Investigating Gender-Related Construct-Irrelevant Components of Scores on the Written Assessment Exercise of a High-Stakes Certification Assessment

Learners’ perceptions of teacher assessment practices shape a unique classroom assessment environment that affects learners’ willingness to engage in a task and motivation to learn (McMillan & Workman, 1998). Still, there has been limited research on learners’ perceptions of classroom and high-stakes assessment. This article outlines a study exploring adolescent learners’ perceptions of the speaking and writing assessment they experience in the English classroom. The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used to examine both positive and negative instances of oral and written assessment. During oral interviews, the learners reported and elaborated on the assessment experiences they personally perceived as particularly important, memorable and influential. The transcriptions of the interviews were content analysed in order to identify the properties of oral and written assessment that appeared salient to adolescent learners. The study indicates that the participants held predominantly positive views of oral and written assessment, emphasising such aspects as authenticity of assessment, freedom of expression and fair grading. It is worrying, however, that learners are not always provided with clearly articulated assessment criteria and that oral assessment is visibly neglected in the classroom.

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Democrazy—Dem Go Craze, O: Monitoring the 1999 Nigerian Elections

Issue A Journal of Opinion ◽

10.1017/s1548450500005862 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 29-33

Author(s):

Darren Kew

Keyword(s):

Transition Program ◽

The Political ◽

High Stakes ◽

Political Class ◽

Soccer Match ◽

The Public ◽

The Military

In many respects, the least important part of the 1999 elections were the elections themselves. From the beginning of General Abdusalam Abubakar’s transition program in mid-1998, most Nigerians who were not part of the wealthy “political class” of elites—which is to say, most Nigerians— adopted their usual politically savvy perspective of siddon look (sit and look). They waited with cautious optimism to see what sort of new arrangement the military would allow the civilian politicians to struggle over, and what in turn the civilians would offer the public. No one had any illusions that anything but high-stakes bargaining within the military and the political class would determine the structures of power in the civilian government. Elections would influence this process to the extent that the crowd influences a soccer match.

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School Success and School Engagement of Immigrant Children and Adolescents

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000139 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 126-135 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Frosso Motti-Stefanidi ◽

Ann S. Masten

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Academic Success ◽

Children And Adolescents ◽

School Engagement ◽

School Success ◽

Immigrant Children ◽

Integrative Model ◽

High Stakes ◽

The Individual

Academic achievement in immigrant children and adolescents is an indicator of current and future adaptive success. Since the future of immigrant youths is inextricably linked to that of the receiving society, the success of their trajectory through school becomes a high stakes issue both for the individual and society. The present article focuses on school success in immigrant children and adolescents, and the role of school engagement in accounting for individual and group differences in academic achievement from the perspective of a multilevel integrative model of immigrant youths’ adaptation ( Motti-Stefanidi, Berry, Chryssochoou, Sam, & Phinney, 2012 ). Drawing on this conceptual framework, school success is examined in developmental and acculturative context, taking into account multiple levels of analysis. Findings suggest that for both immigrant and nonimmigrant youths the relationship between school engagement and school success is bidirectional, each influencing over time the other. Evidence regarding potential moderating and mediating roles of school engagement for the academic success of immigrant youths also is evaluated.

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