Marielle Simon

The Nature and Impact of Policy-Induced Partnerships between Research and Practice Communities.

To enhance the relevance and usefulness of social science research, large-scale research grant allocation policies are emphasizing, if not requiring, the formation of research partnerships between researchers and members of the community of practice. The emergence of a revisionist conception of traditional dissemination and utilization theoretical frameworks is consistent with this policy direction, but supportive empirical evidence remains thin. This study reports on a multi-method evaluation of a major Canadian strategic grant program that has such partnership guidelines. Surveys of 74 funded projects and four case profiles and interviews with researchers, members of the community of practice, and grant application adjudicators concerning a strategic grant program called Education and Work in a Changing Society provided the primary basis for investigating the nature and impact of policy-induced partnerships. Results show favorable effects of partnerships on research and dissemination strategies and impact in the practice community, but ideological and pragmatic issues surfaced as inhibitory factors. The results are discussed in terms of implications for the revisionist dissemination and utilization framework, the role of granting agencies and ramifications for future research and grant allocation policy.

Being Fair: Teachers' Interpretations of Principles for Standards- Based Grading

Abstract Knowing that grades can have long-term consequences for students, teachers voice concern about being fair in the grading process. However, their interpretations of fairness are varied and sometimes contradictory. This study looked at how teachers in one standards-based educational system determined secondary students’ grades, focusing specifically on the extent to which they followed a specific set of principles for grading. The results support previous research, and suggest that a better understanding of essential principles is needed for grades to accurately reflect students’ achievement.

Inconsistencies in DIF Detection for Sub-Groups in Heterogeneous Language Groups

Diversity and heterogeneity among language groups have been well documented. Yet most fairness research that focuses on measurement comparability considers linguistic minority students such as English language learners (ELLs) or Francophone students living in minority contexts in Canada as a single group. Our focus in this research is to examine the degree to which measurement comparability, as indicated by differential item functioning (DIF), is consistent for sub-groups among linguistic minority Francophone students in Canada. The findings suggest that the linguistic minority Francophone students who speak French at home and those who do not speak French at home should not be grouped together for investigating measurement comparability or for examining performance gaps. We identified a great degree of differences in DIF identification with a consistency of 7–10% in DIF identification in the separate analyses for the two groups. The findings highlight methodological problems with investigating fairness for diverse linguistic groups that are treated as a single group.

Modeling Student Motivation and Students’ Ability Estimates From a Large-Scale Assessment of Mathematics

When large-scale assessments (LSA) do not hold personal stakes for students, students may not put forth their best effort. Low-effort examinee behaviors (e.g., guessing, omitting items) result in an underestimate of examinee abilities, which is a concern when using results of LSA to inform educational policy and planning. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between examinee motivation as defined by expectancy-value theory, student effort, and examinee mathematics abilities. A principal components analysis was used to examine the data from Grade 9 students (n = 43,562) who responded to a self-report questionnaire on their attitudes and practices related to mathematics. The results suggested a two-component model where the components were interpreted as task-values in mathematics and student effort. Next, a hierarchical linear model was implemented to examine the relationship between examinee component scores and their estimated ability on a LSA. The results of this study provide evidence that motivation, as defined by the expectancy-value theory and student effort, partially explains student ability estimates and may have implications in the information that get transferred to testing organizations, school boards, and teachers while assessing students’ Grade 9 mathematics learning.

'Even If No-One Looked at It, It Was Important for My Own Development': Pre-Service Teacher Perceptions of Professional Portfolios

This study was conducted with 15 pre-service teachers enrolled in the Reflective Practice Seminar in primary/junior division at a Canadian university. Data were gathered through interviews, informal classroom conversations and reflections over an eight-month period. This article considers the issue of how constructing a professional portfolio helps pre-service teachers examine their identity as learners. The findings highlight their perceptions around purpose, process and impact. Despite the overwhelming nature of reflection, pre-service teachers in this study said that constructing a professional portfolio challenged them to cyclically reflect on taken-for-granted assumptions, articulate growth and gain perspectives. They also recommended that exemplars be provided for improvement as well as increased instructor and peer feedback within the reflective seminar.

Les pratiques d'évaluation des apprentissages en salle de classe: perceptions des enseignantes et des enseignants

Afin de cerner les pratiques courantes d’evaluation des apprentissages en salle de classe, les chercheuses ont interroge des enseignantes et des enseignants de diverses regions de l’Ontario afin de mieux connaitre les modalites de leurs interventions et leurs besoins de formation en la matiere. Meme si en general ils estiment s’acquitter convenablement de cette tâche, leurs reponses temoignent d’un decalage important entre leurs pratiques actuelles et celles que necessitent Le programme d’etudes commun (MEFO, 1995). Les preoccupations majeures des enseignantes et des enseignants se concentrent autour des questions suivantes: le manque d’uniformite des pratiques et l’absence de directives claires emanant des autorites scolaires a ce sujet, la necessite d’evaluer les performances, les competences, les habiletes superieures de la pensee et les attitudes, puis la pression visant a impliquer les eleves dans le processus d’evaluation. To identify standard practices for evaluating classroom learning, we questioned teachers in various regions of Ontario about the kinds of evaluation methods they use and their evaluation training needs. Although in general teachers consider themselves to be dealing adequately with evaluation, their responses indicate that there is still a wide gap between their current evaluation practices and those required by The Common Curriculum (Ontario Ministry of Education and Training, 1995). Teachers are mainly concerned about (a) the lack of uniformity in evaluation practices combined with the absence of clear instructions on this subject from school authorities, and (b) the necessity to evaluate performance, competencies, attitudes, and higher-order thinking skills, as well as the pressure to include students in the evaluation process.

Reading Proficiency and Comparability of Mathematics and Science Scores for Students From English and Non-English Backgrounds: An International Perspective

The purpose of this research is to examine the comparability of mathematics and science scores for students from English language backgrounds (ELB) and non-English language backgrounds (NELB). We examine the relationship between English reading proficiency and performance on mathematics and science assessments in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The findings indicate a strong relationship with reading proficiency accounting for up to 43% of the variance in mathematics and up to 79% in science. In all comparisons, ELB students either outperformed NELB students or performed at the same level. However, when statistical adjustments were made for reading proficiency, in both mathematics and science, the score gap between the groups became statistically non-significant in three out of the four countries. These findings point to differences in score meaning in mathematics and science assessments and limitations in comparing performances of ELB and NELB.

A Framework for Developing Comparable Multilingual Assessments for Minority Populations: Why Context Matters.

The assessment of linguistic minorities often involves using multiple language versions of assessments. In these assessments, comparability of scores across language groups is central to valid comparative interpretations. Various frameworks and guidelines describe factors that need to be considered when developing comparable assessments. These frameworks provide limited information in relation to the development of multiple language versions of assessments for assessing linguistic minorities within countries. To this end, we make various suggestions for the types of factors that should be considered when assessing linguistic minorities. Our recommendations are tailored to the particular constraints potentially faced by various jurisdictions tasked with developing multiple language versions of assessments for linguistic minorities. These challenges include having limited financial and staffing resources to develop comparable assessments and having insufficient sample sizes to perform psychometric analyses (e.g., item response theory) to examine comparability. Although we contextualize our study by focusing on linguistic minorities within Canada due to its bilingual status, our findings may also apply to other bilingual and multilingual countries with similar minority/majority contexts.

Exploring the Popperian Framework in a Pre‐service Teacher Education Program

The study reported in this article is derived from a critical analysis of the work of 28 pre‐service teachers enrolled in the course “Teaching elementary language arts” in a Bachelor of Education concurrent program in a southern State university. The pre‐service teachers were taught how to use an innovative knowledge‐building framework based on the ideas of the philosopher of science, Karl Popper. Two samples of pre‐service teachers’ writing were analyzed to provide evidence of whether they support the occurrence of growth and development of professional knowledge. This study provides some indication of Popper’s framework potential as an effective critical analysis framework for achieving this goal.