Assessment of learning is critical to the learners, teachers, and designers of learning environments. Current assessment techniques in web-based distance learning apply age-old techniques to a new medium and are not adequate for web-based distance learning environments (WBDLE). The goals of this article are to extend existing critiques of…

The authors describe the significant contributions of Robert Ebel to educational measurement theory and its applications. A biographical sketch details Ebel's roots and professional resume. His influence on classroom assessment views and procedures are explored. Classic publications associated with validity, reliability, and score interpretation…

A "mapping task" was used to explore the networks available to head teachers, school coordinators and local authority staff. Beginning from an ego-centred perspective on networks, we illustrate a number of key analytic categories, including brokerage, formality, and strength and weakness of links with reference to a single UK primary…

The policy priority of management development in the past 20 years appears to have been overshadowed since the new millennium by the goal of widening participation in learning of low-skilled and excluded groups. This change of emphasis could potentially be damaging if efforts to increase management participation in learning are relaxed, because…

Recent focus on student achievement and the effectiveness of schools, school boards, and teachers has lead to increased demands for accountability in education. Large scale assessments are now used in most provinces in Canada to examine the degree to which educational standards are being reached and explore issues of accountability. Alternative…

Geography is alive and well in non-government schools in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) but many believe that its rigour has been compromised through being incorporated into Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) for delivery in government primary and secondary schools. SOSE is one of eight Key Learning Areas (KLAs) that make up the…

Even movements for choice and higher standards aren't solving our K-12 problems, because they've all bought into three ideas: that drills and repetition are unnatural schemes for learning, that thought processes are more important than mastery of facts, and that disadvantaged kids are somehow intrinsically unable to do what's expected of more…

This paper deals with the developmental history and the current situation of special education in Korea. Special Education began in the late 1800s by the commitment of missionaries from the West. Special Education in Korea is well defined by the related laws and regulations; however, Special Education still needs lots of innovative efforts to…

In the last decade, the debate over state-mandated standardized testing has become one of the most heated, political debates in education. Situated within that debate and drawing from it, this paper examines the relationship among teachers, teaching, and standardized testing, using the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) as a case study…

This article presents key features of the mathematics assessment in OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), from the point of view of the design of test items to fit in with the PISA mathematics framework. A brief description is first given to provide some background to the development of the PISA mathematics framework. The…

This article reports the performance of 15-year-old Hong Kong students in mathematical literacy in an international study called PISA 2000, in which Hong Kong has topped the list of 41 participating countries/regions, with a mean score significantly higher than all other countries except Japan and Korea. With the conceptual framework developed by…

There are undoubtedly many parallels between Australia and New Zealand in the history of geographic information system (GIS) in schools. These parallels occur in the social, institutional, professional development, and curricula areas, and each of these topics is considered in this article. In New Zealand at least, there is still a lot that needs…

Various research studies have asserted the significance of school leadership on student learning. Although the research-based knowledge about principalship continues to grow, there is a paucity of practical information about how to perform the essential tasks. How do principals develop and then act upon a deep understanding of supporting teachers?…

Education reform is nothing new; however, from the authors' point of view, the tension between assessment and accountability is at an all-time high. Currently, 48 states administer state-mandated tests and 36 states publish annual report cards on school performance. As a nation, Americans are faced with a political and educational situation in…

This paper explores the implications for assessment of embedding qualifications from the vocational education and training (VET) sector within university qualifications. As VET qualifications are now all competency based, assessment in the two sectors is quite different, since universities have generally eschewed competency-based training and…