This research study examines the impact of the online tool "Classbank" on student engagement in reassessment in middle school. Research questions for this study are (1) To what extent does Classbank affect students' willingness to improve their performance through reassessment? and (2) How do students perceive the role of Classbank in…

An increasing number of university faculty have become interested in alternative grading systems in recent years. While there is a growing body of research on such grading systems, implementation can be a challenge for instructors. Mastery-based testing is a grading system in which students learn from feedback and have multiple attempts to…

The edTPA is an educative performance assessment designed to assess teacher readiness. It has gained momentum across the country; yet, it has often met with resistance from educators in various roles. This study addressed the gap in edTPA literature by exploring new teachers' perceptions of the assessment as an educative and efficacious tool. The…

The standards-based learning and grading movement of the past twenty years has ushered in a critical shift in assessment that demands clarity in both what is being measured and how well students are learning. Seeing the value in this evolution, a wave of schools has invested enormous effort to institutionalize the policy and practices of the…

This paper examines a communication model based on six theoretical facets. Each facet was operationalised according to two aspects of Habermas' theory of communicative action: strategic and understanding-oriented action. The aim of the empirical analyses was to ascertain whether the postulated model could be used to measure different levels of…

Background: Achievement goals and self-efficacy are key components of teacher motivation and crucial for teaching quality and student outcomes, yet the processes explaining why they lead to specific teaching behaviours remain unclear. This study focuses on student-oriented goals as a potential process element and construct in its own right. Aims:…

edTPA is an educative performance assessment designed to measure teacher readiness. It has gained momentum across the country; yet, it has met with resistance from educators in various roles. Previous studies have reported concerns that the assessment is a barrier to the profession and that it undermines the educational value inherent in the…

School systems across the United States increasingly use performance-based assessments (PBAs) as alternatives to traditional standardized tests, like the SAT, to make post-secondary and workforce readiness (PWR) determinations. However, very little research has been conducted to validate such alternative assessments as valid indicators of a…

Math anxiety levels directly and negatively impact student performance in the math classroom. Educators must work to implement instructional strategies that effectively reduce math anxiety and improve student math performance. This study evaluated mastery learning interventions as an effective tool for reducing math anxiety among middle school…

In this paper, I critique the ideology of competition in school music using the philosophy of Herbert Marcuse, including his concepts of the performance principle and "The Great Refusal," which he saw as defining aspects of what he termed a one-dimensional society. Under a one-dimensional neoliberal educational regime, as can be found in…

We used achievement goal theory to examine students' physical activity (PA) motivation and physical education (PE) enjoyment. Purposes included: 1) determine whether schools with different pedagogical approaches varied in student perceptions of mastery and performance climate dimensions, enjoyment, and PA; 2) examine gender and grade differences…

This research paper discusses the benefits and implications of bringing authentic assessment into listening comprehension classes. The study was run in 2016 based on a mixed-methods model to research and included 38 college students enrolled in a listening comprehension class at an English Teaching Major (ETM) from the University of Costa Rica…

This essay by Dirck Roosevelt and Jim Garrison seeks to reclaim the lost soul of teaching by examining distortions wrought upon or threatening it by practice-based teacher education (PBTE) and like developments. The notion that teaching centers upon mastery of "core" practices understood as routinely skilled performance is inadequate to…

Purpose: Scholars who advocate for equity-oriented educational practices have argued that the accountability era in the USA, now in place for two decades, has failed in its intended goal to improve student performance for traditionally marginalized student populations. This study aims to use a sociocultural lens to trace how a century-old…

For standard- or criterion-based assessments, the use of cut scores to indicate mastery, nonmastery, or different levels of skill mastery is very common. As part of performance summary, it is of interest to examine the percentage of examinees at or above the cut scores (PAC) and how PAC evolves across administrations. This paper shows that…