This paper discusses the role of evaluation in the development of Professional Development Schools (PDS) and how evaluation techniques can be used to increase the rigor of self-study activities in a PDS. Evaluation activities may be challenging for a PDS given limited resources. Yet, creative use of school and university expertise can help PDSs…

Introduction: High-quality instruments are required to assess and provide feedback to practicing physicians. Multisource feedback (MSF) uses questionnaires from colleagues, coworkers, and patients to provide data. It enables feedback in areas of increasing interest to the medical profession: communication, collaboration, professionalism, and…

In this paper, we will describe the challenges and insights gained from conducting professional development workshops aimed at helping faculty prepare materials to support the development of students' quantitative skills in different disciplinary contexts. We will examine some of the mistakes we made, and misconceptions we had, in conducting the…

Language comprehenders can mentally simulate perceptual and motor features of scenes they hear or read about (Barsalou, 1999; Glenberg & Kaschak, 2002; Zwaan, Stanfield, & Yaxley, 2002). Recent research shows that these simulations adopt a particular perspective (Borghi, Glenberg & Kaschak, 2004; Brunye, Ditman, Mahoney, Augustyn, & Taylor, 2009).…

In "The Case for Participatory Evaluation in an Era of Accountability" (this issue), Jill Chouinard highlights seven tensions between the participatory and technocratic approaches to evaluation. She suggests that there is a need to create opportunities for more participatory approaches to evaluation. In this essay, I suggest that the era of…

Common test items play an important role in equating multiple test forms under the common-item nonequivalent groups design. Inconsistent item parameter estimates among common items can lead to large bias in equated scores for IRT true score equating. Current methods extensively focus on detection and elimination of outlying common items, which…

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of six state-wide policies and procedures used in the family assessment process within early intervention services. This study looked at the administrative understanding of the family assessment federal regulations, state policies and procedures, and local implementation from the perspective…

Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) has gained national momentum. The authors first present a national scene of QRIS and then use Children's Services Council of Palm Beach County as a case study to illustrate a number of things. First, they look at the logic model behind the QRIS. Next, they review the design and implementation of the QRIS in…

Rational number concepts underpin many topics in advanced mathematics and understanding these concepts is a prerequisite for students' success in high-school level courses. Students with rational number misconceptions that are not diagnosed and remediated in the middle grades are likely to encounter difficulty in high-school mathematics courses.…

Developed in response to a strong interest in the use of Learning Stories in schools, this resource is designed to answer some common questions asked by teachers. The assessment of Key Competencies is a topic that deserves a lot of discussion. A Key Competency is complex: it includes social, emotional, cognitive and cultural aspects, and is…

Primary research in education and social sciences is marked by a diversity of methods and perspectives. How can we accommodate and reflect such diversity at the level of synthesizing research? What are the critical methodological decisions in the process of a research synthesis, and how do these decisions open up certain possibilities, while…

The purpose of this study is to propose a framework to evaluate the entrepreneurship intensity (EI) of Iranian state universities. In order to determine EI, a hybrid multi-method framework consisting of Delphi, Analytic Network Process (ANP), and VIKOR is proposed. The Delphi method is used to localize and reduce the number of criteria extracted…

Simulations provide opportunities for individuals to learn and develop skills for situations that may be expensive, time-consuming, or dangerous. Careful design can support a person's learning by tailoring the features of situations to his or her skill level(s), allowing repeated attempts, and by providing timely feedback. Furthermore, simulations…

Many people with intellectual disabilities are still not being listened to by the services providing them with care and support, and when they become upset and frustrated, they are all too readily regarded as being mentally ill. To help people with intellectual disabilities describe and make sense of their experiences and feelings in a…

This study presents a general framework for single-administration reliability methods, such as Cronbach's alpha, Guttman's lambda-2, and method MS. This general framework was used to derive a new approach to estimating test-score reliability by means of the unrestricted latent class model. This new approach is the latent class reliability…