Nas últimas décadas, observamos que o debate sobre a qualidade do ensino público intensificou-se e incorporou como um de seus aspectos centrais os resultados obtidos por alunos em avaliações externas, especialmente no Sistema de Avaliação da Educação Básica (Saeb). A centralidade obtida por essas avaliações ensejou discussões, notadamente na literatura da avaliação educacional, sobre a pertinência de sua aplicação e possíveis influências sobre o currículo e sobre o trabalho docente. Entretanto, ainda não se tem uma apreensão mais detalhada dos efeitos dessas avaliações no interior das escolas. Nesse sentido, desenvolveu-se uma pesquisa com o objetivo de apreender influências das avaliações externas nas concepções dos professores sobre avaliação educacional, considerando que essas concepções constituem um fator relevante para o trabalho docente. Foi observado, ao longo de mais de dois anos de investigação em uma escola da Rede Municipal de Ensino de São Paulo (RME-SP), rede exposta a grande quantidade de avaliações externas, que a influência dessas avaliações no cotidiano escolar se dá de modo complexo, não sendo consequência automática de orientações oficiais, mas, antes, trata-se de uma influência dependente de vários fatores, com efeitos diversificados que, para o caso de algumas avaliações externas, chegam a ser nulos. Um desses efeitos, por hipótese, se dá nas concepções que os professores têm sobre avaliação educacional, o objeto desta investigação, sem desconsiderar que essas concepções também pesam para a incorporação das avaliações externas às atividades pedagógicas. No contexto pesquisado, mesmo considerando a pressão por resultados exercida pela Secretaria Municipal de Educação de São Paulo (SME-SP) ou pelo Ministério da Educação (MEC), com destaque para o Ideb, não se verificou que as avaliações externas estejam dominando o trabalho escolar e as concepções de avaliação educacional dos professores. Utilizando como método de pesquisa a triangulação de dados, pudemos inferir concepções de avaliação educacional dos professores e identificar algumas implicações das avaliações externas sobre as mesmas; pudemos, também, constatar que essas concepções ainda precisam ser problematizadas por conta das consequências sobre a aprendizagem e o sucesso escolar dos alunos. Concluímos que os efeitos mais aparentes decorrem, ainda sem estabelecer um condicionamento do trabalho pedagógico, das iniciativas municipais de avaliação externa. A complexidade do cotidiano escolar e o protagonismo que certas concepções de avaliação educacional teriam sobre as formas de agir dos professores, nos obrigam a resistir ao discurso que considera a escola um ambiente estático, que recebe passivamente influências externas, ainda que sob a forma de orientações oficiais, ignorando a diversidade de concepções que coabitam esse espaço e que detêm um protagonismo sobre as práticas ali desenvolvidas. A pesquisa desenvolvida na Emef Sol Nascente lançou luzes sobre as influências exercidas pelas avaliações externas no cotidiano escolar e mostrou que são mais complexas do que apontam certos discursos reducionistas. / Over the last decades, the debate about the quality of public education has enhanced and absorbed as a central aspect the results achieved by students in external assessments, especially in the Basic Education Assessment System (Saeb). The key role played by this kind of assessment gave rise to discussions, notably in the literature of educational assessment dealing with the adequacy of its application and possible influences onto the curriculum and teaching. However, the effects of such assessments within the schools has not yet been captured. Thus, this study had the purpose of learning the influences of the external assessments onto the concepts teachers have about educational assessment, considering that these notions are a key factor in a teacher´s work. Over more than two years of research in a school belonging to the Education System of the City of São Paulo (RME-SP), a network of schools exposed to a great deal of external assessments, I observed that the influence of such assessments in the school´s everyday routine happens in a complex manner, and it is not an automatic consequence of official guidance but rather a influence dependent on several factors with a variety of effects which, in this case, are sometimes null. One of these effects, as an assumption, lies in the concepts teachers have about educational assessment, which is the scope of this investigation, notwithstanding that these concepts are also crucial to assimilate the external assessments to pedagogical work. In the context of this study, even if the pressure for results exerted by the São Paulo City Education Authority (SME-SP) of by the federal Education Department (MEC), with an emphasis to Ideb, it was not found that the external assessments are prevailing over school life and the concepts of educational assessment held by the teachers. Using data triangulation as a research method, I could deduce the concepts teachers had of educational assessment as well as identify some implications of external assessments onto those notions; I could also find that these concepts need to be further problematized due to the consequences on student´s learning and academic achievement. I conclude that the most visible effects result, even if without conditioning the pedagogical work, from the local initiatives of external assessment. The complex nature of the school´s everyday life and the leading role that certain concepts of educational assessment play on teaching, compel me to resist the discourse of the school being a static environment, which passively receives external influences, even if under the form of official guidance; and by doing so, the diversity of conceptions that cohabit in this space is ignored as these notions are relevant for the practices that are implemented there. The study conducted at the Sol Nascente municipal school shed light on the influences exerted by the external assessments onto the school´s daily routine and showed that they are more complex than what is held by reductionist discourses.

Proprioception is the sense of body position in space (Gilman, 2002; Goble, Coxon, et al., 2012), and can be evaluated using both clinical assessments and laboratory based tasks. To date, normal aging has been shown to lead to a decline in proprioceptive acuity as assessed via laboratory based proprioceptive matching tasks, while proprioceptive deficits have been assumed to be present in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) based on performance on clinical assessments. The objective of the current study was to determine if performance on clinical assessments and laboratory based proprioceptive matching tasks is similar across older adults (OA) and PwMS (Adamo et al., 2007; Goble, 2010; Herter et al., 2014; Jamali et al., 2017; Khan et al., 2018; Scherder et al., 2018). Twenty-four OA participants (70+ years old) and twenty PwMS from the Ottawa community were recruited to take part in this study. Proprioceptive sense was assessed using clinical assessments (i.e., superficial sensation, vibration sense and joint position sense) and laboratory based proprioceptive matching tasks. Analysis revealed that while OA performed better on the clinical assessments, PwMS were more accurate in the laboratory matching tasks. Furthermore, analysis of goal directed movements in the matching tasks, revealed that PwMS spent more time in the initial, planning stage of the movement compared to OA, who spent more time executing their movements. These results indicate that OA and PwMS do not demonstrate similar deficits across clinical assessments and laboratory based proprioceptive tasks, and in fact plan and execute their movements differently. Moreover, results also call into question the relationship between clinical and laboratory based assessments of proprioception.

Assessment is a critical component of the educational experience. The purpose of this study was to examine dental students’ assessment preferences and their relation to students’ approaches to learning. The study also investigates the impact of gender, age, GPA and class level on dental students’ assessment preferences. Two hundred sixteen dental students at University of the Pacific Arthur Dugoni School of Dentistry have completed a self-reported 67-item questionnaire. Open-ended questions requiring long answers were the least preferred assessment method as perceived by the dental students, while multiple-choice questions are the most preferred assessment method. Deep approach to learning was significantly and positively correlated with oral test, alternative test, concept map, open-ended questions and questions that require higher order thinking. Surface approach to learning, however, was not significantly correlated with any assessment type. Age, gender, GPA and class level all have significant impact on dental students’ assessments preferences.

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Published Article / Higher education institutions have a responsibility to produce successful graduates; therefore, teaching, of which assessment is an integral part, must promote quality learning. This paper reports on an evaluation of the quality of summative assessments. A qualitative research design was used and a document analysis strategy was followed. Examination papers, memoranda and applicable learner guides were the primary data sources. Results showed that the assessment instruments studied mostly complied with the principles for assessment and the NQF level descriptors. However, it was found that only 10% of the marks allocated in the papers were allotted for items requiring higher order cognitive activity, and only 50% were aligned with outcomes and criteria found in the learner guides. It is therefore concluded that an improvement in the quality of summative assessment instruments is required.

The purpose of the study was to determine the current trends of FBAs and BIPs in a large school district in Arizona. The FBA and BIP components determined best practice by previous literature (Van Acker, et al., 2005; Blood & Neel, 2007) were used to analyze FBAs and BIPs of elementary age students grades Kindergarten through fifth grade serviced in a self-contained classroom designed for students with Emotional Disabilities. BASC-2 composite scores were reviewed and compared to students in the typical population as a means of determining a standard for self-contained placement for the participants. In addition, demographic data were examined including: sex, ethnicity, age, grade, grade of ED eligibility if applicable, and age of ED self-contained placement. This study investigated the FBA/BIPs to determine if they contained the necessary components determined to be best practice by previous researchers (Blood & Neel, 2007; Van Acker et al., 2005) and to answer specific questions about the plans. The major findings of the study with regard to the investigation of the specific FBA/BIP components include: 1) none of the participants had identified and detailed antecedent events in which the problem behavior was least likely to occur 2) the majority of the FBAs did not have an operational definition for the identified target behavior 3) nearly none of the FBAs identified the function of the target behavior 4) the majority of the FBAs had insufficient data regarding the frequency, intensity, and duration of the target behavior 5) none of the BIPs had an identified hypothesis that was considered sufficient. These findings answer the posed questions regarding the antecedent events, behavioral aspects, and consequences/interventions addressed on the FBA as well as the behavioral aspects and consequences/interventions addressed on the BIP. The implications of these findings and areas for future research are discussed.

Local government, as government at grassroot, has, probably undergone transformation more than any institution in post-1994 South Africa. State-of the- art legislation have been passed that have restructured municipalities, and, especially, in the areas of performance and conduct of councillors and officials. Prominent in the areas of transformation are the roles of the Executive Mayor, which are no longer ceremonial as well as the radical changes which have been legislated in municipal financial management. This study was undertaken to determine the challenges that confront the Executive Mayor in financial management in selected local municipalities in the Free State. The hypothesis was formulated that “despite the state-of-the art legislation to regulate municipal finance, Executive Mayors in municipalities face the challenge of poor service delivery as a result of noncompliance to financial statutes due to human resource incapacity”. To test the hypothesis, use was made by empirical research that comprised questionnaires completed by sample of managers and officials in the selected local municipalities of Mafube, Metsimaholo, Moqhaka and Ngwathe.The findings, amongst others, were that: • Human capital in the 4 selected local municipalities are in their prime age. 69 present of managers are in the aged between 30 years to 50 years; • 57 present of the managers responded that they have adequate qualifications and training to pursue the challenges in municipal finance; • All 4 municipalities normally get their budgets approved as required by compliance. • The hypothesis was consequently, invalidated. The study ends with recommendations to help improve standards and quality of financial management practice in the 4 municipalities. / MA (Industrial Psychology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Rater training (RT) improves the reliability of assessment tools, but has not been well studied for technical skills. This study assessed whether RT improved the psychometric properties of surgical skill assessments. Surgeons (N=47) were randomized to RT or non-training groups. The RT group underwent frame-of-reference training. Participants assessed trainees performing a suturing and knot-tying task using four assessment tools. Inter-rater reliability, initial and delayed rater agreement, and construct validity were assessed between groups. There was no significant effect of RT on the assessment tools’ reliability and validity. Reliability and validity were most robust for the global rating scale. Although there were trends towards improved reliability and validity with RT, confidence intervals were wide and overlapping. Reliability remained below the minimum desired level of 0.8 required for high-stakes testing. Although RT may represent a way to improve reliability, further study is needed to determine effective training methods. / February 2017