Prior research has established that students often underprepare for midterm examinations yet remain overconfident in their proficiency. Research concerning the testing effect has demonstrated that utilizing testing as a study strategy leads to higher performance and more accurate confidence compared to more common study strategies such as…

This chapter is a research summary of the author's doctoral dissertation completed in May, 2015, which investigates the way Standardized Assessment (SA) is used in state educational accountability structures. This quasi-experimental quantitative study found that SA scores trend towards consistency over time, and that there is additional variance,…

Teacher-evaluation has become a key measure for determining teacher effectiveness and the examination of the evaluation process at early childhood levels is a critical area of study. Responding to federal policies, many states have reformed their teacher evaluation systems. One of the more recent developments in state policy is the inclusion of…

Few Spanish language tools are available for assessing important social-emotional learning (SEL) skills. The present study presents evidence of the psychometric properties of a Spanish-language version of SELweb (SELweb-S), a web-based system for assessing children's ability to recognize others' emotions and perspectives, solve social problems,…

After decades of disinterest, evaluation of the performance of elementary and secondary teachers in the United States has become an important educational policy issue. As U.S. states and districts have tried to upgrade their evaluation processes, one of the models that has been increasingly used is the Framework for Teaching. This paper summarizes…

Researchers have raised a number of questions about whether student achievement data can be used fairly or accurately for purposes of teacher evaluation. Others have noted that achievement data alone cannot provide teachers with the information they need to improve their practice. Recognizing these limitations, the federal government and many…

This report summarizes findings from a two-year study of Chicago's Excellence in Teaching Pilot, which was designed to drive instructional improvement by providing teachers with evidence-based feedback on their strengths and weaknesses. The pilot consisted of training and support for principals and teachers, principal observations of teaching…

The Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) is a functional assessment used in approximately 27 states to evaluate youth service outcomes. The CANS purports to measure both the youth's risk and protective factors, but its validity is largely un-researched. This study compares ratings of 304 delinquent youth on the CANS and ratings on a…