At this moment, schools are doing everything they can to win the Race to the Top. They are allocating their funding to test preparation, riffing beloved teachers, and transferring students who "drag down" their grade average on the state report card. This book describes the current state of the education system in the United States. Readers will be on the front lines of the protests in Madison, in the inner city public-turned-charter schools, and in the shoes of the teachers dealing with educational politics every day. By the end of this text, you may beg the question: who's winning in the Race to the Top?

Corporate training and effective performance have become major issues in the 1980s and '90s. Reviews of the training research literature show that, parallel to the growing attention to corporate training, research has also increased in the field, giving a better understanding of the subject and providing fundamental expertise on which trainers can build. The contributions to the book differ in the degree to which they are related to performance issues, but all chapters underline the necessity of thinking from the perspective of effective performance.

jMetrik is a computer program for implementing classical and modern psychometric methods. It is designed to facilitate work in a production environment and to make advanced psychometric procedures accessible to every measurement practitioner. Applied Measurement with jMetrik reviews psychometric theory and describes how to use jMetrik to conduct a comprehensive psychometric analysis. Each chapter focuses on a topic in measurement, describes the steps for using jMetrik, and provides one or more examples of conducting an analysis on the topic. Recommendations and guidance for practice is provided throughout the book.

The common view today is that the public schools are not good enough and that something must be done to make them better. Setting higher academic standards is one way to raise the educational achievement of students. Why wonÆt the idea of national standards and tests go away? How did the country get on the road to establishing such standards in the first place? Author John F. Jennings gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at how Congress and the Executive Branch have wrestled with this issue and reviews the major debates about whether or not there should be testable national standards for all American schools. In addition, the book presents an informative and provocative account of how national leaders in business and government encouraged setting higher academic standards by establishing national standards for the schools; proposing national tests to measure academic mastery by students; and aiding states and school districts to develop their own standards and tests. Researchers and academic practitioners in public policy, educational administration, evaluation, and testing will find this book compelling readingùparticularly as the debate is replayed across the country as state boards of education and local school boards go about the work of requiring, writing, and implementing higher standards for students and schools.

Assessment is a key area of interest and debate in education. Its increased use by governments as a powerful means of influencing educational practice are now features of the educational scene worldwide. This volume was the first major international review of such developments and it explores the impact of assessment on all areas of education, from teaching skills to policy-making.

The contributors take a global perspective to spotlight the common problems facing teachers and students, policy-makers and politicians through the world as they seek to reconcile issues of equity and national development, educational imperatives and finite state resources. The contributions discuss the changing role of assessment and public examinations, and consider such specific issues as the development of a market economy in educational provision, the difficulties of measuring standards in international studies, and accreditation of absolute rather than relative competencies.

A volume in the Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association Book Series Series Editor Jinfa Cai, University of Delaware Over the past thirty years, student assessment has become an increasingly important component of public education. A variety of methodologies in testing have been developed to obtain and interpret the wealth of assessment outcomes. As assessment goals are getting increasingly multifaceted, new testing methodologies are called for to provide more accessible and reliable information on more complex constructs or processes, such as students' criticalthinking and problem-solving skills. Testing methodologies are needed to extract information from assessments on such complicated skills, in order to advise teachers about certain areas of students that need intervention. It is even a bigger challenge, and a vital mission of today's large-scale assessments, to gain such information from testing data in an efficient manner. For example PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessments consortia are both striving to offer formative assessments through individualized, tailored testing. The book provides state-of-the-art coverage on new methodologies to support tradit ional summative assessment, and more importantly, for emerging formative assessments.

A volume in the Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association Book Series Series Editor Jinfa Cai, University of Delaware Over the past thirty years, student assessment has become an increasingly important component of public education. A variety of methodologies in testing have been developed to obtain and interpret the wealth of assessment outcomes. As assessment goals are getting increasingly multifaceted, new testing methodologies are called for to provide more accessible and reliable information on more complex constructs or processes, such as students' criticalthinking and problem-solving skills. Testing methodologies are needed to extract information from assessments on such complicated skills, in order to advise teachers about certain areas of students that need intervention. It is even a bigger challenge, and a vital mission of today's large-scale assessments, to gain such information from testing data in an efficient manner. For example PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessments consortia are both striving to offer formative assessments through individualized, tailored testing. The book provides state-of-the-art coverage on new methodologies to support tradit ional summative assessment, and more importantly, for emerging formative assessments.

Using Grading to Support Student Learning offers an accessible foundation for using grading practices to support student learning through classroom assessment. Purposeful, defensible grading and reporting mechanisms cannot be neglected in today's reform climate, and new approaches are needed to understand and refine the roles of homework, formative and summative assessments, and standards across grade levels. Evidence-based and full of illustrative examples, this book bridges research and theory on grading and assessment with classroom practices for pre-service and in-service teachers and fresh perspectives for educational researchers studying grading practices.

In this volume prominent scholars from both psychology and education describe how these new rules of measurement work and how they differ from the old rules. Several contributors have been involved in the recent construction or revision of a major test, while others are well-known for their theoretical contributions to measurement. The goal is to provide an integrated yet comprehensive reference source concerned with contemporary issues and approaches in testing and measurement.

jMetrik is a computer program for implementing classical and modern psychometric methods. It is designed to facilitate work in a production environment and to make advanced psychometric procedures accessible to every measurement practitioner. Applied Measurement with jMetrik reviews psychometric theory and describes how to use jMetrik to conduct a comprehensive psychometric analysis. Each chapter focuses on a topic in measurement, describes the steps for using jMetrik, and provides one or more examples of conducting an analysis on the topic. Recommendations and guidance for practice is provided throughout the book.

Documentation in early childhood education is typically seen as a means to enhance the quality of care and education, and as a way to take account of the child's view. Assessment and Documentation in Early Childhood Education considers the increasing trend towards systematic child documentation especially in early childhood institutions. The authors present ways in which assessment and evaluation is done sometimes explicitly but more often implicitly in these practices, and explore its means, aims, forms, and functions. They also examine the rationalities of child documentation from the perspective of professional practice and professionalism and suggest that documentation and assessment practices can weaken and constrain but also empower and strengthen teachers, children and parents. Topics explored include: Different forms of documentation and assessment Documentation and listening to the children Dilemmas of assessment and documentation Participation by children Involvement of parents This timely book will be appealing for those studying in the field of early childhood education, teacher education, special education, general education, social work, counselling, psychology, sociology, childhood studies, and family studies.

Analyzing educational landscapes the fundamental values, principles and institutions of the sector is a highly complex and demanding task for any researcher. Like shifting desert sands, these aspects of education are in a constant state of flux, changing according to the unpredictable economic, social, cultural and geo-political circumstances of late modernity. Key aspects of the intricate, fluid and multifarious contemporary setting can always escape the researcher s necessarily selective observation. The contributors to this book share the view that it is wise, therefore, to take note of other people s ideas, perceptions and perspectives, to compare notes and reflect critically on them. Thus the papers presented here are a critical and comparative analysis of today s changing educational landscapes. They are an exploration of some of the forces and factors that induce these changes, and also examine some of their most significant implications. The work takes a fresh look at received ideology and institutional practices and delineates the increasingly internationalized educational discourses and policies. Among other things, the book discusses the obsession with quality in education and the alternative perceptions of educational equality; the rising concern at the obstacles to truly multicultural education, and the debate about the epistemological foundations both of knowledge and knowledge production. Underlying all of the papers in the book is the authors intention to enhance our understanding of educational change in this era of transition and to further our appreciation of its multifaceted expressions across the world."

Documentation in early childhood education is typically seen as a means to enhance the quality of care and education, and as a way to take account of the child's view.

"

Assessment and Documentation in Early Childhood Education "considers the increasing trend towards systematic child documentation especially in early childhood institutions. The authors present ways in which assessment and evaluation is done sometimes explicitly but more often implicitly in these practices, and explore its means, aims, forms, and functions. They also examine the rationalities of child documentation from the perspective of professional practice and professionalism and suggest that documentation and assessment practices can weaken and constrain but also empower and strengthen teachers, children and parents. Topics explored include:

• Different forms of documentation and assessment
• Documentation and listening to the children
• Dilemmas of assessment and documentation
• Participation by children
• Involvement of parents

This timely book" "will be appealing for those studying in the field of early childhood education, teacher education, special education, general education, social work, counselling, psychology, sociology, childhood studies, and family studies."

There has been an increase in awareness (and perhaps occurrence) of individual and organized cheating on tests. Recent reports of widespread problems with state student accountability tests and teacher certification testing have raised questions about the very validity of assessment programs. While there are several books that specifically detail the issues of test security cheating on assessments, few outline the statistical procedures used for detecting various types of potential test fraud and the associated research findings. Without a significant research literature base, the new generation of researchers will have little opportunity or incentive to improve on existing methods. Enlisting a variety of experts and scholars in different fields of testing, this edited volume expands on the current literature base by including examples of detailed research findings arrived at by statistical methodology. It also provides a synthesis of the current state of the art with regard to the statistical detection of testing infidelity, particularly for large-scale assessments. By presenting methods currently used by testing organizations and research on new methods, the volume offers an important forum for expanding the literature in this area.

@text: This volume stems from the 2003 Educational Testing Service Invitational Conference that convened leading scholars and practitioners from education, psychology, economics, statistics and public policy to discuss the important topic of measurement and accountability. The chapters cover all significant aspects of the current accountability scene, with careful but not exclusive attention to the No Child Left Behind act. Written by nationally recognized scholars with a mandate to write in a non-technical style, this volume will appeal to anyone seriously interested in school reform and the educational accountability movement

Bayesian inference networks, a synthesis of statistics and expert systems, have advanced reasoning under uncertainty in medicine, business, and social sciences. This innovative volume is the first comprehensive treatment exploring how they can be applied to design and analyze innovative educational assessments. Part I develops Bayes nets' foundations in assessment, statistics, and graph theory, and works through the real-time updating algorithm. Part II addresses parametric forms for use with assessment, model-checking techniques, and estimation with the EM algorithm and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). A unique feature is the volume's grounding in Evidence-Centered Design (ECD) framework for assessment design. This "design forward" approach enables designers to take full advantage of Bayes nets' modularity and ability to model complex evidentiary relationships that arise from performance in interactive, technology-rich assessments such as simulations. Part III describes ECD, situates Bayes nets as an integral component of a principled design process, and illustrates the ideas with an in-depth look at the BioMass project: An interactive, standards-based, web-delivered demonstration assessment of science inquiry in genetics. This book is both a resource for professionals interested in assessment and advanced students. Its clear exposition, worked-through numerical examples, and demonstrations from real and didactic applications provide invaluable illustrations of how to use Bayes nets in educational assessment. Exercises follow each chapter, and the online companion site provides a glossary, data sets and problem setups, and links to computational resources.

Much has been written about globalization and the challenge of preparing young people for the new world of work and life in times of complexity and continuous change. However, few works have examined how globalization has and will continue to shape education in the East. This volume discusses education within the context of globalization and examines what is occurring in schools and systems of education in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, and Australia. Closer examination of recent developments and current trends reveal the same turbulence and a range of common issues in areas such as assessment, curriculum, leadership, management of change, pedagogy, policy, professional capacity and technology. This volume demonstrates the commonalities and differences and offers tremendous insight into the way things are done in places where student achievement is high but there is also a sense of urgency in continuing an agenda of change.

Winner of the 2017 AERA Division D Significant Contribution to Educational Measurement and Research Methodology Award! Technological and statistical advances, along with a strong interest in gathering more information about the state of our educational systems, have made it possible to assess more students, in more countries, more often, and in more subject domains. The Handbook of International Large-Scale Assessment: Background, Technical Issues, and Methods of Data Analysis brings together recognized scholars in the field of ILSA, behavioral statistics, and policy to develop a detailed guide that goes beyond database user manuals. After highlighting the importance of ILSA data to policy and research, the book reviews methodological aspects and features of the studies based on operational considerations, analytics, and reporting. The book then describes methods of interest to advanced graduate students, researchers, and policy analysts who have a good grounding in quantitative methods, but who are not necessarily quantitative methodologists. In addition, it provides a detailed exposition of the technical details behind these assessments, including the test design, the sampling framework, and estimation methods, with a focus on how these issues impact analysis choices.

This volume offers contributions by thought leaders from a variety of disciplines and different perspectives, which are brought together in a final chapter. The contributions give insight in the role of large-scale international assessments as change agents. As national leaders recognize the growing importance of human capital and how it is distributed, policymakers, economists and decision makers in education have become increasingly interested in results from comparative international surveys. These assessments offer important information on the development of cognitive skills and the consequences of differences in the distribution of these skills. Researchers use the data to assess the role of human capital in predicting outcomes and to identify factors that may contribute to the development of more human capital. An invaluable resource for researchers in international comparative education, policy studies, economics, civics education, educational technology, and policy makers.

"This book provides a wealth of information for teachers who are seeking new ways to meet the needs of all learners for high academic achievement!" -Marguerita K. DeSander, Assistant Professor of Leadership and Policy Studies The George Washington University "Using this book as part of the alignment process will greatly enhance any classroom curriculum!" -Joen M. Painter, Education Consultant Develop integrated, meaningful units that engage students and address multiple standards! Using a student-oriented approach, Clustering Standards in Integrated Units, Second Edition, offers guidelines for designing interdisciplinary units that combine content areas, address standards, and involve students in their own learning and assessment. Diane L. Ronis offers a framework for organizing, implementing, and evaluating units and provides sample rubrics, templates, and reproducibles for the planning process. Drawing on a constructivist approach and geared to meet students' individual learning needs, the text demonstrates how to: Integrate content across multiple curriculum areas Make instruction meaningful using new information about how the brain works Encourage students to pose and investigate questions relevant to the real world Access specific Web sites for meeting state standards This book helps seasoned and novice teachers facilitate collaborative learning with teams of students and assist them in making significant connections between their own experiences and events in the real world.

At a time when American urban public education is under broad attack, and in which America is perceived as a nation at risk that is losing the race to the top, educators and politicians from across the spectrum are promoting increased emphasis on standardized testing, business models of school reform, zero tolerance, no excuses, promoting cultural assimilation, and building a standardized curriculum. Ginsberg argues that in the effort to reduce the achievement gap and mitigate the pejorative label of "at-risk," we are in danger of eliminating risk from education entirely. This is especially the case in urban schools with large numbers of poor and minority students. Ginsberg explores alternative approaches to student achievement at four dynamic Philadelphia public schools. This book provides a grounded, close look at alternative and innovative pedagogies which embrace risk through an emphasis on critical inquiry, cultural diversity, global awareness, project-based learning, collaboration, community partnerships, and student activism. The result? Schools which can nurture a new generation of students who are not only smart and literate but can think help preserve American Democracy while furthering the quest for peace, unity, equity, and social justice.

The book provides an overview of developments in the field of entrepreneurship education, with special reference to global perspectives on innovations and best practices, as well as research in the emerging economy context. It focuses on various experiments in curriculum design, review and reform in addition to the innovative processes adopted for developing new content for entrepreneurship courses, in many cases with an assessment of their impact on students' entrepreneurial performance. Further, it discusses the pedagogical methods introduced by teachers and trainers to enhance the effectiveness of students' learning and their development as future entrepreneurs. It explains the various initiatives generally undertaken to broaden the scope of entrepreneurship education by extending it beyond regular students and offering it to other groups such as professionals, technicians, artisans, war veterans, and the unemployed. The book is a valuable resource for researchers and academics working in the field of entrepreneurship education as well as for trainers, consultants, mentors and policy makers.

Following the recent major school reform of Race to the Top, schools, teachers, and students are increasingly evaluated through high-stakes achievement test scores. In six concise chapters, Teacher and Student Evaluation explores the historical rise and modern landscape of accountability in American education, and the current models of teacher evaluation. The authors provide realistic and useful suggestions for responding to current accountability demands. The authors explore the methodological concerns and policy implications of using value-added and observational measures to make high-stakes decisions. After reaching the conclusion that these contemporary evaluation practices are flawed, Alyson Lavigne and Thomas Good offer possible solutions that inform current and future teacher evaluation. This book is a valuable resource for students of educational assessment as well as policy makers, administrators, and teachers who are currently building accountability plans. The book is written in an accessible but authoritative fashion that practitioners, policymakers, and scholars will find useful.

'This book uses a practical approach to early intervention for struggling learners, while keeping in mind the cultural and linguistic considerations for English language learners. Applying the RTI strategies in this book takes the guesswork out of educating students and reduces referrals to special education due to lack of instruction.'uRobert Raymond, Senior School Improvement Instruction SpecialistOffice of Special Education Initiatives, New York City Department of EducationAssess students accurately to make informed instructional and eligibility decisions!Effective and ongoing assessment processes are crucial for making important decisions about the education of at-risk and struggling students. This practical book presents Ku12 educators with a comprehensive overview of the three primary types of assessment within multitiered Response to Intervention (RTI) models: universal screening, progress monitoring, and diagnostic assessment for special education. This resource establishes the foundation for assessment in RTI and provides practical suggestions for implementing universal screening and progress monitoring to make informed instructional decisions. The author identifies the role of RTI in determining student eligibility for special education services and discusses effective assessment decision-making processes, including roles and responsibilities of different team members. This book also:Provides detailed coverage of specific assessment methods and practices, including Curriculum-Based MeasurementAddresses important topics related to RTI, including fidelity of implementationPresents RTI assessment needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners Includes tables, figures, and reproducible forms and PowerPoint slides to facilitate training and implementationRTI Assessment Essentials for Struggling Learners is a valuable guide for members of RTI teams looking to expand their expertise in meeting the needs of all students.

This user-friendly guide shows school leaders how to use formative assessment to improve both student and teacher achievement. With step-by-step information and practical examples, this book will help you develop better assessments that will transform your school. You will learn: The advantages of formative assessment When and why to use formative assessment How to develop valid and reliable assessments How to mimic the state assessment schedule How to organize and use data effectively How to use data to develop teacher leaders The appendix features more than ten pages of handy reproducibles that will help you implement formative assessments immediately (also available as free downloads www.routledge.com/9781596672468). A curriculum pacing guide A presentation template to explain formative assessment to your staff A non-mastery report A class item analysis graph A class profile graph A student questionnaire, and more!