THE NATURE OF FEEDBACK PROVIDED TO ELEMENTARY STUDENTS BY TEACHERS IN SCHOOLS WHERE GRADING AND REPORTING ARE STANDARDS-BASED Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement. Hattie (2002) found that the giving of quality feedback to students is one of the top five strategies teachers can use to improve student achievement. Research has confirmed that the right kind of feedback is essential for effective teaching and learning (McMillan, 2007). The University of Queensland (Australia) notes that feedback is the entity that brings assessment into the learning process (1998). The evidence also shows, however, that how feedback is given and the types of feedback given can provide disparate results with both achievement and student motivation. One mitigating factor to the giving and receiving of feedback in classrooms is a climate of evaluation, competition, rewards, punishments, winners and losers. In fact, research shows that while the giving of descriptive feedback enhances learning and motivation, the giving of norm-referenced grades has a negative impact on students (Bandura, 1993; Black & Wiliam, 1998; Butler & Nisan, 1986; Butler, 1987). This qualitative study used interviews, teacher observations, and document analysis to seek out the nature of feedback provided to students in a standards-based school district, where grading is standards-based rather than norm-referenced. The literature review suggests particular properties and circumstances that make feedback effective, and the researcher has used this research to analyze the oral and written feedback that teachers provide students. The analysis describes the use of feedback and feedback loops in these classrooms and the findings add to the current knowledge-base about the giving and receiving of feedback in standards-based schools and suggests areas for teacher improvement and development.

The present dissertation concerns social organization of feedback in ongoing hairdressing education. The central aim is to explore feedback between teacher and student in multimodal interaction within classroom assessment, as co-production of action and student’s participation. Classroom assessment and feedback are understood as social actions situated in interaction. The empirical data consists of video recordings from two vocational schools. From 31 hours of video material, selections of feedback interactions were made. At first, teacher and student communication in feedback cycles and loops was analysed from a social semiotic perspective. Secondly, examples of student initiated feedback loops were analysed from a conversation analytic perspective. Thirdly, a single case of a teacher and a student interacting through feedback related to creative subject content was analysed from a conversation analytic perspective.  The analyses show the importance of collaborative use of artefacts and embodied communication in the production of mutual understanding; opening for student initiatives in actions of assessment as well as feedback. Silence and body position were found to be important resources giving the student space to display concern. Participation in feedback practices within creative subject content emerged in a trajectory of problem detection to problem solving, resulting in tacit dimensions of hairdressers’ knowing made explicit. The findings indicate the importance of taking a participatory perspective on multimodal interaction when exploring actions of assessment and feedback between teacher and student. This study shows how feedback is not only given from the teacher, but also locally produced as a collaborative practice between teachers and students, displaying tacit dimensions of professional knowledge and subject content. / Den här sammanläggningsavhandlingen handlar om återkoppling mellan lärare och elever i frisörutbildning. Med hjälp av videoinspelningar under pågående undervisning utforskas klassrumsbaserad bedömning och återkopplingspraktiker. Eleverna är dels nybörjare som arbetar på övningsdockor, dels elever i slutet av sin utbildning som tar emot kunder i sitt klassrum. Videoanalyserna ger möjlighet att få syn på multimodala aspekter av interaktionen och resultatet visar tydligt hur både kropp och material är viktiga resurser i deltagarnas samspel. Avhandlingen visar genomgående hur bedömning och återkoppling utgår både från lärares professionella yrkeskunnande och från elevernas egna initiativ på specifika områden där något problem behöver redas ut i relation till deras pågående arbeten. Studiernas detaljerade analyser av deltagarnas multimodala interaktion synliggör hur bedömning och återkoppling kan förstås som sociala handlingar där tal, kropp och artefakter samordnas för att skapa gemensam förståelse och mening. Avhandlingens bidrag riktar sig mot yrkesutbildning men även andra former för utbildning, eftersom bedömning och återkoppling praktiseras i varje klassrum och utbildningskontext. Avhandlingens delstudier ökar kunskapen om hur återkoppling kan förstås som sociala handlingar där varje deltagare bidrar i skapandet av ömsesidig respons. Att förstå interaktion som multimodal, synliggör hur återkoppling i pågående undervisning möjliggörs genom deltagande och samspel mellan lärare och elever.

There is a tendency to view teachers´ assessment literacy from a deficit perspective, and teachers existing practices are rarely used as a source of knowledge about assessment. Instead of treating teachers as being to some extent experts on assessment, the domain of assessment literacy is primarily represented by viewing researchers as “experts”. In this study teachers´ assessment literacy is approached from an asset perspective. The knowledge and skills that teachers possess can contribute to the description and understanding of classroom assessment literacy. The overall aim of the study is to develop knowledge about teachers’ classroom assessment literacy. Studying teachers' collective reflections about assessment, in relation to video-recorded teaching situations, is used to approach the question of what classroom assessment and assessment literacy actually mean. Three primary schools and eleven teachers, heterogeneous regarding age, sex, education and experience, are involved in the study.  The results indicate three themes to describe teachers´ classroom assessment literacy: focus on the intention of assessment, focus on the enactment of assessment and focus on the conclusion of assessment. The study shows that teachers have the competence to conduct and use assessment as an integral part of teaching. An overall conclusion is that assessment literate teachers invite students to share power and responsibility in assessment processes. The three themes can be seen as a process of developing, implementing and using assessments, which requires a holistic approach to learning, teaching and assessment. / <p>With a summary in English</p>

Actively engaging students in the classroom and promoting their interaction, both amongst themselves and with the instructor, is an important aspect to student learning. Research has demonstrated that student learning improves when instructors make use of pedagogical techniques which promote active learning. Equally important is instructor feedback from activities such as in-class assessments. Studies have shown that when instructor feedback is given at the time a new topic is introduced, student performance is improved. The focus of this thesis is the creation of a software program, Virtual Clicker, which addresses the need for active engagement, in-class feedback, and classroom interaction, even in large classrooms. When properly used it will allow for multi-directional feedback; teacher to student, student to teacher, and student to student. It also supports the use of digital ink for Tablet PCs in this interaction environment. / Master of Science

Developmental evaluation (Patton, 1994, 2011) is one of the latest approaches to be introduced into evaluation practice. It purports to support the development of social innovation by infusing evaluative thinking through collaboration between program clients and the developmental evaluator (Patton, 2011). In an attempt to build “practical knowledge” (Schwandt, 2008) about this emerging approach, this research seeks to investigate the capacity of developmental evaluation to support innovation. This thesis reports on a case study of the Assessment Pilot Initiative (API) where developmental evaluation was used to support the development of a novel approach to teacher education. Charged with a vision to innovate their own teaching practices and the learning of teacher candidates, the instructors of the case invited a developmental evaluator onboard in a yearlong collaboration. While the instructors, along with the developmental evaluator, were uncertain about the outcome of the initiative or how best to proceed, this engagement resulted in a novel adaptation of microblogging web technology (Twitter) that came to be piloted with a group of teacher candidates. This thesis presents an analysis of the development process and the contributions developmental evaluation made in enabling the development of the API. Such analysis is anchored in the records of the program development, and in the perspectives of the program clients and the developmental evaluator. Analyzing the program development records for developmental moments revealed certain trends and patterns that, when triangulated with interview data from program clients and with reflections from the developmental evaluator, provided intricate insights into how the development came about and of the contributions developmental evaluation made in this case. Development of API proceeded in a highly nonlinear, emergent process through six foci of development. Critical to addressing the uncertainty and complexity that might had otherwise inhibited development, developmental evaluation enabled a data-informed approach that lent a quality of responsiveness to the emergent, evolving nature of the initiative. The developmental evaluator was instrumental in identifying activities that helped make explicit values and assumptions underpinning the initiative and in structuring a learning framework to engage program clients in sense-making. The notion of design emerged from analysis as an important function of developmental evaluation. Implications of the findings are discussed. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-12-29 18:05:34.631

abstract: Education for sustainable development (ESD) is an academic goal for many courses in higher learning. ESD encompasses a specific range of learning outcomes, competencies, skills and literacies that include and exceed the acquisition of content knowledge. Methods and case studies for measuring learning outcomes in ESD is absent from the literature. This case study of an undergraduate course in urban sustainability examines the processes, curriculum, pedagogies, and methods to explore whether or not learning outcomes in education for sustainable development are being reached. Observations of the course, and the statistical analysis of student surveys from course evaluations, are explored to help identify the relationships between learning outcomes in ESD and the processes of learning and teaching in the case study. Recommendations are made for applying the lessons of the case study to other courses, and for continuing further research in this area. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.U.E.P. Urban and Environmental Planning 2012

The ability to participate in adequate relationships with peers and with adults is highlighted in research as important for all children’s development and learning. Research also shows that children who have difficulties with social interactions may be excluded from the peer group social context, if observant adults do not take an active and supportive role to facilitate peer interactions. To ensure that all children regardless of needs nor disability are given the opportunity to develop and learn, the preschool systematically and continuously needs to evaluate how they operate with the task of supporting children’s social relationships and participation. Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) is a structured observation rating scale developed recently in the UK and used in several contexts (i.e. United States) to measure quality in inclusive preschool settings based on twelve areas that are particularly important to consider for children with special educational needs.The aim of this study is to analyse and discuss two of the twelve contents of the ICP program, and to investigate its usefulness in the Swedish preschool. These contents are adult relationships with children and adult support in child interactions with peers. This study is a part of a project called Play and interaction for all children in inclusive preschool environments, initiated by the Department of Special Education, Stockholm University. The study is based on a qualitative research approach and is based on interviews with five preschool teachers and four observations in preschool learning environments.The result shows that the ICP can be a tool for development of an inclusive early childhood program in a Swedish context, both as a self-assessment tool and as a quality improvement tool. The two areas that have been estimated in the ICP have been perceived as relevant to the studies participants because of its importance for children`s development and its correlation with the Swedish preschool curriculum. However, there are certain concepts and formulations in the ICP that has brought objections during the interviews, for example, adults consistently ignore children´s efforts to interact with peers and adults consistently ignore children´s effort to interact with peers. Based on these reports, it seems that some formulations should be adapted or explained in the comments. The assessments made through the ICP make it possible to capture shifts in the quality of interactions that take place in the various inclusive activities. The quality differences have been made visible and evident by the ICP tool. This indicates that the ICP may be useful to estimate and evaluate operations, both in order to make improvements and also to reduce shortcomings in the learning environments. This is an important goal to achieve, especially considering that an equitable preschool with good quality may have a great impact for children in vulnerable situations.

The ability to participate in adequate relationships with peers and with adults is highlighted in research as important for all children’s development and learning. Research also shows that children who have difficulties with social interactions may be excluded from the peer group social context, if observant adults do not take an active and supportive role to facilitate peer interactions. To ensure that all children regardless of needs nor disability are given the opportunity to develop and learn, the preschool systematically and continuously needs to evaluate how they operate with the task of supporting children’s social relationships and participation. Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) is a structured observation rating scale developed recently in the UK and used in several contexts (i.e. United States) to measure quality in inclusive preschool settings based on twelve areas that are particularly important to consider for children with special educational needs.The aim of this study is to analyse and discuss two of the twelve contents of the ICP program, and to investigate its usefulness in the Swedish preschool. These contents are adult relationships with children and adult support in child interactions with peers. This study is a part of a project called Play and interaction for all children in inclusive preschool environments, initiated by the Department of Special Education, Stockholm University. The study is based on a qualitative research approach and is based on interviews with five preschool teachers and four observations in preschool learning environments. The result shows that the ICP can be a tool for development of an inclusive early childhood program in a Swedish context, both as a self-assessment tool and as a quality improvement tool. The two areas that have been estimated in the ICP have been perceived as relevant to the studies participants because of its importance for children`s development and its correlation with the Swedish preschool curriculum. However, there are certain concepts and formulations in the ICP that has brought objections during the interviews, for example, adults consistently ignore children´s efforts to interact with peers and adults consistently ignore children´s effort to interact with peers. Based on these reports, it seems that some formulations should be adapted or explained in the comments. The assessments made through the ICP make it possible to capture shifts in the quality of interactions that take place in the various inclusive activities. The quality differences have been made visible and evident by the ICP tool. This indicates that the ICP may be useful to estimate and evaluate operations, both in order to make improvements and also to reduce shortcomings in the learning environments. This is an important goal to achieve, especially considering that an equitable preschool with good quality may have a great impact for children in vulnerable situations. / Inkluderande Lärandemiljöer och Tidiga Insatser

<p>  </p> <p>Clustering, a prevalent class of machine learning (ML) algorithms used in data mining and pattern-finding—has increasingly helped engineering education researchers and educators see and understand assessment patterns at scale. However, a challenge remains to make ML-enabled educational inferences that are useful and reliable for research or instruction, especially if those inferences influence pedagogical decisions or student outcomes. ML offers an opportunity to better personalizing learners’ experiences using those inferences, even within large engineering classrooms. However, neglecting to verify the trustworthiness of ML-derived inferences can have wide-ranging negative impacts on the lives of learners. </p> <p><br></p> <p>This study investigated what student clusters exist within the standard operational data of a large first-year engineering course (>1500 students). This course focuses on computational thinking skills for engineering design. The clustering data set included approximately 500,000 assessment data points using a consistent five-scale criterion-based grading framework. Two clustering techniques—N-TARP profiling and K-means clustering—examined criterion-based assessment data and identified student cluster sets. N-TARP profiling is an expansion of the N-TARP binary clustering method. N-TARP is well suited to this course’s assessment data because of the large and potentially high-dimensional nature of the data set. K-means clustering is one of the oldest and most widely used clustering methods in educational research, making it a good candidate for comparison. After finding clusters, their interpretability and trustworthiness were determined. The following research questions provided the structure for this study: RQ1 – What student clusters do N-TARP profiling and K-means clustering identify when applied to structured assessment data from a large engineering course? RQ2 – What are the characteristics of an average student in each cluster? and How well does the average student in each cluster represent the students of that cluster? And RQ3 – What are the strengths and limitations of using N-TARP and K-means clustering techniques with large, highly structured engineering course assessment data?</p> <p><br></p> <p>Although both K-means clustering and N-TARP profiling did identify potential student clusters, the clusters of neither method were verifiable or replicable. Such dubious results suggest that a better interpretation is that all student performance data from this course exist in a single homogeneous cluster. This study further demonstrated the utility and precision of N-TARP’s warning that the clustering results within this educational data set were not trustworthy (by using its W value). Providing this warning is rare among the thousands of available clustering methods; most clustering methods (including K-means) will return clusters regardless. When a clustering algorithm identifies false clusters that lack meaningful separation or differences, incorrect or harmful educational inferences can result. </p>

Traditionally, models of instructional leadership espouse data-informed decision making in response to student assessment outcomes as one of the core school leader behaviors. In recent years, rising expectations from accountability policies and related assessment practices have myriad implications for school districts, specifically in the areas of standards-driven reform, student assessment systems, and professional development models. As a result, demands on schools to collect and use student assessment data to inform curricular and instructional decisions has expanded. While principals are typically held responsible for school improvement efforts, more contemporary models of instructional leadership incorporate teachers as classroom-based leaders of assessment practices in forums such as professional learning communities. School and classroom assessment leaders engage in behaviors such as (a) identifying an assessment vision, (b) fostering group goals, (c) providing a model of data- informed decision making, (d) promoting teacher job-embedded professional learning experiences, (e) evaluating instructional practices with specific feedback, and (f) strategically aligning resources to school improvement goals. Unfortunately, school districts face many challenges with assessment leadership due to barriers in beliefs about assessments, time with and access to tools and training, and knowledge and skills about how to operationalize effective assessment practices that yield positive student outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore assessment leadership as a construct among P-12 school and classroom leaders in one large district in Florida. Data were collected using an Internet-based survey constructed from existing qualitative and quantitative measures of key components of assessment leadership established in the literature. A series of descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted to (a) explore the factor structure of the instrument and (b) evaluate the influence of assessment learning experiences, beliefs, and knowledge on assessment practices. Relationships among variables were examined when considering moderating variables for school role (i.e., school-level administrator or classroom teacher as professional learning communities facilitator) and school type (elementary or secondary). Limitations were discussed to inform future research in this critical area of school improvement.