Contemporary education now appears to be dominated by the continual drive for improvement measured against the assessment of what students have learned. It is our contention that a foundational relation with assessment organises contemporary education. Here we draw on a "way of thinking" that is deconstructive in its intent. Such thinking makes…

One of the major objectives of large-scale educational surveys is reporting trends in academic achievement. For this purpose, a substantial number of items are carried from one assessment cycle to the next. The linking process that places academic abilities measured in different assessments on a common scale is usually based on a concurrent…

Many school districts are facing stagnant or reduced funding (input) concurrent with demands for improved student achievement (output). In other words, there is pressure for all schools, even those schools with student populations of low socioeconomic status, to improve academic results (accountability for output) without a directly proportionate…

The Nation's Report Card[TM] informs the public about the academic achievement of elementary and secondary students in the United States. Report cards communicate the findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a continuing and nationally representative measure of achievement in various subjects over time. Results from the…

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in its social sector, especially in setting up new schools and universities. The aim of the development is to prepare the Kingdom for a future that is not dependent on its oil resources which are predicted to run out in less than a hundred years. Driven by the country's monarch, King Abdullah, many…

In this research, the geographical concepts that are recommended to be taught for primary school fifth grade students are analyzed. Three of these concepts are in developmental level whereas eight of them are in consolidation level. Of the three geographical concepts which it is recommended the students acquire at a developmental level, it was…

This paper reports on one aspect of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded project "Scoping a vision of formative e-assessment", namely on cases of formative e-assessment developed iteratively with the UK education practitioner community. The project, which took place from June 2008 to January 2009, aimed to identify…

A central task of evaluation is to use systematic inquiry to judge the merit, worth, and significance of programs. As a field in education, evaluation began to mature during the 1960s, when policy makers began funding researchers to study the impact of Great Society programs. Since that time, evaluation and policy-making have been intertwined,…

In the spring of 2007, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana made the first call. Gov. Kathleen Blanco made the next call. And Louisiana's state superintendent of schools, Paul Pastorek, made the final pitch. The trio wanted to know if Paul Vallas, the renowned CEO of the School District of Philadelphia, would make a move to New Orleans to oversee the…

Outcomes and findings from an evidence-based approach to targeting primary school students' developmental reading comprehension levels for effective learning are described. Nineteen schools participated in a literacy assessment project designed to monitor and improve the reading comprehension achievement levels of their students. The project…

This article discusses how documentation practices in education can contribute to the realization of democracy. Grounded in the notion that democracy requires citizens who are able to engage with and benefit from an exchange of multiple perspectives, the authors focus on how documentary practices support teachers to understand and to teach a broad…

The normalized gain, "g", has been an important tool for the characterization of conceptual improvement in physics courses since its use in Hake's extensive study on conceptual learning in introductory physics. The normalized gain is calculated from the score on a pre-test administered before instruction and a post-test administered…

Mobile Learning (M-Learning) is an approach to E-Learning that utilizes mobile devices. Learning Management System (LMS) should enable M-Learning. Unfortunately, M-Learning is not the same at each educational institution. Assessment is one of the learning activities that can be achieved electronically and via mobile device. Mobile assessment…

Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) released the first comprehensive study of assessment perceptions in 2012 that surveyed parents, teachers, and district administrators. In the intervening years, the landscape has shifted dramatically; indeed, it continues to shift every day. With new standards, accountability assessments, and ways of…

Effective teaching has long been an issue of national concern, but in recent years focus on the effectiveness of programs to produce high-quality teachers has sharpened. Long-standing achievement gaps persist despite large-scale legislative changes at the federal and state levels, and American students continue to show poorer performance on…