Section archive - Assessment & Evaluation

This case study examined how early childhood teachers’ beliefs and practices influence the function of preschool outdoor play. Teachers’ perceptions about outdoor play included the theme of outdoor play opportunities afforded children on the playground. Additional teachers’ perceptions included barriers to outdoor play and teacher preparation and planning for the outdoor environment.The early childhood teachers at the center believed that supervision is paramount during children’s outdoor play. The teachers viewed their primary responsibility outdoors as keeping the children safe and providing guidance, yet allowing children to play without teacher intrusion. Furthermore, teachers perceived that outdoor play opportunities were limited due to the physical space and the fixed equipment outdoors.

The purpose of this article is understanding the limitations of value-added measures (VAM) and the inferences that they do and do not support. These limitations fall into three categories. First, value-added measures (VAM) provide information about only one of several important dimensions of teacher preparation program quality, focusing on one outcome measure, but not addressing other program characteristics. Second, comparing programs on the average VAM scores begs the question of whether mean performance is the most appropriate way to look at program quality. Third, the measurement of program graduates’ VAM is strongly affected by the labor market for teachers, which weakens the inferences from VAM scores to the quality of preparation programs.

This paper describes an assignment piloted in an early childhood literacy class as an embedded signature assessment. The article has three goals: to explain the context that led to the development of the assignment, to describe how the assignment was created and piloted, and to describe the methodology and results of an action research project intended to collect data on candidates’ perceptions of the challenges and value of the assignment.

This article focuses on students as podcast providers rather than receivers. It addresses the question, ‘Are learner-generated podcasts a useful approach to assessment?’