usually understood in relation to schools and districts, but the legislation has also affected community-based organizations that operate school-linked programs. This case study of an after-school program in California demonstrates how educational accountability systems that emphasize students' academic…

This report summarizes findings from a two-year study of Chicago's Excellence in Teaching Pilot, which was designed to drive instructional improvement by providing teachers with evidence-based feedback on their strengths and weaknesses. The pilot consisted of training and support for principals and teachers, principal observations of teaching…

The current study will examine possible contextual effects relative to differences in reading comprehension performance in the state of Florida. While the Reading First (RF) Impact study examined such difference using a regression discontinuity design, the authors are primarily interested in other analytic methods that might answer different…

Virtual Worlds have become an attractive platform for work, play, and learning. Businesses, including the public sector and academia, are increasingly investing their time, money, and attention to understanding the value of virtual worlds as a productivity tool. For example, educators are leading the way with research in Second Life, one of the…

Background: Telerehabilitation is the remote delivery of rehabilitation services via information technology and telecommunication systems. There have been a number of studies that have used videoconferencing to assess speech and language skills in people with acquired neurogenic communication disorders. However, few studies have focused on cases…

This study investigates the effects of a competency-oriented course and the effects of feedback training on students' reflection skills. Thirty-one nursing students enrolled in a conventional course with lectures and assignments following a traditional test. Subsequently, they enrolled in a competency-oriented course, which included more…

Value-added indicators are now a central part of school accountability in England, and value-added information is routinely used in school improvement at both the national and the local levels. This article describes the value-added models that are being used in the academic year 2007-8 by schools, parents, school inspectors, and other…