Studies in Educational Evaluation最新文献

Some German states recently reformed their tracking practices by reducing the number of secondary school track options from up to four to a two-path structure, in which students can continue their school career until they acquire the general university entrance qualification in both tracks (academic and comprehensive). We examine whether these de-tracking reforms were, as intended, associated with a change in students’ educational aspirations and whether they reduced socioeconomic disparities in students’ educational aspirations. We analyze representative data of around 65,000 ninth graders from states with and without reforms from pre- and post-reform periods (2012 to 2018), using a Difference-in-Differences approach and a regression of students’ educational aspirations on their socioeconomic backgrounds. Our results suggest that students’ educational aspirations have increased in the wake of the de-tracking reforms, but that socioeconomic disparities in students’ educational aspirations have increased rather than weakened. Implications for tracking practices and socioeconomic disparities are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to understand the complex interactions within a course among motivational climate variables and student evaluations of teaching (SETs) by developing online simulators using probabilistic machine learning. We used data from 2938 undergraduate students in 30 classes to create online simulators based on Bayesian Belief Networks. We created bubble charts, line graphs, and radar charts to show the relationships between the study variables. Findings showed that (a) the motivational climate variables—as measured by the MUSIC Model of Motivation variables—are the largest predictors of SETs, (b) student interest (in the coursework and instructional methods) is the overall largest predictor of SETs, (c) the relationships between the motivational climate variables and SETS are nonlinear, (d) the ease of the course and demographic variables are only weakly associated with SETs, and (e) the largest predictors of instructor and course rating are similar, but somewhat different.

Current studies highlighted a positive relationship between academics' learning-focused approaches to teaching and students' active and deep learning. Thus, scholars have an ongoing debate about the dynamics of change from academics’ content-focused to learning-focused approaches to teaching. Previous studies investigating this subject used variable-centered analyses (on cross-sectional or pre-post data) or person-centered analyses only on cross-sectional data. Such research approaches presented limited information about the dynamics of change in teaching approaches of naturally occurring subgroups of academics with multiple teaching approach characteristics. This study analyzed the issue using longitudinal data collected on three moments (N = 111 Romanian academics) and a person-centered approach (i.e., latent profile transition analysis). We identified three dissonant approaches to teaching and one learning-focused. Our results suggested that the process of change in approaches to teaching seems to be slow and, sometimes, discontinuous. The transition from the most dissonant approach to the learning-focused approach could occur directly or by intermediary steps described as less dissonant. These dynamics of change are similar across various subsamples defined by the academics’ teaching context, specialization, gender, teaching experience, and pedagogical training programs followed. We advanced several implications for designing pedagogical programs for academics and future research.

This research investigates the improvement of communicative skills in university students via peer feedback activities in an English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) course. Utilizing a comprehensive view of contemporary feedback frameworks, the study engaged 320 students across three cohorts. The last two cohorts transitioned to online Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The final cohort further employed a prototype learning analytics system to enhance peer feedback skills. Answering calls for more research on authentic task-based learning in tech-mediated contexts, this study offers empirical evidence supporting modern feedback frameworks. Results showed that ERT cohorts, especially those using the prototype system, outperformed the face-to-face cohort in communicative speaking tests, highlighting the effectiveness of peer feedback activities in boosting communicative skills.

One of the issues in value-added assessment of teachers is the persistence of effects. Although Generalized Persistence (GP) model addresses this issue, it is not commonly used because of the difficulty interpreting its results. The purpose of this study is to examine teachers’ value-added scores using the GP model and interpret the findings in terms of teacher assessment. Test scores of the same students (1432 students studying in 12 different middle schools) for three consecutive test administrations were used to estimate value-added scores of 61 science and 42 Turkish teachers. While correlation between current and future year value-added scores was high for science teachers (r = 0.88), it was lower for Turkish teachers (r = 0.46). On the other hand, the reliability of the estimates was found to be low. The study is concluded with suggestions for the use of the GP model and implications for further research and policy use.

Beliefs about the future, instantiated as a learner’s future time perspective, have been largely overlooked in the research on the connection between feedback and motivation. Because feedback statements vary in their level of specificity and friendliness (a commonly reported distinction between peer-provided and instructor-provided feedback), we were interested in the interplay between such feedback characteristics and learners’ future time perspective. With 392 U.S. undergraduates, we investigated how future time perspective (specifically, its valence and connectedness) affected whether learners perceived as constructive feedback statements that varied in specificity and friendliness, and whether gender and academic discipline would influence these perceptions. Future time perspective connectedness was positively associated with perceptions of feedback constructiveness for specific statements but was negatively related to constructiveness for unspecific statements. Valence was positively correlated with feedback constructiveness for unspecific statements. Although no differences in academic discipline were found, gender effects emerged. Implications for peer feedback are discussed.

This article presents a commentary on articles in the special issue entitled “Instructional Tools and Curricular Structures to Facilitate Students’ Generation of Self-feedback.” The articles explored the value of a diverse range of potential sources of feedback from the student perspective. Collectively, these articles highlight the potential of instructional tools and assessment resources in supporting students to generate self-feedback. Studies in this special issue also contribute innovative solutions to enable sustainable and effective feedback practices at scale, capitalising on technological advances. Overall, the findings amplify the importance of explicitly providing appropriate frames of reference such as rubrics, exemplars, and annotated exemplars, to support the generation of meaningful self-feedback. However, further research that makes the nature of self-feedback visible is needed. To progress research on self-feedback, I highlight the need for a strategic research agenda, as well as more sophisticated theoretical frameworks and fit-for-purpose methods.

The literature on the effects of teaching behavior on student competence and motivation has primarily focused on single teaching facets, with limited attention to multiple components simultaneously. To address this gap, this study examined a model of teaching and learning by investigating 10 teaching quality components reported by both students and teachers. The study used a sample of 3067 students in 150 schools in Germany and regressed reading competence and attitudes towards reading in grade 7 on these 10 variables. The study controlled for prior reading competence and attitudes towards reading in grade 5, as well as other student background characteristics, and estimated school-fixed effects. The results did not identify significant associations between the investigated teaching quality components and the reading competence and attitudes towards reading measures when considered simultaneously in one model, after taking into account previous competence and attitudes. The study discusses limitations and implications of these findings.

Under increasing pressure from quality assurance and other accountability concerns, it is easy to fall into the trap of assessing students only for the sake of assessment. This review aims to help educators rethink assessment in work-integrated learning (WIL) courses with purpose in mind by identifying the assessment methods used to assess student learning in such courses over the last 20 years, together with the underlying purposes of assessment. Based on the analysis of 103 selected articles from four databases and additional searching, 22 assessment methods and seven broad categories of assessment purposes were identified. One key finding is that the assessment of student learning in WIL courses outlined in the results was mainly implemented as assessment for learning to support students’ development as self-regulated, lifelong learners. Based on this finding, we propose three assessment design principles for self-regulated learning with recommendations on how to utilize different assessment methods to their fullest potential in preparing students for their futures.

To enhance the teaching-learning process and protect all concerned during COVID-19, a blended learning approach—comprising online learning as well as offline personal and collaborative learning—was used to impart a strengths intervention to foster personal growth initiative (PGI) among Pakistan’s university students. The sample comprised 176 students randomly allocated to a treatment (n = 88) and a wait-list control (n = 88) group. Growth curve modeling analyzed the developmental changes in participants’ PGI scores over time. PGI increased to a greater extent in the treatment group than in the control group immediately after the intervention as well as four and eight months later. There were also significant changes in students’ initial status (intercepts) and rates of changes over time (slopes). Moreover, students with high initial PGI scores had a slower linear increase, whereas those with low initial PGI scores had a faster increase in linear growth over time.