The backwash of testing on teaching can be positive or negative. This article is based on the findings of a study carried out in Kenya on strengthening the development of literacy in English among primary school children, which established that the learners performed poorly on skills that were not directly tested in the conventional examinations.…

This study examined the reliability and validity of Web-based portfolio peer assessment. Participants were 72 second-grade students from a senior high school taking a computer course. The results indicated that: 1) there was a lack of consistency across various student raters on a portfolio, or inter-rater reliability; 2) two-thirds of the raters…

An evaluation system was designed and implemented by a faculty support department to measure the value, identify gaps, and improve the quality of their training at a midsize community college. The Targeted Evaluation Process (Combs & Falletta, 2000) was selected as the evaluation framework because of its applicability to training and nontraining…

This article presents an interview with Ralph Tyler. This interview will be of interest to those entering the field of education as well as for those who have made their home within the field for some time now. In the interview, Dr. Tyler discusses work in education and educational evaluation that spans over a half a century. He describes issues…

The aim of the present research was to compare the use of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) as an examination method against the oral examination (OE) method. MCQs are widely used and their importance seems likely to grow, due to their inherent suitability for electronic assessment. However, MCQs are influenced by the tendency of examinees to guess…

The purpose of this commentary is to respond to the article written by Voltz and Collins (2010) that considered the preparation of special education administrators for inclusion in diverse, standards-based contexts by highlighting the Administrator of Special Education Standards that were adopted in 2009 by the Council for Exceptional Children.…

Many treatment programs for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) target social skills, and there is growing attention directed toward the development of specific interventions to improve social skills and social interactions in this population (Hestenes & Carroll, 2000; Strain & Hoyson, 2000). However, there are limited tools…

This study evaluated whether pubertal development and gender role orientation (i.e., masculinity and femininity) can partially explain sex variations in youth anxiety symptoms among clinic-referred anxious youth (N = 175; ages 9-13 years; 74% Hispanic; 48% female). Using youth and parent ratings of youth anxiety symptoms, structural equation…

Although primary care practices and schools are major venues for the delivery of mental health services to children, these systems are disconnected, contributing to fragmentation in service delivery. This paper describes barriers to collaboration across the primary care and school systems, including administrative and fiscal pressures, conceptual…

The Integrated Project (IP) has been practised in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering (JKKP) since the 2006/2007 session. Initially, the IP is only implemented for the Year II students for both Chemical (KK) and Biochemical Engineering (KB) programmes. Previously, the Year 1 curriculum was only based on the common faculty courses.…

The quality of classrooms serving students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) is a continuing concern because of its influence on students' educational outcomes. Program evaluation of classrooms for students with EBD has been a recommended practice for many years since Grosenick, George, and George (1987) conducted their…

Personal computers, the Internet, smartphones, and other forms of information and communication technology (ICT) have changed our world, our job, our personal lives, as well as how we manage our knowledge and time effectively and efficiently. Research findings in the past decades have acknowledged and affirmed that the content the ICT medium…

As biochemists, one of our most captivating teaching tools is the use of molecular visualization. It is a compelling medium that can be used to communicate structural information much more effectively with interactive animations than with static figures. We have conducted a survey to begin a systematic evaluation of the current classroom usage of…

Many measurement biases affect student evaluations of instruction (SEIs). However, two have been relatively understudied: halo effects and ceiling/floor effects. This study examined these effects in two ways. To examine the halo effect, using a videotaped lecture, we manipulated specific teacher behaviors to be "good" or "bad"…

While outstanding teachers are any school system's most important investment, assessing the quality of instructional practice has proven to be an ongoing challenge for the profession. Despite assertions that effective teachers are the single most important school-related factor responsible for increased learning, no teacher's employment is…