Testing of second language pragmatic competence is an underexplored but growing area of second language assessment. Tests have focused on assessing learners' sociopragmatic and pragmalinguistic abilities but the speech act framework informing most current productive testing instruments in interlanguage pragmatics has been criticized for…

The Australian Professional Teaching Standards require pre-service teachers to complete a minimum number of days of professional experience in order to graduate. Problems can arise, however, when the evaluation of their professional experience against the Standards shifts from the providers of teacher education programmes to school-based…

Recently, consensus among researchers and professionals has emerged about factors that contribute to postschool success of youth with disabilities. Prominent among these factors are targeted academic preparation, family involvement, youth empowerment, and service collaboration and linkages. Work experience and paid employment have been identified…

In 2013-14, Letterland had strong implementation, with moderate to high fidelity within approximately 90% of Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) K-1 classrooms. The impact of Letterland on students' reading achievement was neutral to positive. A significantly higher percentage of WCPSS kindergarten students were at or above benchmark mid-year…

This report is made up of seven chapters relating to Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) performance level setting (PLS). Chapter one describes the goals of the PARCC program, content standards measured by PARCC, PARCC performance levels, and components of the PARCC system. Chapter two discusses the goals of…

Accounting educators have a unique role in academe because students learn about codes of ethics that will guide their actions as professionals. We identify hypernorms related to internal auditing educators that reflect unethical behaviors believed to be universally unacceptable by that community. We then compare the results to a prior survey of…

This study presents longitudinal description of the association between college readiness--as measured by college readiness benchmarks set by the ACT--and a series of postsecondary outcomes of the Illinois High School Class of 2003. In addition to describing how college readiness is distributed among the cohort, this study establishes the college…

This study updates previous Education Trust briefs that looked at public, four-year colleges that successfully improved minority graduation rates and narrowed graduation-rate gaps. This new report examines which four-year, nonprofit colleges--public and private--have made the most improvements for African-American students. Because for-profit…

Accessible, tailored, and easy-to-understand data can help parents influence their children's learning, take advantage of school resources, and inform their educational decision making: (1) Information about their children--such as attendance, performance, progress, and expected outcomes; and (2) Information about their children's current school…

Over the past decade, Ohio has made important education policy advances, with a focus on student learning and achievement, standards, and accountability. Ohio is serious about its commitment to quality schools and honors this commitment by providing Local Education Agencies (LEAs) a research-based, transparent, fair teacher evaluation system…

Ralph LaRossa's (2012) article on the multidimensional world of qualitative research provides family scientists with a set of innovative tools to guide writing and reviewing. He proffered an engaging challenge: to view the "Journal of Marriage and Family" ("JMF") as a meeting place of scholars, a thought community (Zerubavel, 1997), even a culture…

For more than 20 years, the 50 agricultural mechanics laboratory management competencies identified by Johnson and Schumacher in 1989 have served as the basis for numerous needs assessments of secondary agriculture teachers. This study reevaluated Johnson and Schumacher's instrument, as modified by Saucier, Schumacher, Funkenbusch, Terry, and…

Recent years have seen increased attention to the high school-college transition. Students are enrolling in college in record numbers, yet they are also taking increasing numbers of remedial courses. How to measure and report on academic readiness for college is an important policy issue receiving attention from the National Assessment Governing…

This paper attempts to critically analyze the educational discourses and policies of the European Union over the last decade (2000-2010) in the context of the Lisbon Strategy initiatives (Council of the EU, 2000) and provide an account on "The Shape of Things to Come". It will be argued that the symbolic and actual construction of the…

Expectations and how they are communicated influence employees' motivation, effort, goals, efficacy and performance. This study examined faculty performance evaluation standards and processes of 60 academic departments in research universities for motivationally relevant elements. Characteristics were systematically analysed to understand their…