Changes to the design and development of our educational assessments are resulting in the unprecedented demand for a large and continuous supply of content-specific test items. One way to address this growing demand is with automatic item generation (AIG). AIG is the process of using item models to generate test items with the aid of computer…

Measurement is a semantic frame, a constellation of relationships and concepts that correspond to recurring patterns in human activity, highlighting typical roles, processes, and viewpoints (e.g., the "commercial event") but not others. One uses semantic frames to reason about unique and complex situations--sometimes intuitively, sometimes…

Background/Context: Recent U.S. policy has brought a shift in assessment use, from measurement tools to policy levers. In particular, testing has become a core part of teacher evaluation policies in many states, with test results becoming akin to a job evaluation. Purpose: To explore the notion of consequential validity in assessment use and…

Moderation is a quality assurance process that plays a central role in the teaching, learning, and assessment cycle in higher education. While there is a growing body of research globally on teaching, learning, and, to a lesser degree, assessment in higher education, the process of moderation of assessment has received even less attention. In a…

This paper considers the role of independent research in helping an education and training system "know itself", illustrating this through the experience of the Centre for Educational Sociology (CES) of which David Raffe was a member and director. It highlights the tensions in the research-policy relationship arising from the different…

This three-year longitudinal study examines the development of four Chinese novice EFL teachers' classroom assessment literacy, which refers to teachers' knowledge of and abilities to conduct classroom assessment and is reflected in their planned and improvised assessment practices. The dataset includes 26 classroom observations, 48 interviews,…

This interactive tool, initiated by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), is designed to guide principals in engaging with state and district leaders as they prepare to submit Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) consolidated plans and work over the coming years to implement the new law. This tool offers principals an…

Tuning is a bottom-up, faculty-led process which leads to the creation of a discipline-specific learning outcome document along with a degree profile that is used to communicate the value of a particular degree to a variety of audiences including students, employers, policy makers, and the general public. Tuning, introduced in the United States in…

"Essential Questions & Data Sources for Continuous Improvement of Undergraduate STEM Teaching and Learning" is intended to be a useful resource for the individuals and institutions who work together to help foster continuous improvement of undergraduate STEM education. Informed by the broad literature on post-secondary STEM…

The paper analyses factors enhancing pitfall in research and teaching in the Nigerian university system. Using data generated from secondary sources, it was found that so many factors are responsible for the constant decay in teaching and research in the Nigerian universities. The paper however found from literature that the high rate of pitfalls…

This study examined the practices and implementation of continuous assessment in Ekiti State Secondary Schools with special interest in Ado Local Government. The population for the study was the whole number of teachers in Ekiti State secondary school and the sample for the study was 160 secondary school teachers who were randomly selected from…

Scotland, in common with many countries internationally, has been learning how to align ideas from research with policy and practice. This article considers what Scotland learned from large-scale evaluations of its Assessment is for Learning (AifL) programme and the extent to which this evidence was used to inform future learning within the…

This paper presents an overview of New Hampshire's efforts to implement a pilot accountability system designed to support deeper learning for students and powerful organization change for schools and districts. The accountability pilot, referred to as Performance Assessment of Competency Education or PACE, is grounded in a competencybased…

A response is made to a paper that urges the use of the Rasch model for educational assessment. This paper argues that the model is inadequate and that claims for its efficacy are exaggerated and technically weak.

Recently, Burger-Veltmeijer, Minnaert & Van den Bosch (2014) constructed a conceptual framework, called the Strengths and Weaknesses Heuristic ("S&W Heuristic") which might provide systematicity and coherence in research as well as psycho-educational praxis, regarding assessments of Intellectually Gifted (IG) students with…