Feedback is integral to classroom assessment. Language development is maximized if teachers and students use feedback more efficiently and effectively (Brown, 2019). This study examined how primary and secondary ESL teachers use classroom assessment feedback effectively to support student learning, actively involve young language learners in the…

In most states kindergarten entry assessments (KEA) are employed primarily to inform parents and teachers. KEAs can serve as a key indicator of child development at formal school entry to inform education, but also could serve as a baseline for assessing progress in the early grades. However, their usefulness for this purpose is limited because…

This study investigates the effects of a scenario-based assessment design on students' writing processes. An experimental data set consisting of four design conditions was used in which the number of scenarios (one or two) and the placement of the essay task with respect to the lead-in tasks (first vs. last) were varied. Students' writing…

The recent turn toward core practices and practice-based teacher education has been accompanied by a growing literature on the definitions, pedagogies to teach, and assessments of core practices. Despite these developments, the field lacks core practices performance assessments designed to be used across course sections, courses, and subjects.…

Writing from source text is critical for developing college-and-career readiness because it is required in advanced academic environments and many vocations. Scenario-based assessment (SBA) represents one approach to measuring this ability. In such assessment, the scenario presents an issue that the student is to read and write about. Before…

In 2012, New Jersey implemented a broad change to the teacher evaluation system with the Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey (TEACHNJ) Act which identified the Marzano Causal Teacher evaluation system as one of the prescribe models for districts to adopt. This system provides a more differentiated teacher…

This article reviews the development of a qualitative summative assessment based on the National Theater Standards to evaluate theater education classes. The authors examine the current state of the field of theater education; the use of the assessment; an overview of the results of an arts integration U.S. Department of Education project; and a…

The work of school principals is complex; however, little research has examined how they navigate this complexity outside of traditional settings and times. This specific line of inquiry is important, because principals' time allocation is related to various desirable student outcomes, and how many hours principals work (and when) is associated…

Interim assessments have been defined variously in different contexts and can be used for predictive purposes or instructional purposes. In this paper, we present results from a study where we evaluated reporting needs for interim assessments designed for instructional purposes and intended to be used at the end of defined curriculum units.…

The present study investigated the concurrent validity of the Classroom Strategies Scale-Teacher Form (CSS-T), a multidimensional teacher formative assessment of instructional and behavioral management practices. The CSS-T is compared with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), a well-known teacher assessment of overall classroom…

This dissertation is comprised of three essays, each examining a different topic in labor economics. In Chapter 1, I examine the productivity and selection effects of K-12 teacher tenure by leveraging variation from New Jersey's TEACHNJ Act. This law extended the pre-tenure period from three to four years and allowed districts to dismiss…

Learning progressions (LPs) have seen a growing interest in recent years due to their potential benefits in the development of formative assessments for classroom use. Using an LP as the backbone of an assessment can yield diagnostic classifications of students that can guide instruction and remediation. In operationalizing an LP, assessment items…

New Jersey consistently ranks as one of the top-performing states in the country when it comes to education. Most recently, it was ranked third in the nation. A look at the state's standards in any subject shows the state works diligently to vertically align standards while also challenging students in order to better prepare them for the future…

How gifted students needs are addressed in elementary schools is different from school to school. They are a population of students who at times, are underserved and left to work independently. This is often because teachers do not have the foundational understanding of gifted pedagogy. The purpose of this study was to determine how three…

This article presents the Classroom Strategies Coaching (CSC) Model, a data-driven coaching approach that uses teacher formative assessment data to drive improvements in universal practices. The classroom strategies assessment system (CSAS), a formative assessment of evidence-based instructional and behavioral management practices was used to…