Antony D. Norman

Teacher Candidates' Exposure to Formative Assessment in Educational Psychology Textbooks: A Content Analysis

The purpose of this article is to define formative assessment, outline what is known about the prevalence of formative assessment implementation in the classroom, establish the importance of formative assessment with regards to student motivation and achievement, and present the results of a content analysis of current educational psychology textbooks. Several key definitions of formative assessment are examined, and various means of conducting formative assessment are outlined. Numerous studies that have examined the effects of formative assessment on motivation and achievement are summarized. The theoretical link between formative assessment and several important motivational constructs is established, and suggestions for future research are delineated.

Relationship between levels of giftedness and psychosocial adjustment

This study compares two groups of gifted students, highly (N=74) and moderately (N=163) gifted, on a number of scales including self‐concept, emotional autonomy, and anxiety. Although a measure of academic ability was used to create distinctive ability groups, the results did not support the hypotheses that highly gifted students would be more likely to display lower self‐concepts and more adjustment problems than the moderately gifted group. These findings are examined in light of past research on differences in highly and moderately gifted students.

Effect of Social Setting, Self-Concept, and Relative Age on the Social Status of Moderately and Highly Gifted Students.

This study compares the social status of highly gifted (N=42) and moderately gifted (N=86) students across academic (classroom) and social (dormitory) settings. Giftedness was not significantly related to social status in either setting. Two social statuses, popular and rejected, were significantly stable across settings. Furthermore these statuses were related to peer nominations for getting along, fighting, and being shy, to social and academic measures of self‐concept, and to age relative to the peer group. These findings are examined in light of other research on gifted‐ness and social status.

Assessing Accomplished Teaching: Good Strides, Great Challenges

This article surveys efforts at the national and international level to define and assess accomplished teaching with particular attention devoted to how assessments of accomplished teaching connect to student learning. The author finds that most assessments are based on aspects of teaching that, presumably, come together as accomplished teaching. Regarding teachers impact on student learning, no assessments directly measure this, but rather rely on teacher-provided evidence of student learning or samples of student work. What little research exists that emphasizes the connection between accomplished teaching and student learning typically does so after the fact with sophisticated, exploratory statistical methods. The article concludes by delineating the challenges that remain in measuring accomplished teaching, especially in diverse classroom contexts, and in making connections between accomplished teaching and student learning.

Improving Preservice Teacher Preparation through the Teacher Work Sample: Exploring Assessment and Analysis of Student Learning

Abstract This study focuses on the Renaissance Teacher Work Samples critical sections Assessment Plan and Analysis of Student Learning. Preliminary review of scoring data based on the sample revealed that preservice teachers at a large comprehensive institution teacher program appeared to be most challenged with designing assessments and analyzing student learning, compared to other sections. Further analysis of multiple sources of data related to these skills—including deeper study of the student teacher performance on the sample, student-teaching evaluation proficiency rates, self-reported scores on teacher standards, and Praxis scores—indicated that all intersected with the same theme: Relatively low areas for this institutions preservice teachers in assessment and analysis. Based on these results, institutional efforts to improve student performance in this area are addressed.

Moral Reasoning and Religious Belief: does content influence structure?

Abstract Kohlbergs theory of moral development draws a distinction between content and structure of moral thought. An inference based on this distinction is that content and structure are independent. To investigate this inference, we studied fourth‐and eighth‐grade students in two distinct educational settings in the United States. Sample 1 contained 83 students attending a church‐sponsored, evangelical Christian school. Sample 2 contained 60 students attending government‐supported public schools. Students were administered Kohlbergs moral dilemmas of life versus law, punishment versus conscience, and authority versus contract. Christian school students made more religious references in resolving dilemmas. More Christian than public school students favoured law, punishment and authority. More importantly, regardless of the school attended, students who used religious terminology to resolve dilemmas were less likely to reason in Kohlbergs Stage 2 than those who did not. Grade differences emerged. Regar...

Examining the Relationship between Two Assessments of Teacher Effectiveness.

Abstract We administered two instruments designed to assess and predict teacher effectiveness, the TeacherInsight Interview (TI) and the Renaissance Teacher Work Sample (TWS), to student teachers (N = 396) at a large comprehensive institution in the Southeastern United States to investigate whether TWS performance predicts TI scores. We first investigated the relationships of teacher candidate characteristics—such as demographic information, certification level (e.g., elementary education, middle-grades education), and teacher program entrance requirements—to both instruments. Gender, Praxis Principles of Learning and Teaching scores, and certification level were significantly related to both TI and TWS total scores. Additionally, ACT scores were significantly related to TWS scores. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that only certification level and Praxis Principles of Learning and Teaching scores were significant predictors of TI scores. Implications regarding the relationship of candidate characteristics—especially, certification level—to both instruments are discussed in the context of assessing and predicting teacher effectiveness.

Do Differences in High School Principal and Assistant Principal Perceptions Predict Student Achievement Outcomes

The assistant principal plays a key role in school success but research suggests there are differences between principals and assistant principals in their perceptions of their roles. The 2011 Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning Kentucky survey responses of educator perceptions were statistically analyzed for the statewide sample of principals and assistant principals. Results indicate that principals and assistant principals reported significantly different perceptions regarding teacher leadership and school leadership. Differences in principal and assistant principal responses were not related to student achievement, however. Implications for collaborative engagement between principals and assistant principals as they focus on increasing school leadership and teacher effectiveness are discussed.