This study investigates whether the practice of answer changing on multiple-choice questions (MCQs) is beneficial to Gulf Arab students' overall test performance. The proficiency exam used in this study is the Michigan English Language Institute College English Test - Grammar, Cloze, Vocabulary, Reading (MELICET-GCVR), which was developed using…

This study examines the learning of five pre-service teachers investigating a question stemming from their mathematics teaching as part of a final course project in their elementary teacher education program. Analysis of video recordings of group meetings and interviews indicate that as pre-service teachers completed their projects they developed…

"Personalised learning" and the value of national assessment data in achieving it have been identified by the UK Secretary of State for Education and Skills as essential for raising educational standards. Employing multilevel analysis, this paper compares children's end of primary school (Key Stage 2) test scores with those they achieved…

This paper examines three concepts relating to the role of heads of department (HoDs) in secondary schools: boundary management; the roles of subject leadership and departmental functioning as HoD activities; and the place of HoDs in evolving school hierarchies. To throw light on the last an empirical study is reported that explores hierarchies in…

Teachers' beliefs about science reform have an important effect on how science is taught. This article examines a kindergarten teacher's science curriculum as she seeks to implement five of Washington State's Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) for core concepts and principles of science. The authors examine factors that affect…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…

This is the first report on the evaluation of the Inquiry Based Science and Technology Education Program (IN-STEP), an innovative and ambitious science education initiative for lower secondary schools being undertaken by a public-private partnership in Thailand funded by MSD-Thailand, an affiliate of Merck & Co. IN-STEP is a public-private…

The purpose of this hearing was to examine the Federal Communications Commission's management and oversight of the E-Rate program. This subcommittee has done much to expose for Congress a range of problems in the E-Rate program management--problems that raise questions about the program's effectiveness and whether the Nation's taxpayers can be…

In this study, retrospective interviews were used to investigate reliability (and thus validity) threats to a computerized ESL listening comprehension test administered at a university in the US. The participants in the investigation, six international graduate students, were asked to respond to semi- and open-ended questions during individual…

Construction of a work sample test, the Investigator Planning Exercise (IPE), for the job of detective in the Chicago (Illinois) Police Department is described. Simulated crime scenarios, a mock crime scene, and five checklists of necessary skills (i.e., ability to summarize and communicate facts, identify inconsistencies, and determine the next…

In recent years, a number of curriculum reform projects have championed the notion of having students do science in ways that move beyond hands-on work with authentic materials and methods, or developing a conceptual grasp of current theories. These reformers have argued that students should come to an understanding of science through doing the…

In the UK Centres of Excellence were funded by the DfES to model high quality, multi-agency, early years services for young children and their families. They were precursors to Children's Centres to be established across the UK. Early Excellence Centres were evaluated at national and local levels. This article will draw on data from local…

In the last decade, there has been a greater demand for high skills to match jobs in the new economy. Are youth changing the time spent in schooling and work? Are youth studying longer? Are they working earlier? Are they combining work and studying? Are they training more? And finally, did the changes come at a price? Using the General Social…

This study was an investigation of staff development programs designed to provide teachers with strategies through which all learners, including gifted, minority, and limited-English proficient students, can be appropriately served in a middle school environment sensitive to diverse learner academic needs. Participants in the study were assigned…

In 2003 the first nationally-comparable science assessment was designed, developed and carried out under the auspices of the national council of education ministers, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). In 2006 a second science assessment was conducted and, for the first time nationally, the…