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Eric.ed.gov – The OECD, PISA and the Impacts on Educational Policy

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Large-scale assessment regularly takes place in most jurisdictions across Canada, a fact not lost on the Fraser Institute and other right wing think tanks such as AIMS (Atlantic Institute for Market Studies) which use the test results as the primary basis for compiling school rankings at both the elementary and secondary level (see Gutstein, 2010). The frequency of external testing at different levels (provincial/territorial, national, international)–coupled with the high visibility accorded by the mainstream media to the results, usually in the form of league tables, and the imperatives of short term political mandates–have all contributed to a focus on improving one’s position within the list of rankings, as well as to a narrow focus on the tested subjects–math, science, reading. In this era of accountability-by-numbers, the elevated… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Perspectives from Latin America: International Lessons for U.S. English Language Learners

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of the study was to examine four questions concerning English Language Learners (ELLs). First, does English Language Learner status impact math scores? Second, does immigrant status favorably contribute to math achievement? Third, what math achievement is possible in other countries where there is multilingualism or high immigrant populations? Fourth, and most specifically, how can international exams help us address the issue of Latin American ELLs in Texas, who make up almost 15 percent of students? This article used data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of 2008, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) of 2006, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) of 2003, and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) to examine mathematics achievement of English Language… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – A Constructivist Approach to the Design and Delivery of an Online Professional Development Course: A Case of the iEARN Online Course

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study examined the International Education and Resource Network Science Technology and Math (iEARN-STM) online professional development course. The study used the constructivist framework as the conceptual model to examine the way in which the constructivist theory has shaped the design and implementation of the course, as reflected by the interactions of a cohort of participants in the course. The participants were 28 educators enrolled in the course, who were either teacher educators or teachers, working in different educational institutions in different countries throughout the world. The purpose of the study was to understand how the iEARN online professional development course supported teachers’ learning through effective discourse in an online environment and to identify the constructivist learning principles that were behind the success of the course. The… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Cross-Country Evidence on Teacher Performance Pay. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 10-11

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The general-equilibrium effects of performance-related teacher pay include long-term incentive and teacher-sorting mechanisms that usually elude experimental studies but are captured in cross-country comparisons. Combining country-level performance-pay measures with rich PISA-2003 international achievement microdata, this paper estimates student-level international education production functions. The use of teacher salary adjustments for outstanding performance is significantly associated with math, science, and reading achievement across countries. Scores in countries with performance-related pay are about one quarter standard deviations higher. Results avoid bias from within-country selection and are robust to continental fixed effects and to controlling for non-performance-based forms of teacher salary adjustments. (Contains 7 tables, and 1 figure, and 18 footnotes.) Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – International Education in the 21st Century: The Importance of Faculty in Developing Study Abroad Research Opportunities

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper argues for a reimagining of education abroad that fuses short-term programming with some kind of experiential research component led by home campus disciplinary faculty, especially those in the sciences, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, in order to better integrate the study abroad program into the core undergraduate curriculum. To show how this could be done, this paper: (1) provides a brief background on study abroad; (2) reviews the relevant literature on the learning goals, program assessment, and faculty engagement in education abroad programs; (3) examines the current state of academic integration within study abroad; (4) explores the growth in undergraduate research at both home and overseas; and (5) identifies the unique opportunities represented in the extensive patterns of international faculty research collaborations, and explains… Continue Reading