A primary focus of recent educational policymaking has been on improving measures of teaching effectiveness, attributable in part to recent federal policies such as the Race to the Top initiative and Investing in Innovation. To date, neither researchers nor practitioners have arrived at a consensus on the best methods for evaluating special…

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…

Performance-based assessment of teachers includes a class of measurement methods designed to assess the quality of teacher performance on one or two important aspects of teaching. It may include portfolios, structured observations, video records of practice, and teacher work samples. Performance-based assessment can be contrasted with assessments…

In the Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers program, trained assessors observe teacher candidates in their assigned teaching environments and determine their instructional effectiveness. The article highlights the program's improvements over its predecessor, noting the need to explore teaching performance as a new…

Surveys were conducted of two multi-state samples of educators, who provided ratings of the importance of two preliminary versions of the classroom performance assessment criteria being developed for The Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers(TM). One sample, with 114 respondents, was chosen primarily on the basis of its…

One of the three components of The Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers (trademark) is a classroom performance assessment concerning the new teacher's ability to apply basic elements of good teaching in a classroom setting. At the core of this classroom assessment are 19 criteria for which assessors are to identify…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the 55 test specifications for the Praxis I: Academic Skills Assessments computer-based tests (CBT) and the Praxis I: Pre-Professional Skills Tests (PPST) were judged to be appropriate for entry-level vocational education teachers regardless of specialty area. The test specification statements were…

The author posits that testing teacher quality will not improve education unless people realize how current means of teacher testing could eliminate from teacher preparation the utopian elements that foundations courses present through material from authors such as Maxine Greene, Samuel Bowles, and Herbert Gintis. He presents a history of the…

The Educational Testing Service is developing a new generation of teacher assessments--the Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers. The assessment series consists of three components. An academic skills component will assess the candidate's basic academic and enabling skills. Subject assessments will test the candidate's…

The job analysis study described in this report was conducted to serve as one of the bases for documenting the content validity of the Praxis II Subject Assessment in German. The purpose was to describe the most important knowledge and skills domains needed by newly licensed (certified) German teachers in order to perform their jobs in a competent…

Several federal legislative proposals have called for specified minimum pass rates on state teacher licensing examinations to establish institutional eligibility for certain federal funding. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia will use The Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers developed by the Educational…

The Educational Testing Service is engaged in developing tests for teacher licensure, The Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers (TM). A central component of Praxis III: Classroom Performance Assessments is a set of proposed criteria that have been developed to assess the classroom performance of beginning teachers. The…

The framework for teaching described in this book is based on PRAXIS III: Classroom Performance Assessments criteria developed by the Educational Testing Service. This framework identifies those aspects of a teacher's responsibilities that have been documented through empirical studies and theoretical research as promoting improved student…