Improving the Acceptability of Teacher Assessment for Accountability Purposes - Some Proposals within an English System

CADMO ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Sarah Maughan
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Teacher Assessment ◽  
Test Results ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
The World ◽  
English System ◽  
Over Time

- The National Curriculum was introduced in England after the Education Reform Act of 1988. The compulsory curriculum is made up of four key stages, and until very recently there have been high stakes assessment at the end of each stage. Over time additional tests and examinations were added to the system leading to English children being some of the most tested in the world. In parallel to this, the use of test results to hold schools and teachers to account has emerged as one of the key purposes of the tests and examinations. This article describes the use of the results for accountability purposes, and the ever increasing criticism of this due to the distorting effects it has on teaching and learning. A number of recent changes to the system, in response to the criticisms, mean that test results are no longer available at all the stages to meet the accountability purpose. The article discusses whether the teacher assessment that has been proposed as a replacement could be used for accountability purposes in such a high stakes system, or whether the accountability system will be forced to change.

A New Way of Teaching

1996 ◽  
Vol 178 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernand J. Prevost
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Classroom Discourse ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Change Task ◽  
Analysis Of Teaching ◽  
Present Understanding

A new view of teaching is emerging from the work of the constructivists and mathematics education reform leaders. In particular, we examine here four aspects of teaching that must change: task selection, guidance of classroom discourse, setting the learning environment, and the analysis of teaching and learning. Several national curriculum projects are working to effect these changes and examples of their work are provided. This work has motivated individual teachers to similarly design investigations that engage students in the study of significant mathematics, and two examples are included. Assessment must also change and students must learn to become less dependent on “authority” for the correctness of answers. Finally, our present understanding of constructivism and its implications for teaching/learning must not be static; though that view now may be at the center, we must listen to those who are on the edges and expect to be changed again and again in the years ahead.

scholarly journals Examining the Existence of “Teaching to the Test” at SSC Level in Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aixa Hafsha
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Test Results ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Test Technique ◽  
Teacher Interview ◽  
Teaching To The Test ◽  
Teaching Context ◽  
Research Findings

The paper aims at examining the influence of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) English language test on teaching in the existing CLT-based teaching context in Bangladesh. It is a fact that SSC test results continue to influence the total educational career of a student including his admission into Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) level and subsequently at tertiary level study. Later on, SSC result is one of the vital determinants of his employment. As a result, the washback effect i.e. effect of test (SSC EFL tests) on teaching and learning of this high stakes test cannot be ruled out. The overwhelming use of test results in different academic and professional affairs in the context of Bangladesh has made the effect of washback a distinctive educational phenomenon. This study presents preliminary research findings on the SSC EFL test’s influence on teaching in Bangladesh by applying various methodological techniques such as classroom observation and teacher interview in sampled schools located in Chittagong, Bangladesh. The analysed data revealed that SSC EFL test technique is one of the driving forces that shape teaching. Teachers’ teaching is confined to only those tasks and activities which are commonly set in the tests. Now it is difficult to deny that that teaching to the test is a harsh reality at SSC level classrooms in Bangladesh.

Opting Out of the Education Reform Industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (10) ◽  
pp. 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne Au ◽  
Jesslyn Hollar
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Education Industry ◽  
Education Market ◽  
K 12

Big business has long been enamored of public education. Whether shaping systems of schooling along the lines of factory production, dictating what children should learn, or cultivating private-public partnerships to gain access to government monies, corporations and their owners have insisted on being key players in the formation of education policy and practice in the United States. Analysts estimate the value of the K-12 education market at more than $700 billion dollars. Beyond their calls for students and workers to adapt to the global capitalist economy through increased competition and "accountability" in public schools, business leaders crave access to a publicly funded, potentially lucrative market&mdash;one of the last strongholds of the commons to be penetrated by neoliberalism.&hellip; In an education industry dependent on market competition to increase profitability, there is no better tool to turn teaching and learning into products&mdash;ready to measure, compare, and sell&mdash;than the high-stakes standardized tests championed by the contemporary education reform movement.<p class="mrlink"><p class="mrpurchaselink"><a href="http://monthlyreview.org/index/volume-67-number-10" title="Vol. 67, No. 10: March 2016" target="_self">Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the <em>Monthly Review</em> website.</a></p>

scholarly journals Modernizing schools in Mexico: The rise of teacher assessment and school-based management policies

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Echávarri ◽  
Cecilia Peraaza
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Global Education ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Teacher Assessment ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
School Based ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
School Based Management

In this paper we analyze the evolution of the teacher assessment policy and the origins of school-based management initiatives in the Mexican education context from the late 1980s until the last 2012 – 2013 Education Reform (RE2012–2013). Mexico joined the Global Education Reform Movement during the 1990s through the National Agreement for the Modernization of Basic Education, under which the program Teachers Career Services was created to increase teacher quality. Later, the Quality School Program was implemented in order to decentralize school management and increase school accountability. Lastly, the institutionalization of Monitoring and Evaluation in the Mexican Education System gave birth to the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education. Using a documentary analysis, we review the origins of such accountability policies in order to map out the involved stakeholders, and identify how these influenced and effected the development and implementation of last 2012-2013 Education Reform’s teacher high-stakes assessments. Finally, we outline the results and consequences of such policies as they have been implemented and provide a contextual analysis of the implementation and resistance to the latest reform in some regions of Mexico. 

Understanding validity issues in test-based models of school and teacher evaluation

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice L. Bridglall ◽  
Jade Caines ◽  
Madhabi Chatterji
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Instructional Programs ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
The World ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Measurement And Evaluation

Purpose – This policy brief, the second AERI-NEPC eBrief in the series “Understanding validity issues around the world”, focuses on validity as it applies to test-based models of evaluation employed for schools, instructional programs, and teachers around the world. It discusses validity issues that could arise when data from student achievement test administrations and other sources are used for conducting personnel appraisals, program evaluations, or for external accountability purposes, suggesting solutions and recommendations for improving validity in such applications of test-based information. Design/methodology/approach – This policy brief is based on a synthesis of conference proceedings and review of selected pieces of extant literature. It begins by summarizing perspectives of an invited expert panel on the topic. To that synthesis, the authors add their own analysis of key issues. They conclude by offering recommendations for test developers and test users. Findings – The authors conclude that systematic improvement and transformation of schools depends on thoughtfully conceptualizing, implementing, and using data from testing and broad-based evaluation systems that incorporate multiple kinds of evidence. Evaluation systems that are valid and fair to students, teachers and education leaders need all three of the following: assessment resources and training for all participants and evaluation users; knowledgeable staff to continuously monitor processes and use assessment results appropriately to improve teaching and learning activities; and a strengths-based approach to make improvements to the education system based on relevant data and reports (as opposed to a deficits-based one in which blame or punishment is leveled at individuals or groups of workers when gaps in performance are observed). Originality/value – To improve validity in interpretations of results from test-based teacher and school evaluation models, the authors provide recommendations for measurement and evaluation specialists as well as for educators, policy makers, and public users of data. Standardized test use in formative and more “high stakes” educational accountability contexts is rapidly spreading to various regions of the world. This eBrief shows that understandings of validity are still uneven among key stakeholders. By translating complex information pertinent to current validity issues, this policy brief attempts to address this need, and also bridge knowledge and communications gaps among different constituencies.

Book Review: Mathematics Educators Respond to Kaput's “Algebra Problem”: A Review of Algebra in the Early Grades

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-208
Author(s):  
Dan Chazan ◽  
Ann R. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Algebra For All ◽  
Accountability Measures ◽  
Early Grades ◽  
Mathematics Educators

In the last few decades, mathematics education in the United States has seen a perfect storm with respect to the teaching and learning of algebra—one that is difficult for our colleagues in other countries to fathom. As part of recent largescale education reform in the United States, the increasingly widely perceived need for greater mathematical literacy and the desire to make access to college more equitable in the society have led to promotion of “algebra for all” and the codification of this desire in high-stakes accountability measures (e.g., as illustrated by Achieve's American Diploma Project (ADP, 2004)). Algebra in the Early Grades, an edited volume by a group of mathematics education researchers, is in important ways a response of mathematics educators to these developments.

scholarly journals The Assessment of Classroom Music in the Lower Secondary School: The English Experience

2019 ◽  
pp. 393-409
Author(s):  
Martin Fautley
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Accountability System ◽  
Key Points ◽  
School Music ◽  
International Audience

This chapter discusses how National Curriculum content and assessment in England have been subverted by performativity and accountability requirements. This has had the effect of moving music teaching and learning in secondary school music classes away from a focus on musical content and music making toward meeting the demands and requirements of an accountability system. The twin effects of schools second-guessing what they think the inspection regime (Ofsted) will want to see, allied with a close scrutiny of pseudo-positivist attainment data, means that the musicality of the assessments undertaken by classroom teachers can be called into question. The important issue of knowledge types in music education is also discussed. England operates a music education somewhat different from that in many other jurisdictions, with a focus on what might be termed generalist classroom teaching and learning for all students. This has an impact on the ways in which assessment can be undertaken, and these issues are discussed. Important findings of interest and relevance to an international audience are drawn out, and key points are made that are relevant to both music educators and administrators of public education systems.

scholarly journals NATIONAL MODEL OF EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN AS THE KEY TO REALIZE THE NATIONAL IDENTITY

THE BULLETIN ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (388) ◽  
pp. 341-347
Author(s):  
Malgazhdarova T.G., ◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Education System ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Education Development ◽  
Teaching Community ◽  
The World ◽  
Educational Paradigm ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Learning Development

This article presents new education system in modern Kazakhstan, which is being formed, focused on the world educational space in the conditions of globalization. This process is accompanied by significant changes in pedagogical theory and practice. The transformation in the education system of Kazakhstan, as reflected in the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On education”, “State Program of Education Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2016-2019 years”, responsible include the entire teaching community in the process of creating of new model of education in Kazakhstan. Analyzing the practice of education reform in the different countries of the world, we can identify several key points that will contribute to changes in the education system of the XXI century: paying special attention to the higher education; development of each student, in accordance with their attitudes and abilities, individualization and differentiation of learning, development of critical thinking, the ability to reflexive assessment of their own achievements; training in conditions of inequality of starting positions of students (social, language, religious); development of students’ self-realization skills, self-study, study of motivation issues; changes in the approach to evaluating educational achievements, wider use of criteria-based assessment, changes in the content approach to summative assessment and its goals; using new approaches in teaching and learning; changing the vision of the professional development of leading teachers. All these key directions are reflected in the content of the republic’s education renewal. There is the change in the educational paradigm, offers the variety of the educational content and pedagogical technologies, new modern pedagogical concepts and ideas.

Globalization and interconfessional communications

2001 ◽  
pp. 13-17
Author(s):  
Serhii Viktorovych Svystunov
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The World ◽  
Target Set ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Rapid Appearance

In the 21st century, the world became a sign of globalization: global conflicts, global disasters, global economy, global Internet, etc. The Polish researcher Casimir Zhigulsky defines globalization as a kind of process, that is, the target set of characteristic changes that develop over time and occur in the modern world. These changes in general are reduced to mutual rapprochement, reduction of distances, the rapid appearance of a large number of different connections, contacts, exchanges, and to increase the dependence of society in almost all spheres of his life from what is happening in other, often very remote regions of the world.

Alignment

2016 ◽  
pp. 33-50
Author(s):  
Pier Giuseppe Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Enactive Approach ◽  
The World ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Education Today ◽  
Current Context ◽  
The Subject

The subject of alignment is not new to the world of education. Today however, it has come to mean different things and to have a heuristic value in education according to research in different areas, not least for neuroscience, and to attention to skills and to the alternation framework.This paper, after looking at the classic references that already attributed an important role to alignment in education processes, looks at the strategic role of alignment in the current context, outlining the shared construction processes and focusing on some of the ways in which this is put into effect.Alignment is part of a participatory, enactive approach that gives a central role to the interaction between teaching and learning, avoiding the limits of behaviourism, which has a greater bias towards teaching, and cognitivism/constructivism, which focus their attention on learning and in any case, on that which separates a teacher preparing the environment and a student working in it.

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