Social science researchers have become increasing attentive to the role of numbers in contemporary life. Issues around big data, national test results, and output and performance statistics are now routinely reported and debated in the media. Numbers are a powerful resource for governments as a means to manage and 'improve' their populations, and we are increasingly represented, organized and driven by an economy of numbers, which inserts itself into more and more aspects of our lives. This book critically addresses some of the ways in which numbers are deployed in educational governance and practice, and some of the consequences of this deployment for what it means to be educated, to teach, and to learn. Recognising that numbers do not simply represent, but that they change things and have real effects, allows us to move beyond a system where difficult and important issues about what we want from education and from teachers are side-stepped in the push to 'improve our numbers'. This collection offers a set of starting points from which we might speak back to numbers, drawing on research to explore how numbers change the way we think about ourselves and what we do. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Education Policy.

This book is specifically designed for busy teachers who have responsibility for co-ordinating a subject area within their primary school. Each volume in the series conforms to a concise style, while providing a wealth of tips, case studies and photocopiable material that teachers can use immediately. There are special volumes dedicated to dealing with Ofsted, creating whole school policy and the demands of co-ordinating several subjects within a small school. The entire set of 16 volumes is available from RoutledgeFalmer and details of the series can be seen on our website.

Recent performance-based teacher assessments have challenged teacher educators to rethink the ways that candidates are prepared in education programs. edTPA (formerly the Teacher Performance Assessment) requires teacher candidates to demonstrate knowledge and skills through authentic teaching artifacts, written commentary, and video clips recorded in real classroom settings. As part of the edTPA requirements, teacher candidates submit video clips of their own teaching to be viewed and assessed by evaluators. This implies that teacher candidates should know how to utilize their own videos for the purpose of improving their instructional skills as well as the learning of their students. These initiatives have urged teacher educators to prepare their candidates for the active use of video-recorded instruction either in university classrooms or in field-based practices. This book provides research-based strategies to support video analysis of authentic teaching in initial teacher education programs. It also presents a review of video recording tools in reference to their features and practicality for different educational settings.

'An honest, down-to-earth story of one school's journey towards replacing the tyranny of teacher marking with conferencing and feedback.' - Dame Alison Peacock, Chief Executive, Chartered College of Teaching One day, a headteacher saw a new teacher wheeling a suitcase out of school. 'Going anywhere nice?' he asked her. 'Oh! No, unfortunately,' she replied with dismay. 'This is my marking for the weekend.' Sound familiar? Determined to make a change, Lavender Primary School in North London took on the challenge of abolishing written marking altogether by introducing the revolutionary approach of providing immediate verbal feedback. The outcome? Reduced teacher workload, improved staff retention and more effective learning for children. Backed up by educational theory and full of practical advice, this entertaining and informative book takes you through the highs and lows of Lavender Primary School's journey, so you can confidently follow the same steps to reform marking in your school. It features quick tips, reflective questions, fact files and chapter summaries for easy navigation. The topics covered include success criteria, effective questioning, mindset and resilience, reward and motivation and verbal feedback. Fast Feedback is written in an open, easy-to-read style and includes a foreword by Matthew Kleiner-Mann, leader of Ivy Learning Trust. It's perfect for senior leaders looking for a new whole-school approach to marking and feedback, as well as teachers searching for strategies to implement in their classroom.

The Education Reform Act has established assessment as the measure by which the implementation of the National Curriculum and school success will be judged. Current initiatives assume, for the first time, the possibility of a new partnership beteen curriculum and assessment. This book is designed to provide a practical understanding of recent examination and assessment developments at secondary level, and will be particularly useful to students and practising teachers. It examines the introduction of the GCSE, the use of profiling, equal opportunities issues, examinations at 16+ and the assessment of school-leavers for training and employment. It also include a brief historical account of the development of secondary education. The fairness and appropriateness of examination results are always a matter of public concern, and the final chapters, particulary, extend these issues by looking at the ways in which variety of experience and learning styles are relevant to assessment practices.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the history and current status of policy, research and practices of curriculum, classroom instruction and assessment in Japan. It outlines the mechanism of curriculum organization and the history of the National Courses of Study, and assesses the theories of academic ability model. It also discusses in detail the history of "Lesson Study" - a characteristic teaching practice in Japan which utilizes groups, and reviews the history of educational assessment in Japan. Case studies on the practice of portfolio assessment in the Period for Integrated Study, as well as the practice of performance tasks in subject-based education are illustrated to show various examples of teaching practices. Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment in Japan explores: * Child-centered Curriculum and Discipline-Centered Curriculum * Theories based on Models of Academic Achievement and Competency * Various Methods for Organizing Creative Whole-Class Teaching * Performance Assessment in Subject Teaching A good guideline for those who would like to use the idea of "Lesson Study" in order to improve their own teaching and management practices and a reference to all working in educational improvement, this book will be of interest to educators and policymakers concerned with curriculum practices or those with an interest in the Japanese education system.

This volume consists of a series of essays written by experts, most of whom participated in a conference conducted by the Educational Testing Service to explore how current fields of artificial intelligence might contribute to ETS's plans to automate one or more of its testing activities. The papers presented in Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Testing touch on a variety of topics including mathematics tutors, graph comprehension and computer vision, student reasoning and human accessing, modeling software design within a general problem-space architecture, memory organization and retrieval, and natural language systems. Also included: speculation on possible uses each AI specialty might have for a wide number of testing activities, and selective critical commentaries by two eminent AI researchers. As Roy Freedle notes in his introduction, "We are at an exciting juncture in applying AI to testing activities." The essays presented in this collection convey some of that excitement, and represent an important step toward the merging of AI and testing -- a powerful combination that has the potential to instruct and inspire.

Addressing the growing concerns about reading, math, and writing skills of freshman-level students, this volume provides different perspectives and approaches to the assessment of basic academic skills in higher education. The book provides an in-depth investigation into the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP). More generally, the book provides insights into the construction of testing programs and their evaluations.
The development and implementation of testing programs is discussed by outstanding educators involved and will be of great value to program administrators, policymakers, deans and faculty members of colleges, state legislators, and educational professionals working directly with institutions of higher learning.

For middle and high school teachers teachers of social studies and English, this book is filled with examples of instructional strategies that address students' readiness levels, interests, and learning preferences. It shows teachers how to formatively assess their students by addressing differentiated learning targets. Included are detailed examples of differentiated formative assessment schedules plus tips on how to collaborate with others to improve assessment processes. Teachers will learn how to adjust instruction for the whole class, for small groups, and for individuals. They will also uncover step-by-step procedures for creating their own lessons infused with opportunities to formatively assess students who participate in differentiated learning activities.

On campuses across the United States and beyond, schools of business, education, law, liberal arts, management, medical professions, pharmacy, and physical or social sciences are beginning to use assessment rubrics for purposes of formative and summative evaluation. A concise yet comprehensive guide to rubric usage, this book is an essential tool for university, professional school, college, community college, and upper level secondary school faculty members. It contains one-stop rubric shopping for key considerations, common problems, specific design steps, implementation samples, standards alignment, and grade-focused applications. Effective college-level rubrics that are the right tools for objective, comprehensive assessment can be constructed almost as easily as an ice cream sundae! Welcome aboard as Rubric Assessment Goes to College!

Recent performance-based teacher assessments have challenged teacher educators to rethink the ways that candidates are prepared in education programs. edTPA (formerly the Teacher Performance Assessment) requires teacher candidates to demonstrate knowledge and skills through authentic teaching artifacts, written commentary, and video clips recorded in real classroom settings. As part of the edTPA requirements, teacher candidates submit video clips of their own teaching to be viewed and assessed by evaluators. This implies that teacher candidates should know how to utilize their own videos for the purpose of improving their instructional skills as well as the learning of their students. These initiatives have urged teacher educators to prepare their candidates for the active use of video-recorded instruction either in university classrooms or in field-based practices. This book provides research-based strategies to support video analysis of authentic teaching in initial teacher education programs. It also presents a review of video recording tools in reference to their features and practicality for different educational settings.

A guide to current practice in assessment, particularly for those professionals coming to terms with new pressures on their traditional teaching practices. Increased use of IT, flexible assessment methods and quality assurance all affect assessment, and the need to diversify and adapt traditional assessment practices to suit new modes of learning is clearer than ever. The Student Assessment Handbook looks at the effectiveness of traditional methods in the present day and provides guidelines on how these methods may be developed to suit today's teaching environments. It is a practical resource with case studies, reflection boxes and diagnostic tools to help the reader apply the principles to everyday teaching. The book provides advice on a wide range of topics including: * assessing to promote particular kinds of learning outcomes * using meaningful assessment techniques to assess large groups * the implications of flexible learning on timing and pacing of assessment * the pros and cons of online assessment * tackling Web plagiarism and the authentication of student work * mentoring assessment standards * assessing generic skills and quality assurance.

This book demonstrates how formative assessments, unlike standardized tests, provide the kind of communication between teachers and students that help teachers make instructional decisions to improve student performance.

This is the first title in this new series, which is aimed principally at secondary PGCE and BAEd students and school- and HEI-based tutors. Each book provides a digest of the central issues around a particular topic or issues, grounded in or supported by examples of good practice, with suggestions for further reading, study and investigation. The books are not intended as 'how to' books, but rather as books which will help students and teachers to explore and understand critical theoretical issues in ways that are challenging, that invite critical reappraisals of taken-for-granted practices and perceptions, and that provide appropriate links between theory and practice. Issues related to equal opportunities and special needs are included in each separate volume . There are boxes of questions, 'think abouts' , further reading, and bulleted summary lists for the reader. This book is written specifically for teachers-in-training which will clarify the 'big picture' of monitoring and assessment and makes the crucial distinctions in this large (and still taken-for-granted) field. The authors have written widely on assessment matters and have also worked in various capacities for the QCA (and its former manifestations). They are also engagerd in initial teacher education and so know the level and market extremely well.

Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are a ubiquitous tool used in college classrooms, yet most instructors admit that they are not prepared to maximize the question's benefits. Learning and Assessing with Multiple-Choice Questions in College Classrooms is a comprehensive resource designed to enable instructors and their students to enhance student learning through the use of MCQs. Including chapters on writing questions, assessment, leveraging technology, and much more, this book will help instructors increase the benefits of a question type that is incredibly useful as both a learning and assessment tool in an education system seeking ways to improve student outcomes. .

Develop your students' critical thinking skills and prepare them to perform competitively in the classroom, on state tests, and beyond. In this book, Moore and Stanley show you how to effectively instruct your students to think on higher levels, and how to assess their progress. As states implement the Common Core State Standards, teachers have been called upon to provide higher levels of rigor in their classrooms. Moore and Stanley demonstrate critical thinking as a key approach to accomplishing this goal. They explore the benefits of critical thinking and provide the tools you need to develop and monitor critical thinking skills in the classroom. Topics include: The Difference Between Higher-Level and Lower-Level Thinking Writing Higher-Level Thinking Questions Assessing Critical Thinking Strategies to Develop Higher-Level Thinking Skills

"Educational Testing" provides support for those undertaking training in, and for training providers of, the Certificate of Competence in Educational Testing (CCET) (Level A). Developed by the British Psychological Society, the CCET aims to meet a need for standards for the use of tests in education in the UK, to encourage responsible test use by psychologists and non-psychologists alike.

Written by the designers of the certificate and endorsed by the BPS's Steering Committee on Test Standards, "Educational Testing" is the only book of its kind available.
Covers the 71 elements of the CCET in detail and acts as a 'course text' for those in training
Describes each core competence
Provides model answers and examples
Offers an indication of the range of ways in which the core competences may be assessed by the assessor, based upon the BPS's existing Guidance for Assessors document
Contains appendices offering guidance on BPS standards, a glossary of technical terms, useful websites and online resources, and test publishers' addresses.

Scaling Methods is written for professionals in the behavioral sciences who analyze data that results from subjective responses. Other books on scaling attitudes or measuring perceptions focus on the psychometrician's view of measurement. This book focuses on the users' view by concentrating on effective ways to analyze data rather than the mathematical details of how each program works. The methods included handle the majority of data analysis problems encountered and are accompanied by a software solution. Each chapter features the theory surrounding that methodology, an example, a real-world application, and a computer solution. This book introduces the major uni- and multi-dimensional scaling method techniques most common in educational, social, and psychological research. Using four primary methods of data collection--ordering, categorical rating, free clustering, and similarity judgments--Scaling Methods, Second Edition explains how such data can be represented in ways that illustrate relationships among the data and help reveal underlying dimensional structures. Each method serves as an independent unit so readers can pick and choose from a variety of easy-to-use procedures and more advanced techniques. The new edition features a new chapter on order analysis and downloadable resources that provide stand-alone, as well as SAS supported demonstrations of multi-dimensional scaling techniques, plus programs to get raw data into matrix form. The text is written for researchers, practitioners, and advanced students in education and the social and behavioral sciences interested in analyzing data resulting from subjective responses, especially in the measurement of attitudes. Each chapter is self-contained making this an excellent resource for use in the classroom or as a self-study tool. A first course in statistics is a helpful prerequisite.

In the seventies, countries lauded American education as one of the best systems in the world. Then came the accountability movement. What was measured was what counted. Those who measured low were punished. Those who measured high were rewarded. With measurements came the loss of emphasis on the critical thought so necessary to the preservation of American democracy and improving the American way of life. Where do children learn the skills, practice and habits of democracy? Sharron Goldman Walker s second volume on democracy in education asks educators, especially teachers and principals, to contemplate their roles in education and its connections with the preservation of American democracy. Do we send children to school to learn only how to achieve high scores on high stakes tests? If democracy is not learned by practice in the schoolhouse, how will children recognize it when they leave it? Will they be able to critically reflect upon the issues presented to them? Today s politics have descended into mutual shouting matches, name-calling, hate and fear. Without the ability to critically reflect upon divergent views through reasoned discourse what will be the quality of the democracy? If democracy in education is not practiced in the schoolhouse, democracy in America will vanish."

Many resources are invested in the development and introduction of Quality Assurance Systems in educational institutions all over the world. Our assumption is that, as a result of quality assurance activities, practitioners obtain information about their own functioning and institutional performance which is new and valuable to them and which therefore will form a basis for them to improve performance. This assumption proves to be naive; too often performance feedback is under-utilized, and evaluations become void, legitimizing rites instead of a basis for organizational learning and the improvement of institutions.

The aim of this book was to find out when educational institutions do transform Quality Assurance data into actions to improve performance, and how the use of such data can be promoted. This volume reports on the study of Quality Assurance structures and activities in 36 educational institutes in 6 European Countries and presents guidelines for Quality Assurance.

Learning how to learn is an essential preparation for lifelong learning. This book offers a set of in-service resources to help teachers develop new classroom practices informed by sound research. It builds on previous work associated with 'formative assessment' or 'assessment for learning'. However, it adds an important new dimension by taking account of the conditions within schools that are conducive to the promotion, in classrooms, of learning how to learn as an extension of assessment for learning. Among the materials included you will find: an introductory in-service session self-evaluation questionnaires an action planning activity workshops tools for school development a network mapping activity guidance about different ways of using the resources teachers descriptions of ways they have used of adapted them references to further information and advice. In addition, there is a support website and examples of how individual schools have used or adapted these materials to maximize their benefits.

Now in its Fifth Edition, this text applies current theory to classroom practice by providing, in each chapter, a brief explanation of major concepts followed by guided practical experience in administering, scoring, and interpreting reading assessment techniques. The Fifth Edition is revised and updated to reflect recent developments in the field. New activities are included throughout. A Companion Website for instructors and students, a value-added feature, is new for this edition. Like previous editions of this popular text, this edition Emphasizes the use of assessment and diagnosis for instructional decision making Stresses the use of informal assessment techniques - reflecting the current emphasis in educational assessment theories - but also includes usage of standardized test scores Provides numerous classroom-tested, hands-on activities, giving students step-by-step experiences in administering, scoring, and interpreting assessment techniques This text covers assessment/diagnosis in all five critical reading areas: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. It is designed for undergraduate and graduate courses in reading diagnosis, reading methods that include a diagnostic component, and for in-service courses on reading/literacy development and diagnosis. http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415802093/

Human judgements underlie all assessments regarding the quality of students' understandings, and such judgements are conceptually complex and elusive. The study of the complexity of the judgement process is in its infancy but clearly warrants further critical investigation. However, what is demonstrated from the wide variety of international teacher judgement practices presented in this volume is that teacher judgement requires a lot more than a set of standards, criteria and annotated examples. Understandings of assessment theory by pre-service teachers through to more experienced teachers, and opportunities for all to critically reflect and consider their judgements of student work, are vital. Teachers are struggling to maintain their interpretive freedom at the local, professional level in contexts where central policies promote standardisation or 'regulation' of judgement practice, for accountability purposes. This book was originally published as a special issue of Assessment in Education: principles, policy & practice.

How can formative assessment be used as a means to support teacher professional learning? This book presents several studies, from different countries, on approaches to formative assessment of teachers, both before they start working, and during their careers. These approaches draw on insights from studies into effective teacher professional development. Together, the chapters in this book provide an overview of the various ways in which formative assessment may be used to support teacher professional learning, and shed light on choices that can be made in designing such assessments. The studies illustrate how teachers may perceive formative assessment methods, how their learning processes might unfold during formative assessment processes, and which struggles they may have to deal with during the process. The book furthermore addresses questions concerning the impact of formative assessments on teacher learning. As such, this volume provides theoretical as well as practical prospects, as well as challenging ideas for how formative assessment may move further towards being an effective means for supporting teacher learning. This book was originally published as a special issue of Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice.