Gavin W. Fulmer

Multi-level model of contextual factors and teachers’ assessment practices: an integrative review of research

We present a multi-level model of contextual factors that may influence teachers’ assessment practices, and use this model in a selected review of existing literature on teachers’ assessment knowledge, views and conceptions with respect to these contextual factors. Adapting Kozma’s model, we distinguish three levels of influence on teachers’ practices: micro, meso and macro. We searched for relevant articles in EBSCO, JSTOR and other databases, and review selected articles with a focus on the complex relationships within and across these levels. Findings reveal a large body of research at the micro-level (teacher), such as on teachers’ values, conceptions and knowledge. However, there is relatively less research at the meso-level (school) or connecting it with the micro- or macro-levels. Implications for future research are also discussed.

Refining Methods for Estimating Critical Values for an Alignment Index

Abstract The alignment among standards, assessments, and teachers’ instruction is an essential element of standards-based educational reforms. The Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) is the only common tool that can be used to measure the alignment among all three of these sources (Martone & Sireci, 2009). Prior SEC alignment work has been limited by not allowing for significance tests. A recent article (Fulmer, 2011) provided a first attempt to address this shortcoming of the SEC, but that work was limited in several ways. We extend Fulmers simulation approach by accounting for important elements of the SEC procedures, including the proper framework size, number of standards and assessment points, number of raters, rater cell-splitting rates, and rater agreement results. The results indicate that inferences about relative alignment may be heavily influenced by features of the alignment procedures. Thus, our method should be broadly applied to future SEC alignment investigations.

Constraints on Conceptual Change: How Elementary Teachers’ Attitudes and Understanding of Conceptual Change Relate to Changes in Students’ Conceptions

Like their students, teachers may hold a variety of naïve conceptions that have been hypothesized to limit their ability to support students’ learning. This study examines whether changes in elementary students’ conceptions are related to their teachers’ content knowledge, attitudes, and understanding of conceptual change. The study takes place in the context of the adoption of a new unit on seasonal change in which students build and use sundials to observe seasonal differences in the apparent motion of the Sun across the sky. A mixed-method approach is used. Data sources include pre- and post-tests for students and teacher interviews and questionnaires. Results indicate that changes in students’ conceptions may be related to their teachers’ knowledge of the content, attitudes toward science, and understanding of conceptual change. One teacher had low attitude toward science and limited knowledge of conceptual change. After instruction, her students’ responses became less accurate but more homogeneous than before instruction. The other teacher had high attitude and moderate knowledge of conceptual change. Her students showed gains from pre- to post-test, including responses that were more scientifically accurate than the teachers’ initial answers.

Science Teaching Practices in Junior Secondary Schools

This chapter presents an investigation into science classroom practices in junior secondary schools. The investigation measures students’ experiences of instruction through a student survey of their instructional experiences and attempts to provide insights about using this information in the evaluation and planning of instruction. The study involves 1,324 students from 16 junior high schools of different levels of academic prestige in a well-developed city in the Jiangsu province of China. The schools are of three types, A, B, and C, with the A schools being highest in academic standing and C schools being lowest in academic standing. The students’ reports of actual instruction indicate that they often or very often experienced direct teaching, occasionally experienced cooperative teaching, and seldom or rarely experienced constructivist teaching. This pattern was consistent across all school types, although the students in higher-ranked schools reported significantly lower cooperative teaching and constructivist teaching than did counterparts in the lower-ranked schools. Attitudes showed a small but statistically significant difference among the school types, with students in the higher-ranked schools having lower attitude. The findings also show that students’ attitudes are significantly higher when they experience instructional strategies that encourage student cooperation and conceptual development. Drawing on these findings, if increased attitudes toward science are a desirable outcome of science teaching, then one possible avenue is to increase the use of cooperative and constructivist instructional strategies in class. However, as the present study did not experimentally manipulate the extent of cooperative, constructivist, or direct teaching, additional research is needed to test such a conjecture.

Adolescents finding purpose: Comparing purpose and life satisfaction in the context of Singaporean and Israeli moral education

Abstract Purpose is an intention over the long-term to have an effect on the world that is both meaningful to oneself and to others. What are schools doing to help students use the knowledge and skills they learn in school in their own lives and aspirations? This is the first study that compares adolescent purposes and life satisfaction in Singaporean and Israeli schools. Findings showed four purpose clusters for Singaporean adolescents: No Orientation, Self-focused, Other-focused, and both Self- and Other-focused. Israeli adolescents were in three purpose clusters: Self-focused, Other-focused, and Self- and Other-focused. The purpose groups differed on average life satisfaction in both countries: Self- and Other-focused were highest, followed by Self-focused and Other-focused. The No Orientation group in Singapore was lowest. Notably, beyond these differences between the groups, Israeli adolescents reported significantly higher life satisfaction in each purpose group. We discuss implications for schools and education policymakers.

Relationships among Singaporean secondary teachers’ conceptions of assessment and school and policy contextual factors

Abstract This study examines teachers’ conceptions of assessment and related contextual factors at the classroom, school and national levels. A representative survey of Singaporean secondary school teachers resulted in a final sample consisting of 229 teachers from 9 secondary schools. Findings on that, teachers endorse views of assessment for school accountability, student accountability and student improvement, but little endorsement of assessment as irrelevance. Teachers report feeling capable and qualified to use assessments, but concerned about how much they are trusted as assessors at school and national levels. Follow-up latent class analysis identified groups of teachers based on their responses to the irrelevance of assessment; teachers who found assessment irrelevant were present across all schools and subjects, but showed lower sense of preparation for assessment, school-level support and importance of academic success in society.

Policies for Broadening Implementation of Research-Based Pedagogy in Undergraduate STEM Education: Possible Models, Limitations, and Solutions

Research and development on reformed methods of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction has identified various pedagogies to support students’ learning. Yet despite growing research and attention, undergraduate STEM instruction still primarily follows traditional, lecture-based formats. This limited implementation of research-based pedagogies has frustrated education researchers and key policymakers and demonstrates the need to identify promising models to support the implementation of research-based pedagogies in undergraduate STEM education. This paper describes selected models that reflect different stances on the relationship among STEM educators, institutions of higher education, and state and federal policymakers. The models are grouped into two classes: policy-oriented models and facilitation-oriented models. Problems with the models, and possible solutions, are also presented.