This article gives a brief introduction to the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) and analyzes developmental progress of OSCE at both home and abroad and standardized patients' application in OSCE. Also, this article expounds application of OSCE in graduation exam of clinical medical students. Finally, this article summarizes…

In the 2013-14 school year, twenty-four states required students to be proficient on standardized tests in order to graduate from high school. But starting next year, and in the years to come, states will launch more rigorous, college- and career-ready assessments aligned to the Common Core. As they do so, they should revisit the stakes on these…

Two recent peer-reviewed studies support the need to update the traditional school design model that has remained fundamentally unchanged for over a century. In a 2011 study published by the American Educational Research Journal, entitled "Problem-Based Learning in K-12 Education," Clarice Wirkala and Deanna Kuhn document a 200-500…

Computerized testing, including the widely used MAP test, has infiltrated the public schools in Milwaukee and across the nation, bringing with it a frightening future for public education. High-stakes standardized tests can be scored almost immediately via the internet, and testing companies can now easily link districts to their online data…

Aggregated test results that identify the literacy problems of boys as the most salient gender issue in schools distort the reality that girls experience significant gender-based challenges as well, though their problems may not present as clearly on standardized tests. This emphasis on boys' difficulties has moved educational resources in that…

Even as the Internet and i-devices have changed so many parts of people's lives, educational testing has not changed substantially in decades. Though researchers and educators have for years raised ample concerns about existing tests, assessments have barely evolved. Further, despite years of expanded testing and greater school accountability,…

"Educational Change: From Traditional Education to Learning Communities" outlines the transition of curriculum and instruction as well as classroom discipline historically. Various discipline approaches are described that vary in their applications in terms of the degree of teacher control and student self-direction. Various issues are…

A growing number of school districts are adopting "value-added" measures of teaching quality to award bonuses or even tenure. And two competitive federal grants are spurring them on. Districts using value-added data are encouraged by the results. But researchers who support value-added measures advise caution. The ratings, which use a…

When taking a standardized test, one wants it to be fair and objective. Catherine McClellan makes sure that it is. Catherine is a psychometrician. Like many in this occupation, she designs, scores, and analyzes data from exams. Psychometrics is the science of measuring psychological attributes, such as intelligence or understanding. Tests are one…

A few weeks into the marking period, the author's eighth-grade students took an all-essay literature test. While grading the tests, she noticed that students made many grammatical errors. It seemed clear that a new approach to grammar instruction was necessary. Staring at this stack of essay tests draws the author in to the concept of…

In this article, we focus on instructional support for 91 students who speak African American Vernacular English and who are at high risk for not passing the required state exams. We profile the instruction that was provided and the results from that instruction, providing examples of how students' language was scaffolded such that they could code…

For three decades after Leo Kanner's first clinical description, research progress in understanding and treating autism was minimal but since the late 1960s the growth of autism discoveries has been exponential, with a remarkable number of new findings published over the past two decades, in particular. These advances were made possible first by…

In recent years, a number of educators have challenged the usefulness of SAT and ACT tests as indicators of college readiness, and some institutions have stopped requiring college entrance examinations altogether. The purpose of this trustee guide is to acquaint trustees with the history and use of college entrance tests and the arguments for and…

The Academic Performance Index (API) is the centerpiece of California's state assessment and accountability system. With the recent passage of SB1458 and the pending reauthorization of both state and federal accountability legislation, there is now an unprecedented opportunity to improve the API for next generation accountability in California. In…

One of the more noteworthy developments in university-based teacher education today is the proliferation of preservice teacher assessment, and in particular, teacher performance assessment (TPA). Indeed, more than 160 teacher education programs in more than 25 states recently adopted the edTPA, a Stanford University developed teacher performance…