One goal of most courses is to prepare students with basic knowledge and skills associated with the course content. Mastery learning can be a rewarding way to encourage greater student achievement by allowing students multiple attempts to demonstrate an understanding of course concepts. This may involve repeated submissions of individual…

In this paper, the authors report some of the salient findings of a large-scale, four-year national study, conducted at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, entitled "Factors Influencing College Science Success" (FICSS), which surveyed college students who enrolled in first-year biology, chemistry, and physics courses…

This study addresses the question: "To what extent are teacher assigned subject specific grades useful for data driven decision making in schools?" Recently, schools have been urged to bring teachers and school leaders together around student-level data in an effort to increase dialogue, collaboration and professional communities to…

The "Student Evaluation of Instruction" (SEOI) was administered to all full-time and part-time faculty. Approximately 91,530 surveys were sent out in 4,980 envelopes; 58,604 surveys were returned to the Office of Institutional Research. The return rate for the paper surveys was 64% including late submissions. Instructors' reports were…

The "Student Evaluation of Instruction" (SEOI) was administered to all full-time and part-time faculty. Approximately 82,806 surveys were sent out in 4,830 envelopes; 52,464 surveys were returned to the Office of Institutional Research. The return rate for the paper surveys was 63% including late submissions. Instructors' reports were…

Although much speculation has been devoted to concerns over the existence and degree of grade inflation at the high school level, there exists a lack of current empirical data documenting the extent, if it exists, of this phenomenon. This study was designed to investigate evidence of the existence, persistence, and degree of grade inflation by…

The goal of teaching philosophy is to develop philosophically literate students and to ensure that students develop philosophical literacy by design and not by chance. Perhaps the best method for teaching philosophy to beginning students is the public model, in which the practice of defending positions in the public arena forces students to become…

Because interest in oral proficiency on the part of foreign language educators has persisted on several fronts, the common problems that teachers face in implementing oral testing are discussed, and possible solutions are offered. The problems discussed include the following: (1) how to find the time; (2) how to develop tests; and (3) how to…

This study examined the relationship among beliefs about grades and teaching goals of college faculty, along with the extent to which there exist systematic differences among the academic disciplines with respect to these beliefs and goals. A national sample of 442 undergraduate teaching faculty responded to a survey asking them to rate the…

The dilemma for instructors of advanced second language conversation courses is how to create a situation in which learners feel confident and at ease but, at the same time, feel engaged and challenged. syllabus can be designed to accommodate learner needs and preferences by allowing students to generate their own overall course goals and…

Teachers' beliefs and the effects of these beliefs on instructional practices have become significant areas of research on teaching. The purpose of this study was to compare the beliefs of elementary and secondary teachers with respect to testing and grading and to identify factors that discriminate between the two groups of teachers. The sample…

A part-form methodology was used to study the effect of varying degrees of multidimensionality on the consistency of pass/fail classification decisions obtained from simulated unidimensional item response theory (IRT) based licensure examinations. A control on the degree of form multidimensionality permitted an assessment throughout the range of…

Development of oral foreign language proficiency in high school and college instruction is complemented by well-designed writing exercises integrating all skills and providing contact with various language forms. A series of short, text-adaptable, proficiency-based writing activities reinforcing aural, oral, and reading skills throughout the basic…

This workbook is the result of a 3-year study of transcripts and other documentation from study-abroad programs and is designed to be of use to both those responsible for making credit transfer determinations and those advising students on study abroad programs. It provides the following information: (1) guidelines for the documentation necessary…

The components of a cooperating teacher summative evaluation instrument were identified and the extent to which the final grade in student teaching could be determined based upon the evaluation was examined. Specific objectives of the study were to examine the relationship between grade in student teaching and the summative evaluation and…