In many countries, assessment and curriculum reforms came into being in recent decades. In Iran, an important educational assessment reform took place called Descriptive Assessment (DA). In this reform, the focus of student assessment was moved from a more summative approach of providing grades and deciding about promotion to the next grade to a…

Narratives that capture children's learning as they go about their day-to-day activities are promoted as a powerful assessment tool within early childhood settings. However, in the New Zealand context, there is increasing concern that learning stories--the preferred form of narrative assessment--currently downplay domain knowledge. In this paper,…

This multiple case study investigated how the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for writing and teacher evaluation system based in part on CCSS assessments might be influencing writing instruction in elementary schools. The sample included nine schools: Six achieved above-predicted performance on English Language Arts (ELA) as well as prior ELA…

The narrowed curriculum continues to be challenging for science education as teachers strive to impart content that is on the high-stakes assessments. This Qualitative multiple-case study investigated four experienced, elementary classroom teachers' use of writing in science. It was designed to provide insight into teaching beliefs and practices…

A public Montessori school is expected to demonstrate high student scores on standardized assessments to succeed in the current school accountability era. A problem for a public Montessori elementary school is how to make sense of the school's high-stakes assessment scores in terms of Montessori's unique educational approach. This case study…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is an emerging initiative in Australia, particularly in primary schools. This qualitative research aimed to understand Year 4 students' involvement in an integrated STEM education unit that focused on science concepts (e.g., states of matter, testing properties of materials) and…

The ongoing collection and documentation of evidence of students' performance in the classroom is a fundamental component of formative instructional practices, essential for ensuring student success. Multiple methods of collecting and documenting evidence of students' academic performance in the classroom are described. These methods include…

This single case study examined how one inner city high school math teacher used e-portfolio assessment in an inclusive classroom setting. Specifically, it describes the teacher's perceptions and use of e-portfolio assessment, and its relationships to curricular content, as well as how the relationships among e-portfolio assessment,…

The learning experiences of young children cannot be conveniently separated into the areas of cognitive, social/emotional and physical development. They are integrated and interdependent. This balance can be achieved through creative, interactive play that supports and scaffolds all developmental and content areas of the curriculum. Despite the…

Assessment is a hotly contested issue in education today. The education policy No Child Left Behind (NCLB) emphasizes standardized testing throughout a child's schooling as a major means of assessment. Even at Head Start an attempt was made at standardized testing using the National Reporting System (NRS). Although research indicates that these…

Arts organizations that partner with schools to design, implement, and evaluate arts education programs are rethinking traditional practices of evaluation to more directly engage school partners, artists, and administrators. External arts partners are also being held accountable for learning outcomes that result from their programs. In this…

The 11th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2018) is held under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society at the Templeton Landing in Buffalo, New York. This year's EDM conference was highly competitive, with 145 long and short paper submissions. Of these, 23 were accepted as full papers and 37…

This document provides guidance for establishing a tiered instructional approach to support the achievement of all students in Maryland public school, particularly those not demonstrating mastery of grade level content. The framework includes student screening, identification of specific learning needs, provision of appropriate instruction aligned…

This booklet is designed to help teachers begin documenting in the classroom and is a supplement to "Windows on Learning: Documenting Young Children's Work." In that book, three "windows" were used to provide a framework for thinking about documentation: a Window on a Child's Development, a Window on a Learning Experience, and a Window for Teacher…

Documentation of classroom processes and interaction plays two roles; it is helpful in classroom/program evaluation, and in the continuing personal and professional growth of the teacher. Documentation in the evaluation context is not primarily concerned with narrow objectives or with standardized tests, but rather seeks to determine meaning over…