The purpose of this study was to explore ESL teachers’ perceptions and use of classroom-based reading assessments. The research questions underpinning this study were: 1) What types of classroom-based reading assessments are used in ESL classrooms and how are they used? 2) What are ESL teachers’ perceptions regarding the function and effectiveness of classroom-based reading assessments? 3) What and how do external factors influence ESL teachers’ use of classroom-based reading assessments? 4) What and how do internal factors influence ESL teachers’ use of classroom-based reading assessments? The participants of this study were six middle school ESL teachers and seven elementary school ESL teachers. Data consisted of interviews with the participating ESL teachers, classroom observations, and assessment materials. The finding of this study indicated that there were three kinds of classroombased reading assessments commonly used by ESL teachers in the classrooms: tests, observation, and using writing to assess reading. These classroom-based reading assessments served ESL teachers in two ways: helping teachers make decisions about individual students and helping teachers make decisions about instruction. In addition, classroom-based reading assessments were viewed as effective instructional instruments. ESL teachers highly valued classroom-based reading assessments, considered them accurate and valuable, and thought these assessments could provide great help to the daily teaching of reading. Students, statewide mandated standardized tests, and districts were three major forces that influenced this assessment process. Four conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, classroom-based reading assessments played a central role in ESL teachers’ teaching and assessing of reading. Second, ESL teachers highly valued classroom-based reading assessments, considering them valuable, accurate, and efficient. Compared to statewide mandated standardized testing, ESL teachers preferred classroom-based reading assessments. Third, ESL teachers’ use of classroom-based reading assessments was largely under the control of districts or school authorities and there were many disagreements on the ways of assessing reading of ESL students between teachers and the districts or schools. Finally, statewide mandated standardized testing had distorted ESL teachers’ use of classroom-based reading assessments in practice.

This research is aimed at assessing the quantitative risks involved with an ethanol pipeline. Pipelines that run from the Midwest, where the vast majority of ethanol is produced, to the target areas where reformulated gasoline is required (California, Texas Gulf Coast, New England Atlantic Coast) will be of particular interest. The goal is to conduct a quantitative risk assessment on the pipeline, truck, and rail transportation modes to these areas. As a result of the quantitative risk assessment, we are able to compare the risk associated with the different modes of transportation for ethanol. In order to perform and compare the quantitative risk assessment, the following challenges are addressed: 1) Identify target areas requiring reformulated gasoline 2) Map detailed route for each transportation mode to all three target areas 3) Perform a quantitative risk assessment for each transportation mode 4) Compare quantitative risk assessment results for each route and transportation mode The focus is on California, Texas Gulf Coast, and New England Atlantic Coast because of the large volume. It is beneficial to look at these areas as opposed to the smaller areas because pipeline transportation requires very large volumes. In order to find a meaningful comparison between all three transportation modes, only the areas with the three large volumes were evaluated. Since the risk assessment is completed using historical data, each route is segmented in a way that is consistent with the data that is available. All of the curves support the hypothesis that pipeline transportation poses the least societal risk when transporting ethanol from the Midwest to target areas. Rail transportation poses the largest amount of societal risk. While overall rail incidents are not as frequent as road incidents, the frequency of a fatality is much higher when an incident does occur.

Contamination by dense non aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) [e.g., trichloroethylene (TCE)] in soil and groundwater has become an issue of great concern in many industrialized counties. In this study, a chlorinated-compound spill site was selected as the case study site to evaluate the possible risk to site workers and local residents caused by the contaminated soil and groundwater. The contaminants of concern at this site were TCE and 1,1-Dichloroethylene (1,1-DCE). The detected concentrations for TCE and 1,1-DCE exceeded the control standards of 0.05 and 0.07 mg/L, respectively. In this study, the Risk-based Corrective Action (RBCA) protocol developed by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), health and risk assessment methods for soil and groundwater contaminated sites developed by Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration were applied for risk calculation and quantification. Monte Carlo analysis using @RISK software was applied for uncertainty analysis to calculate the cumulative risk at 95% probability distribution. Moreover, a natural attenuation model (BIOCHLOR) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of natural attenuation mechanisms on the chlorinated compounds. Results from this study show that the occurrence of natural attenuation for the chlorinated compounds was confirmed through the anaerobic biodegradation processes. The calculated cumulative risk at 95% cumulative probability via ingestion route was 2.61¡Ñ10-5 through the Monte Carlo analysis. The calculated cumulative risk at 95% cumulative probability via inhalation route and ambient (outdoor) vapor inhalation diffusion channels were 1.461¡Ñ10-5 and 2.17¡Ñ10-6, respectively. Because the calculated risk levels were higher than the target cancer risk is 1¡Ñ10-6 described in Taiwan¡¦s ¡§Soil and Groundwater Remediation Act¡¨, appropriate remedial actions are required to lower the risk to below the target level. Results also show that the calculated hazard index (HI) values of the contaminated site are lower than the acceptable level (HI < 1) described in the ¡§Soil and Groundwater Remediation Act.¡¨ To meet the target level of cancer risk of 1¡Ñ10-6, TCE contaminated groundwater needs to be remediated to below the site specific target level (SSTL) for inhalation exposure routes in a confined space volume, which is 6.91 ¡Ñ 10-2 mg/L. Based on the results of risk assessment, it is very important for the decision makers to incorporate remedial activities including institutional controls, engineering controls, and remediation programs from RBCA results. This study provides a streamlined process and guidelines of developing the risk-based decision-making strategy for contaminated sites in Taiwan.

<p>There is no debate over the importance of IT security. Equally important is the research on security assessment; methods for evaluating the security of IT systems. The Swedish Defense Research Agency has for the last couple of years been conducting research on the area of security assessment. To verify the correctness of these methods, tools are implemented.</p><p>This thesis presents the design and implementation of an environment to support and aid future implementations and evaluations of security assessment methods. The aim of this environment, known as the New Tool Environment, NTE, is to assist the developer by facilitating the more time consuming parts of the implementation. A large part of this thesis is devoted to the development of a database solution, which results in an object/relational data access layer.</p>

Therapeutic Assessment (TA), a semi-structured form of collaborative assessment that combines psychological assessment with individual and family therapy techniques, has emerged as an innovative and promising short-term family systems intervention for children and their families and potentially with adolescents. The goal for the study was to explore the utility of TA with adolescents (TA-A) as an effective short-term family intervention for adolescents. The study used an interrupted time-series design to follow three adolescents as they took part in a TA-A with their families. Participants were adolescents who presented with behavioral, emotional, and/or interpersonal difficulties. They were referred by either a local community mental health clinic or practitioners in private practice who believed they and their families would benefit from a TA-A. Participants completed daily measures of family functioning before, during, and after the TA-A. Additionally, the participants completed longer standardized repeated measures of family functioning and were interviewed about their experience of TA-A throughout the different phases of the TA-A. Simulation Modeling Analysis (SMA) revealed that none of the participants reported improvements on daily measures of family functioning. However, repeated measures revealed improvements in family functioning for all participants either at the conclusion of the TA-A and/or at Follow-up. Qualitatively, all three participants provided various levels of feedback about the positive impact of TA-A on their family. Themes across the cases, as well as limitations and future direction, are discussed. / text

Psychological assessment has a long history to be used for diagnostic purposes for all ages. This traditional model of assessment has been common for decades, but has not emphasized some important aspects of best practice (Brenner, 2003). To address the limitations of the information gathering model of assessment, collaborative and therapeutic approaches to assessment have been developed over the past several decades (e.g. Finn & Thonsager, 1997; Fischer, 1970). Therapeutic Assessment (TA) emphasizes the opportunity to provide positive changes in the client and their system by involving the client throughout the assessment process, and establishing a meaningful and collaborative relationship between assessor and client (Finn, 2007). The TA has been found to produce many positive impacts on client’s assessment experiences in mainstream American culture. It is important to note how these positive impacts transfer to clients of different cultures. Thus the purpose of this study will be to investigate the effect of acculturation on Asian American parents’ perception of existing models of child assessment. This study will examine the relations between acculturation and perception of assessment models (information gathering model versus Therapeutic Assessment) among Chinese American parents. / text

Finn (2007) developed a procedure that uses psychological assessment tools towards therapeutic ends known as Therapeutic Assessment (TA). The Assessment Intervention session was later developed as part of the TA as an improved method of preparing clients for feedback. The dynamics and effectiveness of this stage of TA have not been studied to date. The current study used a time-series design to follow two clients as they took part in a TA intervention. Participants were involved in ongoing therapy at the time of the study. Participants completed brief, daily measures related to their reported symptoms and presenting concerns before, during, and after the TA. In addition, clients completed longer, standardized measures of psychological symptomatology and therapy progress. Clients and the assessor (Dr. Stephen Finn) were interviewed about their experiences of the Assessment Intervention session and the resulting text was coded and interpreted according to a modified Grounded Theory Method. A time-series analysis revealed that neither client reported improvement on any of the daily measures of symptoms when comparing baseline and post-TA intervention periods. However, one client saw improvements during the TA period only and both clients saw global improvements in the scores reported on the standardized measures. In addition, clients reported satisfaction with the TA and, while therapists reported positive results regarding therapy progress, clients’ reports were mixed. Finally, qualitative feedback from participants revealed that clients and assessor experienced the Assessment Intervention as evoking something familiar but also new for the clients. The integration of the new and the familiar had to be carefully balanced for the clients to be able to experience the Assessment Intervention as beneficial. The context of narrative, a supportive relationship with the assessor, and strong, memory-linking feelings and insights were important for the positive integration of the new experiences. / text

Collaborative child assessment combines traditional assessment methods with techniques aimed at increasing the therapeutic benefit of assessment for children and parents. Previous studies have found high consumer satisfaction, increased self esteem, decreased symptomatic distress, and greater hopefulness following participation in collaborative assessment. However, full collaborative assessment protocols are complex, time-consuming, and thus not practical to use in many applied settings. This study investigated the practicality and potential benefits of implementing several collaborative techniques into otherwise traditional child assessments, including co-generation of assessment questions, use of a process orientation during child testing, and use of an individualized, level-based approach when providing feedback. It was hypothesized that, compared to parents participating in traditional assessments, parents participating in collaborative assessments would report greater satisfaction, greater collaboration, learning more about their child, stronger alliance with the assessor, more positive feelings about the assessment process, and more hopefulness about their child’s challenges and future. Univariate analysis of variance statistics were used to test these hypotheses, which were not statistically supported, in part due to the limited sample size obtained. However, group differences of small to moderate effect sizes were seen for most of the outcome variables, including parent-reported learning about their child, assessor-parent relationship, assessor-child relationship, collaboration, negative feelings about the assessment, general satisfaction, and negative emotions about their child’s future. The results suggest that further research in this area is warranted. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed. / text

In the United States, measuring and documenting institutional effectiveness in postsecondary educational institutions is not a one-size-fits-all process. Although this can be effectively accomplished in a variety of ways, the best approach for any higher education institution is one that is tailored to the institution’s unique environment and directly supports the its mission. Nevertheless, there are common factors that can greatly influence institutions’ ability to measure and demonstrate levels of effectiveness directly tied to student learning. This qualitative study was designed to gain an understanding of how factors within a higher education environment, including structure, practices and processes, can impact the institution’s ability to evidence institutional effectiveness related to student learning. The study examined institutional effectiveness as defined by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), and reviewed specific components of student learning assessment through SACSCOC Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1.1 (Institutional Effectiveness – Educational Programs). The researcher applied a multi-site case study approach to gain an in-depth understanding of this phenomenon. Through purposeful sampling, seven higher education institutions were selected from the 2011/2012 SACSCOC Reaffirmation Class. The phenomenon was studied at each institution as a single case, and using Yin’s cross-experiment logic, a cross case analysis was also conducted. In addition, to attain the most compelling results from this multi-site case study, both literal and theoretical replication (Yin, 1989) was employed. The researcher concluded that there were four significant variables that impacted the ability of the institutions to sufficiently evidence institutional effectiveness associated with student learning. These variables included leadership, institutional culture, resource allocation, and the planning and assessment processes at the institutions.

In Swedish schools the interest for formative assessment practices has increased during the last decade. This can partly be seen as a response to Sweden’s poor performance in international tests and rankings but it is also reflecting the advancement of knowledge within the field. This research paper aims to examine teachers understandings of the term formative assessment and what practices they associate to the term. It is carried out by semi-structured interviews of primary school teachers. The material has then been subjected to an inductive content analysis. To ensure reliability of the results teachers have been chosen from two different municipalities and four different schools. One of the municipalities has an explicit interest in formative assessment and has developed a local program for teachers to participate in. The results of the study show a vide range of varieties in how teachers comprehend the term formative assessment. The lack of a common understanding of the term creates consequences for the equality of education, both between classrooms and between schools. Furthermore the results show that there is a correlation between the time and support teachers are given to implement formative assessment in their teachings and the depth of their understanding of the term. If the results are confirmed by further research and causality is established, further steps should be taken to examine key factors for a successful implementation.