This study focuses on teachers' use of informal formative assessments (IFAs) aimed at improving students' learning and teachers' recognition of students' learning processes. The study was designed as an explorative case study of four middle school teachers and their students at a charter school in the northeastern U.S.A. The data collected for the…

Despite the increased use of video for data collection, most research using assessment interviews in early childhood education relies solely upon the analysis of linguistic data, ignoring children's bodies. This trend is particularly troubling in studies of marginalized children because transcripts limited to language can make it difficult to…

Drawing on sociocultural approaches to literacy and literature on the communal spaces of teaching and learning of Latino/as, I share one Mexican border women's life story and analyze her literacies and ways of knowing in relation to the literacy event of giving "consejo." Using data gathered through individual interviews and…

This study investigated the Individual Learning Plans of eighty-eight students who were deaf and hard of hearing attending facilities and schools for the deaf in Victoria Australia. The students' assessment and planning portfolios were scrutinised for evidence of formal and informal assessment used to generate goals for the Individual Learning…

Results indicated that untrained observers perceived the group of children as functioning at a somewhat higher level than did trained evaluators. (Author)

Reports on the implementation of an adolescent group psychotherapy process. (RH)

Both criterion-referenced testing and behavioral assessment share the basic assumption that test behavior is a sample rather than a sign. In addition, both types of assessment focus on response capabilities and performance in specified content domains. Although content validity has been traditionally recognized as essential to criterion-referenced…

A responsive educational evaluation is oriented more to program activities than to program intents, and stresses learning about the needs of the evaluation's audience, so that these value perspectives can be noted in reporting the successes and failures of the program. Most evaluation plans are more preordinate, emphasizing: (1) statements of…

This study investigated the importance and meaning of the role of observation in teachers' assessment of student achievement. Seven questions were used as a guide by the researchers: 1) What do teachers mean when they rate observation as their most important source of information for assessing student achievement? 2) What role do teachers'…

The importance of systematic assessment of target behavior in the development of an assessment strategy for children is the cornerstone by which many parent-mediated interventions are conducted. To determine current practices of parent/child assessment and evaluation of treatment, directors of 112 community mental health clinics were surveyed.…

A generalizability study of timed observations was conducted in 25 primary grade classes to observe teachers' use of time--for instruction, evaluation of instruction, and classroom management--according to the hour and day observed. Observational methods used by on-site researchers included videotape, checklists, running documentaries, frequency…

Providers' demographic characteristics, training, support networks, business practices, and stability of services were examined relative to their caregiving practices. Results from a schematic model approach suggest correlations between some of these factors and variances in ratings of caregiver practices. (LB)

This paper describes findings from a set of extended observations of 15 public school teachers in an effort to gain insight into classroom assessment procedures. Two elementary school, seven middle school, and six high school teachers were observed over 5 days by dividing time into 10-minute intervals. Attention was given to the amounts of time…