scholarly journals Accountability Requirements and Professional Development in the US Adult Basic and Literacy Education System

1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
CRISTINE SMITH
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Students ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
National Education ◽  
Southeastern Us ◽  
12Th Grade ◽  
The Us ◽  
Curricular Needs

Even before the 2001 enactment of the No Child Left Behind legislation, the education bill that holds schools in the US accountable for student achievement, ‘adult education [had] become part and parcel of the new federal trend to encourage the setting of national education goals and standards and holding programs accountable for demonstrating achievements’ (Sticht 1998). Now, almost ten years after enacting the Workforce Investment Act (1998), the legislation that required states to report how adult students were making progress towards educational and work goals, the field is just beginning to take stock of whether accountability has helped or hurt our adult education system.In the US school system (kindergarten to 12th grade for children five to 18), several researchers have investigated the effect of stronger accountability requirements on professional development systems. Berry et al. (2003), in a study of 250 teachers and principals in schools across six Southeastern US states found that results were mixed:Although high-stakes accountability systems help focus professional development efforts on the curricular needs of students, little evidence exists to support the claim that such systems help teachers change their practice to enhance student learning...A tendency exists…to narrow the focus of professional development activities to tested subjects or provide general support that is disconnected from curricular needs. (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development 2004:3)

scholarly journals Modern technologies of adult education

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (28) ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Olga I. Vaganova ◽  
Irina V. Rudenko ◽  
Server N. Bekirov ◽  
Leviza I. Abbasova ◽  
Maxim M. Kutepov
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Students ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Educational Technologies ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Cognitive Motivation ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
Modern Technologies

The motivation to constant knowledge update is due to the dynamic scientific and technological progress, which affects the change of all spheres of human activity. Employees of many organizations are in need of both professional development as well as obtaining a new specialty in order to maintain and improve their own competitiveness. In these conditions, higher educational institutions focused on adults training, are looking for new ways that will improve the formation of adult students competence. The purpose of the article is to analyze the experience of modern technologies implementation in the process of adult education. The article reveals the possibilities of innovative educational technologies, their essence and role in modern professional education. The role of continuous adult students education is emphasized, their functions are highlighted. The authors have identified the features on which the teacher relies in the process of adults training, which helps to make the training more effective. The implementation of modern adult education is based on the following principles: problematical character (the teacher should remember that adult students may feel uncomfortable in a group, they may be unaccustomed to feel like students again, for this it is necessary to "immerse" them in favorable conditions of communication. Role-playing, "brain storm" (which is more often referred to as discussion technologies, but in gaming it also takes place), blitz games contribute to the removal of emotional tension and the formation of effective cognitive motivation; the principle of dialogical communication.The study conducted among students of professional development courses from the age of 32 to 45 showed the need for further introduction of modern educational technologies in adult education. Their capabilities make the learning process more intense, active, and at the same time contribute to the rapid achievement of positive results.

How Teachers Change: A Study of Professional Development in Adult Education: A NCSALL Research Brief

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristine Smith ◽  
◽  
Judy Hofer ◽  
Marilyn Gillespie ◽  
Marla Solomon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Adult Education

Chemistry instructors’ intentions toward developing, teaching, and assessing student representational competence skills

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maia Popova ◽  
Tamera Jones
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Coding Theory ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Information Processing Model ◽  
Representational Competence ◽  
Evidence Based Practices ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Us

Representational competence is one's ability to use disciplinary representations for learning, communicating, and problem-solving. These skills are at the heart of engagement in scientific practices and were recognized by the ACS Examinations Institute as one of ten anchoring concepts. Despite the important role that representational competence plays in student success in chemistry and the considerable number of investigations into students’ ability to reason with representations, very few studies have examined chemistry instructors’ approaches toward developing student representational competence. This study interviewed thirteen chemistry instructors from eleven different universities across the US about their intentions to develop, teach, and assess student representational competence skills. We found that most instructors do not aim to help students develop any representational competence skills. At the same time, participants’ descriptions of their instructional and assessment practices revealed that, without realizing it, most are likely to teach and assess several representational competence skills in their courses. A closer examination of these skills revealed a focus on lower-level representational competence skills (e.g., the ability to interpret and generate representations) and a lack of a focus on higher-level meta-representational competence skills (e.g., the ability to describe affordances and limitations of representations). Finally, some instructors reported self-awareness about their lack of knowledge about effective teaching about representations and the majority expressed a desire for professional development opportunities to learn about differences in how experts and novices conceptualize representations, about evidence-based practices for teaching about representations, and about how to assess student mastery of representational competence skills. This study holds clear implications for informing chemistry instructors’ professional development initiatives. Such training needs to help instructors take cognizance of relevant theories of learning (e.g., constructivism, dual-coding theory, information processing model, Johnstone's triangle), and the key factors affecting students’ ability to reason with representations, as well as foster awareness of representational competence skills and how to support students in learning with representations.

scholarly journals Internet use at and outside of school in relation to low- and high-stakes mathematics test scores across 3 years

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitri Rozgonjuk ◽  
Karin Täht ◽  
Kristjan Vassil
Keyword(s):  
Technology Use ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Mathematics Scores ◽  
9Th Grade ◽  
12Th Grade ◽  
Mathematics Test ◽  
Exam Scores

Abstract Background The excessive use of Internet-based technologies has received a considerable attention over the past years. Despite this, there is relatively little research on how general Internet usage patterns at and outside of school as well as on weekends may be associated with mathematics achievement. Moreover, only a handful of studies have implemented a longitudinal or repeated-measures approach on this research question. The aim of the current study was to fill that gap. Specifically, we investigated the potential associations of Internet use at and outside of school as well as on weekends with mathematics test performance in both high- and low-stakes testing conditions over a period of 3 years in a representative sample of Estonian teenagers. Methods PISA 2015 survey data in conjunction with national educational registry data were used for the current study. Specifically, Internet use at and outside of school as well as on weekends were queried during the PISA 2015 survey. In addition, the data set included PISA mathematics test results from 4113 Estonian 9th-grade students. Furthermore, 3758 of these students also had a 9th-grade national mathematics exam score from a couple of months after the PISA survey. Finally, of these students, the results of 12th-grade mathematics national exam scores were available for 1612 and 1174 students for “wide” (comprehensive) and “narrow” (less comprehensive) mathematics exams, respectively. Results The results showed that the rather low-stakes PISA mathematics test scores correlated well with the high-stakes national mathematics exam scores obtained from the 9th (completed a couple of months after the PISA survey) and 12th grade (completed approximately 3 years after the PISA survey), with correlation values ranging from r = .438 to .557. Furthermore, socioeconomic status index was positively correlated with all mathematics scores (ranging from r = .162 to .305). Controlled for age and gender, the results also showed that students who reported using Internet the longest tended to have, on average, the lowest mathematics scores in all tests across 3 years. Although effect sizes were generally small, they seemed to be more pronounced in Internet use at school. Conclusions Based on these results, one may notice that significantly longer time spent on Internet use at and outside of school as well as on weekends may be associated with poorer mathematics performance. These results are somewhat in line with research outlining the potentially negative associations between longer time spent on digital technology use and daily life outcomes.

Inquiry-Oriented Instruction in Science: Who Teaches That Way?

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Smith ◽  
Laura M. Desimone ◽  
Timothy L. Zeidner ◽  
Alfred C. Dunn ◽  
Monica Bhatt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Formal Schooling ◽  
Science Students ◽  
Science Standards ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
Improving Instruction ◽  
Nationally Representative

The expansion of the No Child Left Behind Act to include science standards and assessments is likely to refocus states’ attention on science teaching and learning. Requiring teachers to have subject majors and greater funding of professional development are two key policy levers for improving instruction in science. There has been relatively little work examining the characteristics of teachers who are most likely to initiate inquiry-oriented instruction in science classrooms. Using a nationally representative sample of the teachers of eighth grade science students, the authors found relatively strong associations between reform-oriented practice and the majors and degrees that teachers earned as part of their formal schooling, as well as their current levels of participation in content-oriented professional development activities.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document