As a consequence of the federal "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) law, there is tremendous pressure on school principals, teachers, school superintendents, district staff, state departments of education and governors to maximize the increase in student achievement that is obtained with every dollar of expenditure. Currently, teachers are forced to rely on extremely inefficient approaches that take enormous amounts of time, both during the school day and throughout the K-12 learning years. This is experienced in terms of the reduced time that is available to teach subjects other than math and reading, as schools resort to double periods of math, double periods of reading, and enormous amounts of remedial instruction that directly reduce the time available for other subjects including science, art, and music. In contrast, this book suggests that student achievement may be increased in a way that is not only cost-effective in dollar terms, but efficient in the sense that it does not rely on unusual investments in the time required to obtain results. The book draws upon a wealth of cost-effectiveness data to dispel common notions about "what works" in addressing the achievement gap: increased expenditure per pupil, charter schools, voucher programs, increased educational accountability, class size reduction, comprehensive school reform, increased teacher salaries, more selective teacher recruitment, the use of "value-added" methods to measure and reward teacher performance, the use of National Board teacher certification to identify high-performing teachers, and a host of other approaches.

This volume reconsiders the problem of context in language testing and other modes of assessment from the perspective of transdisciplinarity. Transdisciplinary assessment research brings together collaborators who draw on the strengths of their differing backgrounds and expertise in order to address high-stakes complex socially-relevant problems. Traditional treatments of context in language assessment research have generally been informed by individualist cognitive theories within measurement and psychometrics. The additive potential of alternative social theories, including theories of genre, situated learning, distributed cognition, and intercultural communication, has largely been overlooked. In this book, the benefits of socio-theoretical reconsiderations of context are discussed and further exemplified in transdisciplinary research studies that investigate the use of assessment in classroom and workplace settings. The book offers a renewed view of context in arguments for the validity of assessment practices, and will be of interest to assessment researchers, practitioners, and students in applied linguistics, education, educational psychology, language testing, and other related disciplines and fields.

This book introduces the design and implementation of an assessment model for a new university-level English curriculum in China that aims at developing digital literacy skills. The assessment approach, embedded in the curriculum of an online modular course at Peking University, requires the students to conduct semester-long digital research projects in English in their major fields of study. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, evaluation rubrics built around Content, Clarity, and Creative/Critical Thinking were developed, evaluated, and refined over three implementation cycles (eight semesters). The book presents a systematic assessment design framework, a set of effective rubrics for evaluating the digital research project, and authentic examples of written and multimedia presentations by Chinese students. Integrating assessment with instruction and technology, the book provides a valuable practical guide to digital literacy assessment for English education in the Outer and Expanding Circle contexts.

This book summarizes the international evidence on methodological issues in standard setting in education. By critically discussing the standard-setting practices implemented in the Nordic countries and by presenting new methodological approaches, it offers fresh perspectives on the current research. Standard setting targets crucial societal objectives by defining educational benchmarks at different achievement levels, and provides feedback to policy makers, schools and teachers about the strengths and weaknesses of a school system. Given that the consequences of standard setting can be dramatic, the quality of standard setting is a prime concern. If it fails, repercussions can be expected in terms of arbitrary evaluations of educational policy, wrong turns in school or teacher development or misplacement of individual students. Standard setting therefore needs to be accurate, reliable, valid, useful, and defensible. However, specific evidence on the benefits and limits of different approaches to standard setting is rare and scattered, and there is a particular lack with respect to standard setting in the Nordic countries, where the number of national tests is increasing and there are concerns about the time and effort spent on testing at schools without feedback being provided. Addressing this gap, the book offers a discussion on standard setting by respected experts as well as profound and innovative insights into fundamental aspects of standard setting including conclusions for future methodological and policy-related research.

This book is about doing what's right for public education in the United States in this age of intensive curriculum convergence, planned instructional standardization, and oppressive accountability procedures. Information is presented about why and how educators, parents, students, community members, and policy-makers have decided to protest against current state and federal educational policies and procedures. The practical experiences of parents, teachers, principals, school superintendents, school board members, and professors are analyzed in chapters of this book. Their first-hand experiences with the various components of the current reform movement are poignantly presented. Through their voices the frustrations with the serious flaws associated with this reform agenda are passionately and logically articulated. They comprehensively explain their personal and professional motivations for organizing and fomenting a rethinking in school reform implementation procedures and they advocate their "smarter approach" to school reforms in our country. The book includes key references that elucidate the need to seriously re-think the directions and strategies of contemporary schooling in order to maintain enlightened creative instruction based on exciting student-centered curriculum experiences and professional educational judgments.

A high performing school is described as one where student achievement is high and student and teacher absenteeism is low. Student behavior is such that teachers seldom have to control them or tell them what to do. This results in greater time on task, higher teacher morale, low teacher absenteeism, and improved parental support. One other distinctive feature of a high performing school is that the student peer group is a positive force and not a negative force. The end result is a school culture where faculty and students trust and care about each other, and there is a cooperative attitude.

This volume explores the instructional use of creative writing in secondary and post-secondary contexts to enhance students' language proficiency and expression in English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL). Offering a diverse range of perspectives from scholars and practitioners involved in English language teaching (ELT) globally, International Perspectives on Creative Writing in Second Language Education tackles foundational questions around why fiction and creative writing have been traditionally omitted from ESL and EFL curricula. By drawing on empirical research and first-hand experience, contributors showcase a range of creative genres including autobiography, scriptwriting, poetry, and e-Portfolios, and provide new insight into the benefits of second language creative writing for learners' language proficiency, emotional expression, and identity development. The volume makes a unique contribution to the field of second language writing by highlighting the breadth of second language users throughout the world, and foregrounding links between identity, learning, and ESL/EFL writing. This insightful volume will be of particular interest to postgraduate students, researchers, and academics in the fields of ESL/EFL learning, composition studies, and second language acquisition (SLA). Those with a focus on the use of creative writing in classrooms more broadly, will also find the book of interest.

This book combines insights from language assessment literacy and critical language testing through critical analyses and research about challenges in language assessment around the world. It investigates problematic practices in language testing which are relevant to language test users such as language program directors, testing centers, and language teachers, as well as teachers-in-training in Graduate Diploma and Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics programs. These issues involve aspects of language testing such as test development, test administration, scoring, and interpretation/use of test results. Chapters in this volume discuss insights about language testing policy, testing world languages, developing program-level language tests and tests of specific language skills, and language assessment literacy. In addition, this book identifies two needs in language testing for further examination: the need for collaboration between language test developers, language test users, and language users, and the need to base language tests on real-world language use.

Perspectives on Language Assessment Literacy describes how the elements of language assessment literacy can help teachers gather information about when and how to assess learners, and about using the appropriate assessment tools to interpret results in a fair way. It provides highlights from past and current research, descriptions of assessment processes that enhance LAL, case studies from classrooms, and suggestions for professional dialogue and collaboration. This book will help to foster continuous learning, empower learners and teachers and make them more confident in their assessment tasks, and reassure decision makers that what is going on in assessment meets international benchmarks and standards. It addresses issues like concepts and challenges of assessment, the impacts of reflective feedback on assessment, the ontogenetic nature of assessment literacy, the reliability of classroom-based assessment, and interfaces between teaching and assessment. It fills this gap in the literature by addressing the current status and future challenges of language assessment literacy. This book will be of great interest for academics, researchers, and post-graduate students in the fields of language assessment literacy and English language teaching.

Educators require constructive information that details their students' comprehension and can help them to advance the learners' education. Accurate evaluation of students at all educational levels and the implementation of comprehensive assessment strategies are essential for ensuring student equality and academic success. The Handbook of Research on Formative Assessment in Pre-K Through Elementary Classrooms is an essential research publication that addresses gaps in the understanding of formative assessment and offers educators meaningful and comprehensive examples of formative assessment in the Pre-K through elementary grade levels. Covering an array of topics such as literacy, professional development, and educational technologies, this book is relevant for instructors, administrators, education professionals, educational policymakers, pre-service teachers, academicians, researchers, and students.

- Written to help those collating student feedback understand their options in terms of available technology and allow them to gather data that can help improve the student experience. - Provides examples of best practice using case studies to help inform departmental and institutional strategic priorities or specific teaching and learning initiatives on various levels. - Global contributors ensure this book is relevant in a world where university student satisfaction rates highly.

- Written to help those collating student feedback understand their options in terms of available technology and allow them to gather data that can help improve the student experience. - Provides examples of best practice using case studies to help inform departmental and institutional strategic priorities or specific teaching and learning initiatives on various levels. - Global contributors ensure this book is relevant in a world where university student satisfaction rates highly.

Multimodal Signs of Learning proposes a methodology to uncover evidence of learning in students' multimodal compositions. Informed by social semiotic theory, the book tracks representation of subject content from physical and embodied teaching resources to students' handmade artefacts and physical presentations. Using materials from secondary school history and science classrooms, multimodal realizations of specific representational processes are tracked from the input of resources through to the students' multimodal compositions - their posters, models and physical presentations. Through tracking semiosis, the book exposes the epistemologies inherent in the representational choices articulated in the students' multimodal designs. These, it is argued, are to be valued as signs of learning. Learning is thus characterized as 'design' and the transformation of subject content through representation in different modes shown not only to promote learning, but also to contain evidence for its recognition. The book raises important questions about what constitutes multimodal learning and how it can be applied. It contributes to the growing body of research into the changing dynamics of classrooms and assessment practices and will be of great interest to researchers, and academics in the fields of education research, multimodality, semiotics and communication.

This book provides a critical analysis of the neoliberal reform agenda of the economic governance of schools. Focusing on the role of the United States in this process, it explores the transformation of schools in this agenda from educational establishments to enterprises in a competitive education market. The study uses Bourdieu to apply a field-theoretical framework to a detailed empirical analysis of the current changes of school government. Chapters explore education bureaucracy, reform and the effect of outside organizations on pedagogy and testing. The book reveals how far the promises of corporate education reform are from reality and concludes with a plea for a realistic view of school's capabilities. It goes beyond the state of the art with its focus on how the governance of education, school and instruction is changing with the replacement of educracy by an education-industrial complex. The book will be of great interest for academics, postgraduate students, administrators and politicians in the field of education policy, the governance of school systems and schools. The book also has an international appeal as it studies a global transformation of the field of education.

This insightful text offers a detailed account of the historical development of educational accountability in the US public education system. In doing so, it diagnoses the unforeseen consequences arising from a centralized, technocratic implementation of the concept, and calls for a radical re-thinking in how our democratic responsibilities translate into the provision, measurement, and conceptualization of education. Drawing from the works of scholars including Stanley Cavell, Linda Zerilli, Daniel Koretz, and James Scott, A Democratic Theory of Educational Accountability illustrates the way in which "educational accountability" has foregrounded centralized measures of "success" to the point of perversity. Through nuanced political theory and philosophical arguments, the text demonstrates how test-based measures have rendered the holistic aims of education futile, resulting in an education system of "box-checking" and "rule-following". Ultimately calling for a new imagination of how our democratic responsibilities are enacted in schools and communities, Gottlieb illustrates how accountability can be used for good, to ensure that our schools nurture talent, cultivate social mobility, and engage with local needs. This text will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academics, and libraries in the field of philosophy of education, educational policy, assessment & testing and democratic theory.

Integrates the act of creating a measure with the act of using the measure for a specific purpose Emphasis on concrete examples drawn from simulated or empirical data. Engaging and accessible writing style. Provides a deep conceptual treatment of measurement in the context of education and psychology Inter-disciplinary appeal

Integrates the act of creating a measure with the act of using the measure for a specific purpose Emphasis on concrete examples drawn from simulated or empirical data. Engaging and accessible writing style. Provides a deep conceptual treatment of measurement in the context of education and psychology Inter-disciplinary appeal

* Full of takeaway tools, strategies, professional development plans, and case study examples * Many teachers are confused about how to apply what they know about in-person testing to virtual assessments--this book helps educators understand those differences and implement a successful virtual assessment plan for all types of intended learning objectives * This book helps teachers plan for and mitigate cheating or other issues arising when the student and the teacher are not in the same room * Draws from dozens of years of the authors' knowledge from working in educational technology at the K-12 and higher education levels, teaching both in-person with virtual elements, teaching fully online, and research into what "works" in teaching and assessing

Have you ever found yourself saying, "I'm never going to pass the math pre-service exam!" This statement, and many others like it, led the authors to discover exactly how to crack the math pre-service exam test code and students are reaping all the benefits. How to Pass the Pre-Service Mathematics Test for Teachers is the result of years of researching and experimenting with what it takes to not only pass the test, but come away from it a better test-taker and a stronger mathematician. The authors offer tons of crystal-clear examples with detailed explanations, all supported by deep mathematical thinking. As an added bonus, there are three comprehensive practice tests carefully created to reflect the format of the test. This book will provide all that is needed to pass the math pre-service exam!

Through expert analysis, this text proves that John Dewey's views on efficiency in education are as relevant as ever. By exploring Deweyan theories of teaching and learning, the volume illustrates how they can aid educators in navigating the theoretical and practical implications of accountability, standardization, and assessment. The Contemporary Relevance of John Dewey's Theories on Teaching and Learning deconstructs issues regarding accountability mechanisms, uniform assessment systems, and standardization processes through a Deweyan lens. Connecting the zeitgeist of the era from which Dewey's ideas emerged and current global political, social, and economic contexts, the book emphasizes the importance of resilient systems in reconciliating the tension between standardized assessments and individual student development. Contributors provide insights from a range of settings across Pre-K, primary, secondary, and higher education and address topics including teacher agency, voice, leadership, and democracy. The volume will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and academics with an interest in philosophy of education, education policy and the impact of neoliberal agendas, as well as teaching and learning more broadly.

Drawing on theoretical and empirical insights from art teachers in Canada and Europe, this edited volume explores the question of how learning in the arts can be effectively and fairly assessed in the context of higher education. The chapters consider a rich variety of assessment practices across music, visual and plastic arts, performing arts, design, fashion, dance and music and illustrate how knowledge, competencies, skills and progress can be viably and fairly assessed. Contextual challenges to assessment are also considered in depth, and particular attention is paid to the challenges of reconciling teaching in the arts, aimed at an intuitive transformation of the student, and assessing learning that takes on its meaning in subjectivity and sensitivity. This text will benefit researchers, academics and educators in higher education with an interest in assessment in the artistic disciplines and in the topic of creativity more broadly. Those specifically interested in educational assessment policy and the visual arts will also benefit from this book.

In this book we respond to a higher education environment that is on the verge of profound changes by imagining an evolving and agile problem-based learning ecology for learning. The goal of doing so is to humanise university education by pursuing innovative approaches to student learning, teaching, curricula, assessment, and professional learning, and to employ interdisciplinary methods that go far beyond institutional walls and include student development and support, curriculum sustainability, research and the scholarship of teaching and learning, as well as administration and leadership. An agile problem-based learning (PBL) ecology for learning deliberately blurs the boundaries between disciplines, between students and teachers, between students and employers, between employers and teachers, between academics and professional staff, between formal and informal learning, and between teaching and research. It is based on the recognition that all of these elements are interconnected and constantly evolving, rather than being discrete and static. Throughout this book, our central argument is that there is no single person who is responsible for educating students. Rather, it is everyone's responsibility - teachers, students, employers, administrators, and wider social networks, inside and outside of the university. Agile PBL is about making connections, rather than erecting barriers. In summary, this book is not about maintaining comfort zones, but rather about becoming comfortable with discomfort. The actual implementation is beyond the scope of this book and we envisage that changing perceptions towards this vision will itself be a mammoth task. However, we believe that the alternative of leaving things as they are would ultimately prove untenable, and more distressingly, would leave a generation of students afraid to think, feel, and act for themselves, let alone being able to face the challenges of the 21st century.