The study sought to investigate how pre school teachers and their pupils interact during instruction in numeracy lessons in Nigeria. The sample consisted of 2859 pupils from 72 pre-primary institutions/classrooms (selected through stratified random sampling to ensure adequate representation of private, public, urban and rural schools). The collection of data involved using two observational instruments (Classroom Interaction Sheet, CIS and Ten-Minute Interaction Instrument, TMI) to record...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Students, Language Usage, Group Activities, Data Analysis, Class...
This article describes the development and evaluation of a short form of the 24-item Adaptation to Age-Related Vision Loss (AVL) scale. The evaluation provided evidence of the reliability and validity of the short form (the AVL12), for significant interindividual differences at the baseline and for individual-level change in AVL scores over time. Thus, the AVL12 maintains strong psychometric properties and is a shorter, more efficient measure for assessing adaptation to age-related vision loss...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Measures (Individuals), Psychometrics, Vision, Test Validity, Age Differences, Aging...
The theoretical framework for using alternative assessment in the classroom includes considering learners as constructors of knowledge; finding authenticity in materials and activities; employing dynamic, ongoing evaluation tools; and empowering students. By putting these ideas into practice, individual attributes of initiative, choice, vision, self-discipline, compassion, trust, and spontaneity can be promoted in students. The opportunities and obstacles associated with implementing...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Graduate Students, Altruism, Alternative Assessment, Evaluation Methods, Student...
The interest in online learning has been growing at a rapid pace, especially for professionals who find it inconvenient to attend face-to-face workshops or courses. This is particularly true for educators pursuing inservice professional development, as there is precious little time to be away from their classrooms. This need, combined with the growing demand for science content courses for teachers, resulted in the NSF-funded National Teacher Enhancement Network, a series of online science...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Online Courses, Professional Development, Teaching Methods, Inservice Teacher...
This study explored the use of the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS) with a population of persons with a DSM-IV diagnosis of Substance Use Disorder who were court ordered for treatment. Two groups of adults (N = 40) were closely matched on age, gender, race, socioeconomic status and education level, and were administered the Person Picking an Apple From a Tree (PPAT) art assessment. The drawings were scored using the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (Gantt & Tabone, 1998)....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Measures (Individuals), Interrater Reliability, Group Membership, Art Therapy,...
This paper illustrates the use of the MARI[R] Card Test, a transpersonal assessment tool which includes archetypal designs and color choices, as well as the drawing of a white and black mandala, or circle picture, for assessing the compatibility of two people in a committed relationship. In an informal pilot research study, 22 couples were given this assessment and interpreted according to seven comparison categories that might affect their relationship and compatibility. Unresolved prenatal...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Therapy, Sexuality, Interpersonal Relationship, Evaluation Methods, Interpersonal...
Family economic status is generally considered to be an important factor associated with students' educational outcomes. However, to evaluate the strength of this contention, it is important to first have appropriate measures of family economic status. Measuring the economic status of Vietnamese people has been particularly difficult as the respondents have not been able to report accurately on their income. This has been compounded in rural populations, because of the relative economic...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Outcomes of Education, Educational Objectives, Vietnamese People,...
Depression occurs at a significant rate in the U.S. population. Untreated depressive symptoms are a primary risk factor for suicide. Studies show that a significant percentage of individuals who commit suicide had visited their health care providers in the months before their deaths. Alaska ranks number one in the nation for suicide. Routine screening for depression and risk of suicide in Alaska village clinics could lead to reduced depressive illness and death statewide.
Topics: ERIC Archive, Suicide, Risk, Clinics, Depression (Psychology), Screening Tests, Alaska Natives,...
The author posits that testing teacher quality will not improve education unless people realize how current means of teacher testing could eliminate from teacher preparation the utopian elements that foundations courses present through material from authors such as Maxine Greene, Samuel Bowles, and Herbert Gintis. He presents a history of the development of competency tests for teachers, focusing on the 1920s and the 1980s, describing their basis in business practices, and draws from the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Court Litigation, Teacher Competency Testing, Teacher Effectiveness, Educational...
In this article, the authors review the research on curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in reading published since the time of Marston's 1989 review. They focus on the technical adequacy of CBM related to measures, materials, and representation of growth. The authors conclude by discussing issues to be addressed in future research, and they raise the possibility of the development of a seamless and flexible system of progress monitoring that can be used to monitor students' progress across...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Based Assessment, Literature Reviews, Reading Achievement, Reading...
This article reviews research examining technical features of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) in written expression. Twenty-eight technical reports and published articles are included in this review. Studies examining the development and technical adequacy of measures of written expression are summarized, beginning with research conducted at the Institute for Research on Learning Disabilities at the University of Minnesota and followed by extensions of this work. Differences in technical...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Scoring, Learning Disabilities, Curriculum Based Assessment, Writing Instruction,...
There is a lack of knowledge regarding the value and impact of career development services, particularly in Canada. The goals of this research were to better understand career development services' evaluation practices and the value of these practices from the perspectives of Canadian agencies, practitioners, policy makers, and employers. Data were collected using a survey, focus groups, and telephone interviews. Differences were found between the type and size of career service providers...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Career Counseling, Evaluation Methods, Career Development,...
The findings from recent Canadian research indicate that while agency managers and front-line workers agree that evaluation is important, they seldom evaluate their work with clients. With the current emphasis on evidence-based practice and outcome-focused intervention, it is important to be able to demonstrate the value of career services in a manner that service providers find meaningful and funders find useful. In this article a framework for evaluation is presented that permits linking the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Career Development, Delivery Systems, Formative Evaluation, Evaluation Methods,...
Descriptive assessment methods have been used in applied settings to identify consequences for problem behavior, thereby aiding in the design of effective treatment programs. Consensus has not been reached, however, regarding the types of data or analytic strategies that are most useful for describing behavior-consequence relations. One promising approach involves the analysis of conditional probabilities from sequential recordings of behavior and events that follow its occurrence. In this...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Behavior Problems, Reinforcement, Probability, Evaluation Methods, Data Collection,...
Functional analysis has been demonstrated to be an effective method to identify environmental variables that maintain problem behavior. However, there are cases when conducting functional analyses of severe problem behavior may be contraindicated. The current study applied functional analysis procedures to a class of behavior that preceded severe problem behavior (precursor behavior) and evaluated treatments based on the outcomes of the functional analyses of precursor behavior. Responding for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Behavior Problems, Functional Behavioral Assessment, Evaluation Methods,...
The aim of this study is to determine the student teachers' concerns about the teaching process including the teaching profession, teaching methods, planning, instruction, evaluation and classroom management. A total of 156 student teachers from five departments in the Gazi faculty of education participated in the study. A questionnaire including an open-ended item was applied in order to establish the nature of the student teachers' concerns. The responses from the student teachers to the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Techniques, Student Teachers, Teaching (Occupation), Measures...
The population of Nigeria is 140 million according to the last 2006 census. Only 75 Universities are available to cater to this population with one University for 1,866,000 people. The inability of the available Universities in Nigeria to cope with the high demand for University education has put much pressure on University admissions. In order to satisfy some interests the Government of Nigeria adopted such admission policies as the quota system, catchment areas, backwardness factor, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Admission Criteria, College Admission, Correlation, Foreign Countries, Data Analysis,...
The purpose of this study was to collect reliability and validity data on the School Characteristics Inventory (SCI), a quantitative measure based on Sternberg's (2000) theory of contextual modifiability. Data were collected from a national sample of middle school teachers and from teachers participating in a 3-year study investigating teachers' willingness to implement differentiated instruction or differentiated authentic assessments. Factor analysis indicated 6 factors (School Reputation,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Reputation, Validity, Educational Innovation, Factor Analysis, Educational Change,...
Dr. Robinson's proposed action plan will serve the needs of highly achieving gifted students. However, defining giftedness as high academic performance based on traditional assessment procedures could reverse the field's fledgling success in supporting culturally diverse gifted children and youth. Changing the focus of equity in gifted education to economic representation will not decrease educators' responsibility to understand the learning needs of racially, culturally, and linguistically...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Academically Gifted, Equal Education, Access to Education, Student...
In this article, the author shares how she turned once-dreaded parent-teacher conferences into valuable assessments, evaluations, and action plans using the fourth-generation evaluation method. Fourth-generation evaluation has three main components. First, it includes a multitude of assessment tools. Second, it involves stakeholders in the evaluation process. Third, the evaluation is followed with a plan of action. By adopting this method, the author has created a more comprehensive approach to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Parent Teacher Conferences, Evaluation Methods, Teaching Methods, Student Evaluation,...
The issue of the disproportionate identification and placement of racial/ethnic minorities in special education has been investigated extensively. One of the most useful tools in this research is the risk ratio, which compares one racial/ethnic group's risk of receiving special education and related services to that of all other students. The risk ratio can be used to calculate disproportionality at both the state and school-district-levels. However, analysts often encounter difficulties in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disproportionate Representation, Related Services (Special Education), Special...
This study compared number sense instruction in three first-grade traditional mathematics textbooks and one reform-based textbook ("Everyday Mathematics" [EM]). Textbooks were evaluated with regard to their adherence to principles of effective instruction (e.g., big ideas, conspicuous instruction). The results indicated that traditional textbooks included more opportunities for number relationship tasks than did EM; in contrast, EM emphasized more real-world connections than did...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Learning Problems, Textbooks, Comparative Analysis, Mathematics Instruction,...
Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is an approach for assessing the growth of students in basic skills that originated uniquely in special education. A substantial research literature has developed to demonstrate that CBM can be used effectively to gather student performance data to support a wide range of educational decisions. Those decisions include screening to identify, evaluating prereferral interventions, determining eligibility for and placement in remedial and special education...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Inclusive Schools, Curriculum Based Assessment, Early Childhood Education,...
Many colleges and universities receive thousands of applications for freshman admission every year. To facilitate the process of evaluating each and every applicant in a relatively short amount of time, schools often devise quantitative ratings scales to summarize student characteristics. The ratings give readers a shorthand way to communicate the qualities of each student, and sometimes play a critical role in determining whether or not a student is offered admission. Given the significance of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Generalizability Theory, Reliability, College Admission, College Applicants, Rating...
This study examines how rural elementary school administrators perceive the effects of high-stakes testing in comparison to suburban and urban elementary administrators. High-stakes testing had a greater impact, both positively and negatively, on rural administrators than on their counterparts in suburban and urban schools. Specifically, the positive effects were that rural administrators were more motivated by the testing program to do a better job, found the test results more useful in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Test Results, Testing Programs, Testing, Academic Achievement, High...
College admission professionals use the interview process as a tool for evaluating prospective students. Academic credentials and standardized test scores may attest to a student's academic ability, but they do not provide reliable insight into a student's motivation, character, intellect or basic values. To assist in this evaluation process, admission professionals can utilize Socratic questioning during the admission interview to develop a comprehensive profile of the prospective applicant....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Private Colleges, Scholarships, College Admission, Evaluation Criteria, Interviews,...
Many schools that prepare teacher candidates for certification are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), which requires six standards for accreditation based on the following categories: (1) Candidate, Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions; (2) Assessment System and Unit Evaluation; (3) Field Experiences and Clinical Practice; (4) Diversity; (5) Faculty Qualifications, Performances, and Development; and (6) Unit governance and Resources (NCATE, 2002)....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Teacher Qualifications, Field Experience Programs,...
This study investigated the relationship between family history, sedentary behaviors, and childhood risk for type 2 diabetes. Participants were 480 students attending schools on or near an American Indian reservation. Data were collected through survey and BMI measurement. Children who frequently watched television or played video games did not significantly differ in BMI compared to peers. However, children with a parental history of diabetes had significantly higher BMIs than children...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Risk, Video Games, American Indians, Diabetes, Genetics, Surveys, Body Weight,...
This study examined the assessment literacy of primary/junior teacher candidates in all four years of their concurrent program. Candidates from each year of the program completed a survey pertaining to self-described level of assessment literacy, main purposes of assessment, utilization of different assessment methods, need for further training, and suggested methods for promoting assessment literacy in university and practice teaching settings. Levels of self-efficacy remained relatively low...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Evaluation, Self Efficacy, Educational Change, Teaching Methods, Evaluation...
Using data from the reading component of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (N = 113,050), the effects of gender and curricular track for nine sub-scores of reading achievement were investigated. Only students indicating that they did not receive additional programming support were included in the analysis. Gender accounted for less than one per cent of variance in reading achievement. Gender differences for each curricular track were in the close-to-zero and small range. The results...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Females, Reading Achievement, Foreign Countries, Gender Differences, Males,...
The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, the Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test (NNAT), and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) in selecting for ethnically diverse students who may be gifted. The participants of the study were 175 students enrolled in Grades 3-5 and Grade 8 in a Midwestern school district serving a small city of approximately 40,000 and surrounding rural areas. The results of this study indicate that the Raven's,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Gifted, Elementary Education, Nonverbal Ability, Test Validity, Student Diversity,...
There is evidence that spontaneous learning leads to relational understanding and high positive affect. To study spontaneous abstracting, a model was constructed by combining the RBC model of abstraction with Krutetskii's mental activities. Using video-stimulated interviews, the model was then used to analyze the behavior of two Year 8 students who had demonstrated spontaneous abstracting. The analysis highlighted the crucial role of synthetic and evaluative analysis, two processes that seem...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cooperative Learning, Documentation, Mathematics Instruction, Secondary Education,...
This paper represents Part I of a two-part study examining preservice teachers' development of a personalized, research-based Science Teaching Rationale (STR). Researchers have historically documented the application of the "rationale paper" (Clough, 1992; Veronesi, 1998) using qualitative methodologies. Since the rationale paper continues to receive attention at conferences (e.g., at the annual conference of the Association for the Education of Teachers in Science) and grow in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Elementary School Science, Statistical Analysis, Evaluation...
Lectures and two types of video modeling were compared to determine their relative effectiveness in training 3 staff members to conduct functional analysis sessions. Video modeling that contained a larger number of therapist exemplars resulted in mastery-level performance eight of the nine times it was introduced, whereas neither lectures nor partial video modeling produced significant improvements in performance. Results demonstrated that video modeling provided an effective training strategy...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Functional Behavioral Assessment, Evaluation Methods, On the Job Training, Videotape...
Although previous research indicates that certain types of attention (i.e., statements related to behavior, tickles) may be differentially reinforcing, only one or two forms of attention are typically provided contingent on problem behavior during the attention condition in experimental functional analyses. In the present investigation, various forms of attention were provided contingent on problem behavior to identify the influence of each form of attention. Results indicated that the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Behavior Problems, Reinforcement, Attention Deficit Disorders, Hyperactivity,...
In this study, elementary preservice teachers used science notebooks throughout their science methods course to write about all aspects of science and scientific inquiry. The views regarding the use of science notebooks were explored in order to determine the preservice teachers' attitudes and perceptions toward their use. The findings demonstrated that the preservice teachers involved became more relaxed in the way they used notebooks to communicate science understanding. They also came to see...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Methods Courses, Preservice Teacher Education, Formative...
This study provides a framework for the evaluation of assessments that may be used in adult continuing education. It provides an example of the analysis of an examination for 33 solicitors seeking specialist accreditation. Resampling was used to generate a group of 1000 results, and responses were analysed using a Rasch model. Results indicated a select and capable group of candidates for whom many items in the assessment were redundant. A five-step general model for evaluating formal...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Continuing Education, Psychometrics, Licensing Examinations (Professions), Adult...
This qualitative case study illustrates and compares the metacognitive strategies that a grade-3 female student used while reading narrative and informational texts. Data were collected from interviews, observations, and videotaping of the participant's narrative and informational text oral reading sessions and examined using thematic analysis. Findings showed that she used markedly different metacognitive strategies for each genre, resulting in comprehension difficulties while reading the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Reading Comprehension, Oral Reading, Metacognition, Case Studies, Qualitative...
Science notebooks can be a formative assessment tool for both teachers and students to determine: (1) prior knowledge and existing science ideas; (2) how conceptual understanding is being built; (3) procedural understanding; (4) mastery of curriculum goals; and (5) the ability to apply/transfer ideas to new context (Volkmann & Abell, 2003). Using science notebooks with preservice teachers accomplishes two goals: (1) It introduces preservice teachers to a beneficial assessment tool; and (2)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Methods Courses, Formative Evaluation, Prior Learning,...
Six years ago, the Division of Education at Indiana University East began the process of developing a performance-based program consistent with its division's conceptual framework, the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) principles, and Indiana state standards. One component of the state mandate is that all teachers must prepare an INTASC-based induction portfolio to receive licensure at the end of a two-year probationary teaching period. The authors, who are...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Portfolios (Background Materials), Teacher Education Programs, Portfolio Assessment,...
While case studies and narratives are often used in teacher preparation programs, the focus of these materials is usually upon the examination of effective strategies in instruction, assessment, and classroom management. The investigation described in this article examined the value of teacher stories about professional interactions for both the writers of the stories and the future teachers who read the stories. Following this is a description of research designed to investigate the power of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Techniques, Preservice Teacher Education, Reflective Teaching, Case...
The author of this article challenges a common assumption made by both critics and defenders of standardized-testing technology (or psychometry), namely that standardized tests "measure" something (culture, ability, etc.). It argues that psychometric practice cannot be classified as a form of measurement and instead is best understood as a marker of social value, an inherently political act. The chapter concludes by suggesting the significance of this argument for debates regarding...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Assessment, Social Values, Psychometrics, Standardized Tests,...
Effective substance abuse prevention programs help students develop knowledge as well as psychosocial competencies that can help them resist or delay the initiation of alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use. This paper describes the integration process used in a five-year project, Adoption of Drug Abuse Prevention Training (ADAPT), to study the effectiveness of two methods of drug prevention programming, based on Botvin's Life Skills Training (LST) program. Botvin's standard LST program was...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Junior High Schools, Prevention, Drinking, Interdisciplinary Approach, Drug Abuse,...
HIV-related behaviors, self-reported using Web-delivered or paper-pencil modes, were collected from two convenience samples of college students at a major university in the southeastern U.S. To enhance the equivalence of the comparisons, a subset pool of participants from each group, proportionally matched on key demographic variables including age, gender, and race, was randomly selected to be included in the analysis. Multiple-regression analyses showed similar self-reporting patterns on HIV...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Drinking, Sexuality, Acquired...
This article describes a physical education program self-assessment tool, "The Physical Activity and Fitness Promotion Checklist," which was developed by a panel of nationally recognized physical education teachers. This checklist, which specifically addresses national physical education standards three and four, includes 20 items organized into five areas. Items describe specific strategies that physical education teachers can use to increase the physical activity and fitness levels...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Check Lists, Physical Education, Physical Activities, Elementary Secondary Education,...
Tactical approaches to teaching are, arguably, still under-utilized in physical education settings, and this may be due to the lack of pertinent assessment materials. The purpose of this article is to present a generic invasion-game unit and to link it to a variety of assessment materials using three tactical components from the Game Performance Assessment Instrument (GPAI), namely decision making, skill execution, and support. The invasion-game unit presented focuses on teaching nonspecific...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Physical Education, Performance Based Assessment, Teaching Methods, Educational...
There is widespread understanding of the need to evaluate teacher education programs. Unfortunately, the history of teacher education program evaluations is spotty, evolutionary, and limited in scope. Probably the most fundamental reason that program evaluations are limited is that there has not been a clear, consistent, and shared framework for organizing the many variables that comprise teacher education practice and relating these to evidence of effectiveness. In this article, the authors...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Education Programs, Program Evaluation, Teacher Education Curriculum,...
The authors of this article are two professors from a northwestern regional university. One of them works in the special education department and the other works in the elementary education department. As they began to work together on their research and teaching, they found that there were many communication barriers between their departments and they recognized that these same barriers are also found in the public schools where they had taught or consulted. When they shared their research...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cooperation, Special Education Teachers, Teacher Educators, Special Education,...
After over 40 years of education reform policies and strategies, America continues its need for systemic education reform. The greatest challenge confronting the nation remains within large urban metropolises where large numbers of minority students attend underfunded and low-performing schools with low standardized test scores and high dropout rates. African American children and youth constitute over 50% of all students in urban school systems. The social work profession has a long history of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, African American Children, Urban Schools, Educational Needs, Standardized Tests,...
College students studying art traditionally host a senior art show displaying the works included in their portfolio before graduating. Why not borrow this tradition of a senior art show and apply it to physical education? Currently, most institutions of higher education ask their physical education teacher education (PETE) candidates to prepare portfolios, hard copy or electronic, as a graduation requirement. This article will explain how physical education departments can shake the dust off...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Portfolios (Background Materials), Preservice Teachers,...