Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1934. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Bibliography at end of each chapter except the last.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1971. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1973. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1973. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-140).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1918. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 199-202.

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 1966. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [68-69]).

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 1954. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 42).

This thesis explored teacher professional judgement as applied to the final report card process of Ontario Secondary School courses in Business, Humanities, and Social Science. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used. Twenty-four active teachers from various schools participated in semi-structured interviews and follow-up questions. How the respondents understood the use of professional judgement when determining percentage grades was analyzed. The study found that the participants personalized procedures, either independently or at the direction of the local administration, when interpreting policy into practice. These practices, although done with good intentions, were at odds with reliable and valid assessment. This phenomenon was termed Heuristic Assessment. Ontario’s revised assessment and evaluation policy Growing Success (Ontario, 2010a) placed emphasis on informed professional judgement. Although a definition was provided, how the concept works in practice was open to interpretation. Therefore, schools can apply professional judgement in numerous ways and still be in line with provincial policy if what is taught and evaluated correspond with curriculum documents. However, this study found that Ministry instructions are challenging to implement. There are tensions between how the local administration view policy, participant understanding of these guidelines, and the realities of the classroom. Furthermore, school culture consists of both shared, or public, and shadowed, or private practices. Shared and shadowed practices sometimes go with, and sometimes against, provincial policy. Consequently, participants engaged in Heuristic Assessment: they used their professional judgement to adhere to local policy in appearance, while finding ways to evaluate final report cards on their own terms. This study makes several contributions to the field of knowledge. First, we see the concept of professional judgement in Ontario evaluation practices not as an idealized definition but as teacher-created construct. Second, there was clear evidence that the province still has work to do in order to have better consistency in assessment of learning practices. Understanding gained by the research established proposals on how to further improve reporting of student learning in Ontario and other educational systems. For example, there are easier ways for teachers to explain the meaning of grades to students, parents, guardians, and other stakeholders. If professional judgement is vital to evaluation practices, then the concept should be reified to assist teachers with the assessment process. There is also a methodological contribution, as the study provided an example of how to blend the constructivist grounded theory of Kathy Charmaz with the situational analysis of Adele Clarke to educational evaluation research.

This study focuses on the use of student-led questions and feedback to improve students’ engagement and attainment in Key Stage 3 science. My interest in Assessment for Learning has arisen from working as a science teacher for over 9 years in several secondary schools in London and Kent. My aim has been to support Key Stage 3 science students to improve their engagement and attainment by means other than the use of science practical. The purpose of this study is to find out how students’ awareness of questions and feedback can be used to improve their engagement. This includes examining students’ contribution to the classroom discourse through developing their own questions and giving peer feedback, and assessing how this has improved their attainment. This study also sought teachers’ perceptions on the role of questions and feedback in engaging students in science lessons. This mixed methods study was inspired by a constructivist paradigm approach to learning (Creswell 2011; Savasci and Berlin, 2012). The study used six techniques of enquiry for data collection to support triangulation of my data. The students were involved in problem solving activities which led to developing their own questions using Bloom’s taxonomy question prompts and giving feedback to other students. The interaction was audio recorded to examine the quality of questions and feedback in order to ascertain how this has led to an improvement in their engagement and attainment, in addition to other data collection methods used. This study found that students were capable of developing high level questions and giving constructive feedback that will move other students’ learning forward just like their teachers aim to do. There was an improvement in the high level questions developed which influenced the quality of feedback given to other students. 98% of the students were engaged in the questions and feedback which contributed to over 92% of the students achieving their target levels in the end of unit science test. These outcomes are contributions to knowledge. Other contributions to knowledge include the new model of discourse presented in this thesis, and two factors that constitute engagement in learning. Pupil voice was a dominant factor as students were in charge of the classroom discourse which was encouraged by the questions and feedback. Some recommendations are made for professional practice and further research.