Talking About Language Assessment is the first book to take an interview-based approach to the history of language assessment. This collection consists of interviews originally featured in Language Assessment Quarterly with renowned language assessment experts. Contextualized with commentary by the editor, the articles in this text cover many of the essential areas of language testing and assessment including assessment design, validation argument, epistemological issues in research, and language assessment policy. This text is a valuable compilation on the history of language assessment, and an ideal resource for researchers and students in the field of language testing and assessment.

Comparing Learning Outcomes provides an insider's look at the policy and practical issues in conducting and using the information from international assessments of education and is a key resource for researchers and policymakers in education. This book covers a variety of important topics related to international comparative assessment including: * History of international assessment, the factors contributing to its growth and the impacts of such growth * What it means to assess different domains * How information form international assessments has been used by policy makers in different countries * Technical considerations in analysing and using assessment data. Reflecting the increasing involvement of policy makers in the field of international education assessment Comparing Learning Outcomes brings together the collaborative research of professionals in 11 countries working on a project for the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), gathering cross-national, comparative information on education for use for governments.

Is assessment just a tick box exercise for you? Are you able to integrate assessment into your everyday teaching? Are you sure that your assessment of learners leads to learning gains? This book acknowledges that you are the expert in your own particular context and allows you to take control of assessment for your learners and yourself. It presents strategies and responds to current educational challenges, offering a variety of assessment approaches and a straightforward toolkit of ideas for effective assessment. Designed to be read over a week, the book is divided into seven concise chapters detailing clear strategies, examining the strategy in action and summarising the underpinning theory. So sit back and enjoy exploring what meaningful assessment can do for you and your learners.

Talking About Language Assessment is the first book to take an interview-based approach to the history of language assessment. This collection consists of interviews originally featured in Language Assessment Quarterly with renowned language assessment experts. Contextualized with commentary by the editor, the articles in this text cover many of the essential areas of language testing and assessment including assessment design, validation argument, epistemological issues in research, and language assessment policy. This text is a valuable compilation on the history of language assessment, and an ideal resource for researchers and students in the field of language testing and assessment.

This book examines the use of tasks in second language instruction in a variety of international contexts, and addresses the need for a better understanding of how tasks are used in teaching and program-level decision-making. The chapters consider the key issues, examples, benefits and challenges that teachers, program designers and researchers face in using tasks in a diverse range of contexts around the world, and aim to understand practitioners' concerns with the relationship between tasks and performance. They provide examples of how tasks are used with learners of different ages and different proficiency levels, in both face-to-face and online contexts. In documenting these uses of tasks, the authors of the various chapters illuminate cultural, educational and institutional factors that can make the effective use of tasks more or less difficult in their particular context.

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?

The book describes up-to-date applications and relevant theoretical results. These applications come from various places, but the most important one, numerically speaking, is the internet based educational system ALEKS. The ALEKS system is bilingual English-Spanish and covers all of mathematics, from third grade to the end of high school, and chemistry. It is also widely used in higher education because US students are often poorly prepared when they reach the university level. The chapter by Taagepera and Arasasingham deals with the application of knowledge spaces, independent of ALEKS, to the teaching of college chemistry. The four chapters by Albert and his collaborators strive to give cognitive interpretations to the combinatoric structures obtained and used by the ALEKS system. The contribution by Eppstein is technical and develops means of searching the knowledge structure efficiently.

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.

Why do testing and accountability efforts in today's schools fail? In Deep Curriculum Alignment, English and Steffy explore the flaws in state mandated testing, advocating a more comprehensive approach to teaching and testing. This highly practical book will guide you into a deeply aligned curriculum that produces academic results and a level playing field. Each chapter covers principles of testing and curriculum building, and concludes with a summary of the key concepts presented. The authors survey various studies, present the ethical dilemmas involved in testing, and present a step-by-step guide to pedagogical parallelism and alignment.

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.

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.

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.

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.

@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

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.

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.

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.

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 help preserve American Democracy while furthering the quest for peace, unity, equity, and social justice.

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."

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.

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.

For a wide variety of courses in classroom assessment. This highly respected text offers the most comprehensive discussion of traditional and alternative assessments of any classroom assessment text-explaining, giving examples, discussing pros and cons, and showing how to construct virtually all of the traditional and alternative assessments teachers use in the classroom. The author explores assessment theories and research findings as they affect teaching and learning, and examines why, when, and how teachers should use assessment in the classroom. To the text's hundreds of practical examples are added checklists to aid in evaluating assessment vehicles and scores of strategies for assessing higher-order thinking, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills.

First Published in 1985, Examinations presents a balanced overview and commentary on all the main aspects of public examinations. The key themes are examinations and their context (historical, political, social, and educational); functions of examination (how they work); equity and fairness of the process; and future of public examinations. Recurring issues in the book are the tension between the need for common national standards and the need for diverse individuality and the conflict between competitive functions of examinations as instruments of selection and their descriptive function as reports on standards of performance. The author argues that the main aspects of examinations are not given a prominent place in the training of teachers though public examinations have widespread impact on society. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of education, higher education and also for administrators and policy makers.

Here is a step-by-step guidebook that is designed to help students on the quantitative section of the SAT. Ace the Math on the SAT will produce an understanding of key mathematical concepts, and unlike other SAT guides, lists skills and capabilities required for the test. More than 300 problems are posed and solved in order to provide a comprehensive review of the material. This guidebook will be useful to students, parents, teachers, and administrators alike.

A review of authentic assessment that provides, in addition to a thorough grounding in teh topic area, insightful thoughts on the purposes of evaluation, the nature of school planning, and the current status of efforts at school reform.