[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Qualitative Methods in PER: A Critical Examination.] Epistemic beliefs about physics are most often investigated using quantitative instruments that reflect binary conceptualizations of those beliefs. This study reports from a qualitative study which used continua to represent the epistemic beliefs…

Purpose: To gain a better understanding of the assessment practices currently implemented by Quebec physical education teachers regarding reporting and grading. Method: Exploratory mixed-methods study using semistructured interviews (n = 13), interviews to the double (n = 12), and a questionnaire (n = 164) with elementary and high school physical…

Actively engaging adolescents in meaningful program evaluation is a topic of growing interest. One possibility for such engagement is the use of photographs as part of visual evaluation, so that youth can directly engage with the research process. In this Method Note, we describe the development and implementation of a participatory, photo-based…

Both of us were drawn into the writing assessment field initially through our lived experiences as schoolteachers. We worked in radically different contexts -- Martin was head of a languages department and teacher of French and German in the late 1990s in the UK, and David was a Grade 12 teacher of Academic English in Alberta, Canada, at the turn…

English as a subject used to be assessed using course-based or portfolio assessments but now it is increasingly examined through terminal tests. Canada is an exception to this rule. This paper compares the way English is assessed in England and Canada and looks to the ways in which the kind of assessment undertaken affects the practices of English…

Middle- and high-school students' attitudes towards online peer-assessment were described and examined in this study. One hundred and eighty-four (184) students answered a 16-item questionnaire about their experiences with an online peer-assessment tool called peerScholar. Overall, students in Canada converged with those in other countries with…

This edited book documents practices of learning-oriented language assessment through practitioner research and research syntheses. Learning-oriented language assessment refers to language assessment strategies that capitalise on learner differences and their relationships with the learning environments. In other words, learners are placed at the…

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the Study…

The present study examines the interactions within 4 Facebook groups devoted to supporting people who self-injure. Content analysis was used to analyze posts made to the group during the 3-month period of the study to explore the nature of interactions and the frequency of themes. High prevalence themes included responses to verbal abuse against…

This study compares and contrasts the selection and distribution of literary texts in the English programs of two diverse secondary schools, one in Massachusetts, USA, the other in Ontario, Canada. Analysis of the departments' curriculum documents, state/provincial curriculum policies, and teacher interviews indicated that at both schools,…

Objective: To compare risk of suicide ideation and attempts in adolescents with 1) gay, lesbian, or bisexual (GLB) identity, 2) "unsure" identity, or 3) heterosexual identity with same-sex attraction/fantasy or behavior, to heterosexual identity without same-sex attraction/fantasy or behavior. Method: A total of 1,856 students 14 years…

This policy brief examines standards-based approaches that hold promise for shaping a common vision of skilled teaching commensurate with the national goal of preparing all students for college and careers. Numerous studies confirm that teachers are the most significant school-based factor in improving student achievement, particularly for the…

Youth smoking and physical inactivity are significant public health issues, with implications for both health and education stakeholders, as school-based policies and programs have the potential to reach a broad population of youth to address these issues. Knowledge exchange tools designed around comprehensive school-level data collection systems…

Given the increasing numbers of ESL students in Canadian classrooms, this study investigated how teachers of mainstream classes assess the written work of ESL students and whether they use different assessment strategies for ESL versus non-ESL students. Interviews were conducted with seven mainstream teachers from a private high school in Ontario.…

Aspects of Aboriginal cultural knowledge/perspectives were integrated into the Grade 9 social studies curriculum of a high school in a western Canadian city to appraise the impact on academic achievement, class attendance, and school retention among specific groups of Aboriginal students. The results suggest cautious optimism about increasing…