The Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) has been the governing legislation for teacher evaluation in Illinois since its inception in 2010. PERA's original purpose was to improve the professional competence of teachers while increasing the academic performance of students. This study explored the perceptions and experiences of a small group of…

Initial teacher education programme and paper assessments need to encompass university degree requirements and attest to student mastery of teacher professional competencies. This article reports one aspect of an investigation of the nature and principles employed in the design of assessments for a three-year Bachelor of Teaching (Primary)…

Teacher preparation programs provide teacher candidates with foundational knowledge, application experiences, and training to graduate highly effective teachers. The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation has a major impact on how faculty in teacher education programs prepare their preservice teacher candidates. For subject matter…

An established tool for collating secondary teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (Loughran's CoRe) has been adapted for use by tertiary educators. Chemistry lecturers with a range of levels of experience were invited to participate in workshops through which the tool was piloted, refined and applied. We now present this refined tool for the…

Different conceptualizations exist about the components of the knowledge teachers need to teach mathematics with professional consciousness, and a researcher needs to describe and assess that knowledge. The fact, however, is that different conceptualizations respond to different needs, and thus, the variety is even a chance to develop the field…

In the article here is up-to-dated the problem of creation and implementation of the complex system on measurement and assessment of the teachers' competences. Here are presented approaches and approbations of the computer test as a means to assess formation of the teacher's metasubject competences on the example of researching of the group of…

The paper solves the problem of the relationship of external diagnosis and self-diagnosis of readiness of teachers to innovative activity. It highlights major disadvantages of measurement tools that are used to this process. The author demonstrates an alternative approach to harmonizing the diagnosis, based on a modular diagnostic model, general…

While recent national and international assessments have shown mathematical progress being made by US students, little to no gains are evident in the areas of geometry and measurement. These reports also suggest that practicing teachers have traditionally had few opportunities to engage in content learning around topics in geometry and…

Developing and writing assessment items that measure teachers' knowledge is an intricate and complex undertaking. In this paper, we begin with an overview of what is known about measuring teacher knowledge. We then highlight the challenges inherent in creating assessment items that focus specifically on measuring teachers' specialised knowledge…

Mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) measures have been widely adopted by researchers. Critics have debated the value of such measures and questioned the type of knowledge that these access. This article reports on a study where the challenges in measuring teachers' knowledge were illuminated through investigating relationships between the…

The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze the edTPA, a performance assessment created by the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) and administered by Pearson, Inc., to assess the professional readiness of student teachers. We challenge claims made in support of using this assessment, specifically within the…

In the education community, the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework has become a popular construct for examining the types of teacher knowledge needed to achieve technology integration. In accordance with Katz and Raths's 'Goldilocks Principlen' (cited in Kagan, 1990), TPACK, with its seven knowledge domains, may be too…

Understanding effective and appropriate techniques for assessing student learning has never been as critical and political as is it is today. Accurate assessment methodologies employed in public schools are vital to the interpretation of student achievement data through which school effectiveness is being measured. Although there is a need,…

In teacher education programmes, text-based portfolios are generally used to assess student-teachers' competence as new teachers. However, striking discrepancies are known to exist between the competencies reflected in a written portfolio and the competencies observed in actual classroom practice. Multiple assessments should be used to provide a…

Every nation or society prides itself of the quality of its citizenry. Education enlightens citizens to think rationally and to be responsible people. The notion of enlightened citizens through education as an agent for revealing and perpetuating the characteristic of a successful society, is the impetus for most countries to adopt the education…