Measures Of Student Achievement Research Articles

Feedback Value: A Cross Sectional Study on Clinical Students Perception in South East, Nigeria

Introduction: Feedback is vital for clinical students to improve their learning, growth, and raise self-awareness of their clinical skills. It also provides an important vista for faculty members to appraise their teaching practices for quality assurance process. Therefore, it is vital to assess the students' perspectives of feedback on teaching quality. Regular feedback, maybe helpful in improving teaching skills, encourage better performance, aid provision of deeper understanding of the material taught by the teacher, while eliciting better appreciation of the teaching of the faculty by students. This study probed the student’s perception of teaching evaluation feedback, awareness of teaching feedback methods and relevance of teaching feedback.
 Method: A cross sectional study, carried out among clinical students in 5th year medicine purposefully selected from medical schools in South East Nigeria. A 45 item structured questionnaire consisting of Likert –scale questions and multiple choice questions was used to obtain socio-demographic and relevant data (awareness of teaching feedback, perception of feedback and awareness of other evaluation methods). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 26 to calculate descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation). Inferential statistics (t-test, regression analysis) was carried out to determine relationship between feedback and teaching quality.
 Results: Most (93.2%) of the 370 respondents, were aged between 20 and 29 years, with a mean of 25.08 ± 3.18. Male participants were (53%) and females (47%). Of all the respondents, 74.3% were aware of the use of feedback as a factor of teacher evaluation; 24.1% indicated that they provide feedback in their schools. Students that were aware of other teacher evaluation systems were 43 (11.6%). Of the 43, 39(90.7%) mentioned student achievement measures, 3 (7%) on‑the‑job evaluation, 1 (2.3%) Marzano model. The very high mean response values greater than the Likert scale’s criterions mean of 3, a standard deviation value very close to the mean, indicate low response variability; shows that students agree that feedback is very important for all relevant attributes of a clinical teacher.
 Students strongly agree that feedback will improve preparedness, teaching skills, teacher’s insight into the unique challenges experienced by them, performance in examinations, development of appropriate curriculum, marking schemes for examinations and overall image of the school. This is indicated by mean response values greater than the criterion mean of 3. However, students disagree that feedback may discourage interest in teaching as indicated by a mean response value of 2.94 less than the criterion mean of 3.
 Conclusion: Students perceive feedback relevant for a clinical teacher, agreeing that it will help teacher understanding of their unique challenges and curriculum development. Despite the perceived benefits of feedback, only a small number of study subjects indicate that it is provided in their schools. It is imperative that feedback as a way of improving teaching/learning in schools is strengthened.

Assessing the Efficacy of Test-Optional Policies in Enhancing Socio-Demographic Diversity in Higher Education Institutions

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of the interplay between standardized testing and the burgeoning holistic admissions approach within higher education admissions. We systematically examine the inherent biases present in standardized tests—spanning economic, racial, linguistic, and cultural sectors—and their potential implications for widening socio-demographic disparities. Utilizing the University of California system as a case study, the paper contrasts this with the holistic admissions approach which endeavors to encapsulate a multifaceted perspective of prospective students by factoring in both academic milestones and personal narratives. While this approach emerges as a promising alternative, we also discuss its innate challenges, especially concerning ensuring objectivity and uniformity. By evaluating these methodologies within the contemporary admissions ecosystem, the study emphasizes the urgency for transformative admissions strategies that champion both diversity and equity. In the realm of higher education admissions, the efficacy and equity of standardized testing have long been subjects of contention. Initially designed to provide a uniform measure of student achievement, these tests are now under scrutiny for potentially perpetuating socio-demographic disparities. As institutions grapple with the implications of such biases, there’s a growing inclination towards more holistic admissions approaches that aim to capture the multifaceted nature of a student’s potential. This paper delves into the inherent challenges and biases of standardized tests, examines the nuances of the holistic admissions approach, and explores the interplay between the two in the modern admissions landscape.

The Multidimensional Impact of Teachers on Students

Test score measures of teacher quality may not fully capture teachers’ impact on students. We use test score and non–test score measures of student achievement and behavior to estimate multiple dimensions of teacher quality. We find that these two measures of teacher quality are only weakly correlated and that both affect students’ high school performance. A teacher removal simulation that uses both measures improves most long-term student outcomes by over 50%, compared to a policy that uses test scores alone. Our results also show that for high school outcomes the effects of teachers in later grades are larger than those in earlier grades and that performance in core elementary school subjects matters more than that in other subjects.

Methodologies to reveal young Australian Indigenous students’ mathematical proficiency

A 7-month mathematics proficiency program was conducted in a primary Australian Indigenous community school. This paper focuses on outlining the specific methodologies employed to explore how students’ mathematical proficiency changed throughout the implementation of the program in Years 2 to 4 (~ 7 to 9 years old). A mixed methods research design was utilised, and findings will be presented to evidence how the combination of standardised tests, diagnostic tests, and Newman interviews were useful in capturing and making visible young Indigenous student’s mathematical proficiency. Whilst standardised tests provided a useful and comparable measure of student achievement, diagnostic tests and Newman interviews gave space for Indigenous student voice and demonstrated their strengths and areas for improvement in relation to their conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and strategic competence. From these findings, recommendations concerning the adjustment of data collection procedures for young students in this setting are presented. The findings question the accuracy of standardised tests in revealing young students’ proficiency, and this has implications for the extent to which standardised tests are relied upon to inform educational reform particularly for Indigenous students. Striving for equitable educational outcomes is an important endeavour in Australia, and such undertakings must be driven by meaningful and accurate evidence of students’ proficiency in mathematics.

Implementation Factors and Their Influence on Student Mathematics Outcomes

Assessing implementation allows for a better understanding of an intervention's effects and the mechanisms that influence its impact. Two main areas of implementation are (a) the quality with which an intervention is delivered and (b) instructors’ adherence to the programmed intervention. The current study used data from a kindergarten mathematics intervention program to (a) examine if and how treatment adherence was associated with implementation quality and (b) explore implementation measures’ relation to student mathematics outcomes. Results indicated high implementation scores across time for both adherence and quality. Neither treatment adherence nor implementation quality was found to relate to a general outcome measure of student mathematics achievement; however, both were similarly related to the curricular–aligned measure.

Prediction of differential performance between advanced placement exam scores and class grades using machine learning

IntroductionPast studies have found students to perform differently between class grades and standardized test scores – two essential and complementary measures of student achievement. This study examines predictors of the relative performance between these two measures in the context of the advanced placement (AP) program, namely, we compared students’ AP exam scores to the class grade they received in the corresponding AP course. For example, if a student received a high AP class grade but a low AP exam score, what characteristics about the student or their learning context might explain such discrepancy?MethodsWe used machine learning, specifically random forests, and model interpretation methods on data collected from 381 high school students enrolled in an AP Statistics course in the 2017–2018 academic year, and additionally replicated our analyses on a separate cohort of 422 AP Statistics students from the 2018–2019 academic year.ResultsBoth analyses highlighted students’ school and behavioral engagement as predictors of differential performance between AP class grades and AP exam scores.DiscussionAssociations between behavioral engagement and differential performance suggest that the ways in which a student interacts with AP course material to obtain high class grades can differ from study habits that lead to optimal performance on the AP exam. Additionally, school-level differences in relative performance pose equity concerns towards the use of AP exam scores in high-stakes decisions, such as college admissions. Implications are discussed from a pedagogical and policy perspective.

Is There a Benefit to Upper Elementary Departmentalization? A District Level Analysis

The shift from the traditional self-contained classroom to the departmentalized classroom structure in upper-elementary classrooms is increasing as the pressure to maximize student outcomes is higher than ever for public schools. Teachers prefer departmentalization but findings as to its benefits for students are mixed. This study considers the relationship between classroom structure and student achievement and whether the relationship varies by student socio-economic status. Using fourth grade data from one school district in Florida, we use Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and logistic regression to examine the relationship between departmentalization and three measures of student achievement based on the Florida Standards Assessment. The findings indicate a negative relationship between all three measures of student achievement and classroom structure with some variation by student socio-economic status.

Comparative Analysis of online and face‐to‐face Human Anatomy and Physiology Courses as a Measure of Student Achievement in Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program

Comparative Analysis of online and face‐to‐face Human Anatomy and Physiology Courses as a Measure of Student Achievement in Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program

Item Difficulty as a Source of Variability in Student Achievement in the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE): Application of Generalizability Theory

Students’ achievement in core subjects in the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) has been a subject of concern for stakeholders due to poor performance. The purpose of this study is to assess whether item difficulty is a significant source of variability to the measurement of students’ achievement in WASSCE in Ghana, using the generalizability theory. The study had three specific objectives: (1) to examine the sources of variability (e.g., item) to students’ achievement in WASSCE in Ghana, (2) to assess the dependability of students’ responses in relation to their ability, (3) evaluate how many items are sufficient to provide an optimum measure of student achievement. The one-facet crossed random design was adopted as the research design. Data were obtained from students’ achievement in 2015 WASSCE in the four subjects, namely, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and English Language. The generalized analysis of variance (GENOVA) was used for the analysis, conducting both G-study and D-study. The analysis revealed that the findings from this study showed that item difficulty had minimal effect on the variability in students’ achievement in English Language and Mathematics. The result further revealed that item difficulty had a significant effect on variability in students’ achievement in Science and Social Studies. Only the English Language test showed relatively low reliability. The study recommended the item difficulty and content structure of the Science and Social Studies multiple-choice test should be evaluated by WAEC officials and their examiners.

Leadership for Family and Community Engagement: A Qualitative Policy Analysis of State Principal Evaluation Processes

Purpose: The primary purpose of this policy analysis is to examine how states changed their principal performance evaluation systems since the passage of Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. In particular, we focus on whether states have capitalized on the flexible policy landscape to make space for meaningful family and community engagement (FCE) in assessing principals’ effectiveness. Research Methods: This study uses document analysis to review the structure of principal evaluation systems in all 50 states and selects 17 revised systems for a deeper review of their approach to leadership for partnering with families and communities. Findings: A plurality of states have not substantively revised their evaluation systems. Several of the revised systems narrowly focused on instructional leadership and student achievement measures and were thus unsupportive of meaningful FCE and federal policy aims for schools to work in partnership with family and community stakeholders. The principal evaluation systems most supportive of authentic family and community engagement allowed for flexible goal setting and explicitly encouraged the use of stakeholder feedback as evidence of principals’ effectiveness. Implications for Research and Policy: The authors discuss the implications of the results in terms of 1.) expanding definitions of educational leadership to include tenets of authentic FCE, 2.) creating coherent yet compendious systems for school improvement, and 3.) planning for and implementing a developmental approach to the evaluation of school leaders.

Mathematics’ Conceptual Knowledge of for Form Four Daily School Students in District of PetalingUtama, Selangor

This study aimed to examine the level of students' conceptual knowledge on mathematics. In addition, the difference between conceptual knowledge based on gender and program was also studied. Measurement of knowledge is based on the Conceptual Knowledge Test (CKT). A total of 350 respondents were selected from five daily secondary schools in PetalingUtama, Selangor as a sample of the study. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis to find out the level of variables measured. In order to identify the main effects and interactions between gender and program variables, inference analysis is a two-way ANOVA test performed for conceptual knowledge dimensions. The findings showed no interaction effects between gender for conceptual knowledge of mathematics (p <.05), but it showed a significant effect on the program (p> .05). In conclusion, mathematical knowledge is very important at the upper secondary level as a high level of mathematical thinking is required to ensure excellent in mathematical achievement.This is essentially as a long time learning system and methods as well as the imitation approach and dependent on the examinations orientation has long been a measure of student achievement. The implication of this study is that basic conceptual knowledge of students' mathematics needs to be enhanced to realize Malaysia's aspiration to be in the top third place in international assessments such as TIMSS and PISA.

Do Teacher Assistants Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence From School Funding Cutbacks in North Carolina

This article examines the influence of teacher assistants and other personnel on outcomes for elementary school students during a period of recession-induced cutbacks in teacher assistants. Using panel data from North Carolina, we exploit the state’s unique system of financing its local public schools to identify the causal effects of teacher assistants, controlling for other staff, on measures of student achievement. We find consistent evidence of positive effects of teacher assistants, an understudied staffing category, on student performance in reading and math. We also find larger positive effects of teacher assistants on achievement outcomes for students of color and students in high-poverty schools than for White students and students in more affluent schools. We conclude that teacher assistants are a cost-effective means of raising student achievement, especially in reading.

Does perceived chess skills mediate the relationship between fluid intelligence and academic performance?

We analysed the association between chess skills and academic performance in primary school students. Additionally, we tested the potential mediating effect of fluid intelligence on this association. The sample consisted of 255 primary school students (48.2% girls), aged between 10 and 12 years, who had received instruction in chess. The students completed fluid intelligence measures and self-reported their chess play abilities. For the academic achievement measure, we accessed the students’ school records. Following mediation analysis, results indicated fluid intelligence to mediate the relationship between chess skills and academic performance in that students with high self-reported chess skills also had higher academic grades. We conclude that chess skills might be a reliable proxy measure of student academic achievement and fluid intelligence.

Principal evaluation in the United States: A national review of state statutes and regulations

The growing recognition of how much principals matter for student learning and how they make a difference has fueled the need to ensure that effective principals are leading every school. One way to achieve this is through principal evaluation, which has experienced significant changes in the last decade. We conducted a national exploratory study (50 states) to document the trends in and provide an illustration of the current situation of states’ principal evaluation policies and practices. Using literature-based themes, our analysis of state statutes and regulations revealed that a majority of states have policies requiring at least one literature-based element. Only four (8%) states had statutes and/or regulations regarding allelements of principal evaluation that have been noted in the literature. Student achievement measures were the most common component—required in 66% of states. In addition, most states required principal evaluators to be trained and principals to be evaluated annually. We propose that future research focuses on the validity and reliability of measures and models used for principal evaluation—two aspects rarely addressed in principal evaluation policies—to ensure principal performance is meeting the needs of students, teachers, and schools.

Academic stars and Energy Stars, an assessment of student academic achievement and school building energy efficiency

Considerable efforts have been made to increase the energy efficiency of school buildings across the country. Despite this, limited research examines the relationship between energy efficiency and student productivity. We use a unique panel dataset from a suburban school district that includes information on school building energy efficiency, measured by Energy Star scores, and other environmental attributes of buildings, as well as measures of individual student achievement, measured by standardized test scores. The empirical analysis controls for student and school fixed effects and evaluates the relationship between school characteristics and achievement. Separate models also evaluate how school characteristics impact student health and behavioral outcomes and the how these outcomes influence student test scores. We find no evidence that Energy Star scores have an impact on the indoor school environment or student performance on standardized tests, suggesting that building energy performance does not come at a cost to the performance of building inhabitants. We also find positive relationships between building thermal comfort and visual quality and standard test scores. Overall, the results highlight the importance of considering both the environmental and human capital impacts associated with decisions about investments in school infrastructure.

Effects of Student Help-Seeking Behaviors on Student Mathematics Achievement.

Using the nationally representative sample from the United States in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (N = 7,429 students from 240 schools), the present study examined the effects of student help-seeking behaviors on eight measures of student mathematics achievement. To account for the multilevel structure of the data with students nested within schools (i.e., students attending different schools), a two-level hierarchical linear model was used in the data analysis. Student help-seeking behaviors showed statistically significant positive effects on all eight measures of mathematics achievement, even after controlling for student characteristics and school characteristics. Furthermore, for all eight measures of mathematics achievement, the positive effects of student help-seeking behaviors on student mathematics achievement are independent of which schools students attend.

Moving the goalposts: the evolution of voucher advocacy in framing research findings

ABSTRACT The primary justification for school voucher programs in the United States has revolved around questions of efficacy, especially relative to student achievement outcomes. More recently, however, a series of studies revealed sizable negative impacts on students enrolled in voucher programs. Collectively, these studies presented an evidentiary sea-change and undercut voucher advocates’ traditional claims regarding achievement impacts, presenting an opportunity for us to examine the strategies used to advance evidence on vouchers in new and traditional media. We identify several such strategies, including highlighting limitations of student achievement measures; explaining negative results through program particulars (e.g. overregulation or inadequate funding); demonizing opponents; and changing the conversation (e.g. switching to normative claims). We note voucher opponents’ activities becoming more frequent and otherwise evolving – e.g. becoming bolder and combining achievement results with other ideas and arguments to oppose voucher programs. Media coverage of voucher programs and research, more generally, fluctuated significantly according to broader political events. These findings reveal how research evidence can be leveraged in policy discussions and advocacy – what we call ‘strategic dissembling’ – whereby advocates and policymakers adjust in real time to changing empirical conditions as part of their long-term efforts to advance a particular policy agenda.

Automated Scoring of Students’ Use of Text Evidence in Writing

AbstractDespite the importance of analytic text‐based writing, relatively little is known about how to teach to this important skill. A persistent barrier to conducting research that would provide insight on best practices for teaching this form of writing is a lack of outcome measures that assess students’ analytic text‐based writing development and that are feasible to implement at scale. Automated essay‐scoring (AES) technologies offer one potential approach to increasing the feasibility of research in this area, provided that the scores yield information about substantive dimensions of writing aligned to new standards and are sensitive to variation in literacy instruction. The authors describe an approach to using AES technologies to provide information about students’ skills at marshaling text evidence in the upper elementary grades. Specifically, the authors examined 1,529 responses to a response‐to‐text assessment (RTA) from 65 fifth‐ and sixth‐grade language arts classrooms, from which the authors also collected data on instruction via logs, text‐based writing assignments, and surveys. Through correlational, univariate, and multilevel multivariate analyses, the authors found validity evidence supporting automated scoring of the RTA: The authors found close correspondence of human and AES scores, alignment of AES scores with components of instruction that the authors expected would predict variation in students’ writing quality, and association between AES scores and other expected measures of student achievement. These findings provide encouraging evidence that AES technologies as applied to the RTA can generate valid inferences about students’ ability to marshal text evidence in writing and, thus, could be a useful tool for advancing large‐scale writing research.

Design and Content Validation of Three Setting-Specific Assessment Tools for Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences

Objective. To develop and validate three assessment tools to measure student performance in clinical settings during required advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs). Methods. Each assessment tool was developed by subject-matter experts and validated using three sources of evidence. Proposed content underwent a job-task analysis by external APPE preceptors, evaluating each outcome in terms of importance and frequency of opportunity for student demonstration. After implementation, tool performance was evaluated using a measure of item applicability and student achievement. Finally, a two-step grade verification process was developed and grade acceptance by preceptor was determined. A priori benchmarks for acceptable tool performance were established for each strategy. Results. The job-task analysis was completed by 131 preceptors (52% response), with items achieving a composite score from 1.08 to11.83 (possible range: 1=most valuable, 25=least valuable). The mean item applicability ranged from 91.3% to 94.1% (n=849 student assessments) during the first year. Preceptors accepted the tool-generated grade in 798 (94%) assessments. Conclusion. Data from three evaluation strategies provide evidence of effective design and use of three unique APPE setting-specific student assessment tools. Pharmacy programs can adopt similar methodologies to develop and validate their assessment tools.

Why ESSA has been reform without repair

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was designed to remedy the wrongs of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Yet Andrew Saultz, Jack Schneider, and Karalyn McGovern explain that, so far, it has failed to fundamentally alter how the federal government interacts with schools. They discuss the need for federal authority over issues of equity in education and how federal authority has expanded over time, leading to the accountability movement, which, under NCLB, required schools to provide quantifiable measures of student achievement. Although ESSA was touted as a return of control to the states, states are still held accountable for testing requirements, reporting data, and sanctioning underperformance. The authors recommend instead a model of rigid flexibility, in which centralized offices might require certain activities but allow schools some choice in determining specific goals.