This chapter proposes approaches for assessing learners and evaluating courses and curriculum that could be used by directors of health professions education (HPE) programs to determine the effectiveness and impact of their programs.

Microfabrication is a critical area to many branches of science and engineering. However, to many students accustomed to seeing transistors as things that come in a lab kit, it is an obscure subtopic of their discipline. Beginning in 2009, the authors undertook a broad multidisciplinary approach to bring microfabrication into all aspects of the…

By 2013, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had adopted college- and career-ready standards in English language arts and mathematics, placing a greater emphasis on argument writing to prepare students for life after high school. Solving the specific problem of how to help teachers teach to new standards for argument writing as well as the…

This article examines the meanings and impact of "Assessment for Learning" initiatives in schools against the back drop of assessment reform in Singapore since 1997. It is argued that "Assessment for Learning" is understood in different ways, and these different meanings do not always benefit students' learning. The different…

The North Carolina Workplace and Community Transition Youth Offender Program (YOP), recently renamed the Incarcerated Individuals Program (IPP), has proven to be effective in terms of its growth and expansion, the support of education directors across the correctional facilities, university collaboration, student evaluations, and a low recidivism…

Assessment serves many purposes in the elementary classroom. Formative assessment, often called assessment for learning, is characterized by its primary purpose--promoting learning. It takes place both formally and informally, is embedded in various stages of an instructional cycle, informs the teacher about appropriate next steps for instruction,…

A prerequisite for AfL to be successfully implemented in the classroom is the teachers' assessment practice. In many contexts, including the Norwegian, AfL has not been successfully dealt with during initial teacher education, and there is a need for qualified teachers to engage in professional development in AfL. This article first discusses…

The purpose of this paper was to provide information about the virtual learning environment known as PGDnet (the Spanish acronym for "Plataforma de Gestion Docente" or Educational Management Platform in English), which was developed by the innovative education group at the Technical University of Madrid known as "Nuevas metodologias…

This paper describes a major initiative in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to develop a statewide, standards-based, student report card for reporting the learning progress of individual students at all grade levels (K-12). Led by a team of researchers with expertise in grading and reporting, 36 educators from three diverse school districts created…

This article explores the strategic compensation efforts of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) in Texas, which is piloting a system of supports and rewards for teachers and administrators. The article highlights the key components of this system, what it took to put a 4-year pilot program in place, and what results are emerging from…

There exists a wealth of computing education literature devoted to interventions designed to overcome novices' difficulties in learning to write computer programs. However, various studies have shown that the majority of students at the end of a semester of instruction are still unable to write a simple computer program, despite the best efforts…

Over the past few decades, deterioration in student achievement has provoked a pervasive public sentiment that American institutions are failing to meet the needs and expectations of society. The growing public demand for transparency and accountability has fueled the integration of state-mandated learning outcomes assessment into the standards…

This article intends to introduce an e-portfolio system to help mentors assess the teacher candidates' performances and products in a large scale open and distance learning teacher training program. The Pre-School Teacher Training Program (PSTTP) of Anadolu University is a completely distance program that helps around 12.000 students get the…

The principles of course redesign that were applied to a gateway Cell Biology course at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee are applicable to courses large and small, and to institutions of any size. The challenge was to design a content-rich science course that kept pace with present and future content and at the same time use principles of…

The purpose of this document is to describe the US ED growth model pilot program from its inception to the point at which the program was no longer a pilot and was opened up to all states. In addition, the paper is designed to help states in the process of planning to submit a growth model proposal. The information in this document is mostly…