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We are Barbara B. Howard from Appalachian State University and Don Klinger of Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. We are professors and work with the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation.  We would like to report on the Classroom Assessment Standards that were developed by the  Joint Committee.  The Joint Committee uses a systematic process to develop well vetted standards in a variety of areas of evaluation. A variety of organizations and individuals interested in evaluation and assessment are part of the Joint Committee. The classroom assessment standards were based on research and reviews by those who conduct research in classroom assessment. The standards are a product of a comprehensive effort to reach consensus on what constitutes sound principles that guide the fair assessment of students and foster learning of PK–12.

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The Classroom Assessment Standards statements are organized into three broad domains:

• Foundations: six standards that encompass the basis for developing and implementing sound and fair classroom assessment practices focused on the students.
• Use: five standards that align with the assessment process and follow a logical progression from the selection and development of classroom assessments to the communication of assessment results.
• Quality: six standards that will help yield results that are accurate and reliable, are free of bias, and include all students.

Teachers can use classroom assessment results with increased confidence when their classroom assessment practices meet these 17 standards. The focus of the standards at the classroom level stems from the belief that strong and continuous learning requires consistent daily attention to gather, analyze, and effectively use accurate assessment information to guide instruction leading to student learning. The primary intended users are the PK-12 classroom teachers. These standards are not intended to be used for standardized testing or any other state or local tests that do not fall directly under the control of the classroom teacher.

Rad Resource: The final draft of these standards may be found here and may be downloaded and used by classroom teachers, staff developers, administrators, or any other educator working directly with classroom assessment. The final version will be published later in 2013. Until the release of the final version, we welcome any comments or suggestions.

The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Consortium for Research on Educational Assessment and Teaching (CREATE) week. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from members of CREATE. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

Related posts:

1. Xiaomei Song on Evaluating a Large-Scale High-Stakes Testing System from the Stakeholder Perspective
2. Lori Wingate on the Use of the Program Evaluation Standards for Metaevaluation
3. Mary Talbut on Testing What You Teach

The West Bank is experiencing rising instability and insecurity that palliative measures can help contain but can neither reverse nor end in the absence of a broad political settlement.

CDKN’s latest edition of Climate and Development Outlook (May 2013) turns the spotlight on the global climate negotiations, as nations gather in Bonn for meetings of the UNFCCC.

How can aid better support developing country governments to delivery public services? This report proposes a new way to deliver aid that strengthens incentives for performance in the public sector.

This ODI and Agriculture for Impact event will launch two new publications discussing how to help smallholder farmers to make better links to markets in Africa.

Posted by Kubai Khasiani and Florence Kuteesa A growing number of Parliaments in Commonwealth African countries are casting off their Westminster inheritance and demanding a greater role of parliaments in budget decision-making. The last decade has seen restive backbenchers in...

The rise of civilian militias to combat lawlessness will make it harder than ever to defeat the cartels unless the government regulates the vigilantes.

I’m Sandy Horn, the Senior Educator Support Specialist for SAS® EVAAS®, which has been providing Value Added reporting for states, districts, schools, and teachers for more than twenty years.

Value Added analyses have become part of the accountability model in many states and districts in the past few years, due, at least in part, to the desire to insert a measure of fairness and reason into a system that, in the past, has relied primarily on raising all students to certain levels of attainment, a practice that puts advantaged schools at an additional advantage over those serving disadvantaged students.  Certainly, not all so-called Value Added models are sufficiently sophisticated to provide valid and reliable measures of student progress, but there are studies and papers that speak to that issue.  I will only say that a few, of which EVAAS is one, have been found to be totally capable of providing those measures.

When the focus is on progress, as it is when looking at effectiveness through a value added lens, the playing field is leveled.  A sufficiently sophisticated value added model can uncouple progress from demographics, demonstrating that, although there is a direct correlation between Achievement and various demographic characteristics (poverty, the number of minority students, etc.), no such relationship exists between Progress and these measures.  So, in addition to providing analyses for accountability measures, value added can also provide reporting that, when used appropriately, can lead to the improvement of progress for students, when practitioners understand what the data has to offer.

Here are some things I’ve learned from thousands of presentations, training sessions, and interactive web conferences with district and school administrators and with individual educators and teams:

Hot Tips:

1. Know your audience and adapt to its needs.  One size does not fit all.  Language and content appropriate for statisticians is of little use to a principal attempting to improve the progress of students in Biology or the district-wide planning committee charged with addressing the needs of failing schools.
2. Know the difference between data and policy.  Ensure your audience knows it, too, should policy issues be broached in a discussion about data.
3. Regardless of your audience, what they want to know is:
   1. Is this fair and reliable?
   2. What does it mean?
   3. How can I use it to accomplish my goals?
   4. How can I teach and encourage others to use it?
4. Support is vital, if data is to make a difference.  People need a person to ask.  Provide your contact information.  Be responsive.

The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Consortium for Research on Educational Assessment and Teaching (CREATE) week. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from members of CREATE. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

Related posts:

1. MN EA Week: Alex Chan on Adding Value to Value-Added
2. S Mooshegian on Making the Most Out of Kirkpatrick’s Lvl 1 Measurement in the Classroom
3. GOVT Week: David Bernstein on Top 10 Indicators of Performance Measurement Quality

This chapter in the book 'Maximising the Impact of Research: The NCCR North-South Approach', discusses the impact of research, how to prove it and how to assess whether it works.

This report emphasises the value of integrating a life cycle approach into the conceptualisation of inclusive growth and employment whereby childhood is considered as a time for learning and development, laying the foundations for future social and economic well-being.

'Perverse incentives are everywhere in African politics: to deal with them we need to think pragmatically about who is the best actor to deliver accountability.'

Expert panelists share their reflections on how a youth-lens to the post 2015 development framework can deliver for wider society.

If the United States chooses to intervene in Syria, "there is no easy solution or middle ground," according to Ray Takeyh.

I’m Marco Muñoz, Evaluation Specialist at Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY) and Past-President of the Consortium for Research on Educational Assessment and Teaching Effectiveness (CREATE). Today, I am writing about evaluations within a large urban school system.

Lessons Learned: In a recent presentation at CREATE, we discussed how heuristic practices help when it comes to evaluation and research practices in a large urban district (see this article). Using case study methodology, we examined accountability, planning, evaluation, testing, and research functions of a research department in a large urban school system. The mission, structural organization, and processes of research and evaluation are discussed in light of current demands in the educational arena. The case study shows how the research department receives requests for data, research, and evaluation from inside and outside of the educational system, fulfilling its mission to serve the informational needs of different stakeholders (local, state, federal).

Four themes related to a school district research department are discussed: (1) basic contextualization, (2) deliverables of work, (3) structures and processes, and (4) concluding reflections about implications for policy, theory, and practice. Topics include the need for having an evaluation model and the importance of having professional standards that guarantees the trustworthiness of data, research, and evaluation information. The multiple roles and functions associated with supplying data for educational decision making is highlighted

Hot Tip: We need to have a framework as well as clear guidelines. Without a doubt, The Program Evaluation Standards is an outstanding source to guide your evaluation work in school systems. In addition, we have to know the difference between research and evaluation and one of the best resources continues to be the now classic book by Fitzpatrick, Sanders, and Worthen entitled Program Evaluation: Alternative Approaches and Practical Guidelines. I would also highly recommend the use of the Encyclopedia of Evaluation edited by Sandra Mathison, since it will help you with quite a bit of topics.

Rad Resource: Daniel Stufflebeam developed a Program Evaluation Checklist. It may be downloaded from the Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University along with a number of other evaluation-oriented checklists.

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If you have any ideas or resources to share regarding evaluations within a large urban school system, please add them to the comments for this post.

The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Consortium for Research on Educational Assessment and Teaching (CREATE) week. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from members of CREATE. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

Related posts:

1. CREATE Week: Jim Van Haneghan on CREATE as a Resource for Educational Evaluators
2. Ed Eval Week: Kelly Murphy on Sensitively Measuring Program Impact
3. Natalia Kosheleva on Measuring The Extent of Program Intervention into Targeted Systems

This ODI Project Briefing examines investment in young people, and its implications for international development policy.

Secretary of State John Kerry gave this speech at the World Economic Forum, in Dead Sea, Jordan, on May 26, 2013. He discussed the Israel-Palestine conflict.

My name is Jim Van Haneghan and I am writing about the Consortium for Research on Educational Assessment and Teaching Effectiveness (CREATE).  CREATE focuses on educational evaluation and is a useful complement to my participation in the American Evaluation Association (AEA).  CREATE was started back in the 1990s by Daniel Stufflebeam and others at the Evaluation Center to support and facilitate effective evaluation practice in educational organizations. Until recently, the organization was named The Consortium for Research on Educational Accountability and Teacher Evaluation.  The board of directors and membership of the organization just approved the recent name change to reflect the organization’s concerns with more than just accountability and teacher evaluation.

Each year CREATE puts on the National Evaluation Institute (NEI), a small national conference featuring internationally known speakers, paper presentations, and the awarding of the Jason Millman award, given to someone who has made major contributions to the field of educational evaluation and assessment.  Last year the award was given to James Stronge from Willliam and Mary who has international expertise in and has written extensively about teacher evaluation.

Lessons Learned: What makes CREATE and the NEI a useful complement to AEA?  First, the small size of the conference makes it easy to build a network of colleagues.  Individuals from higher education, k12 districts, evaluation organizations, and independent consultants are all part of CREATE.

Second, elements of educational evaluation that are not seen as often at AEA appear at CREATE.  For example, the focus on teacher and personnel evaluation systems in education is one area where I have learned extensively through my participation in CREATE.

A third reason to consider the NEI is that there is the opportunity to see, and often speak to, internationally known speakers. Finally, the conference provides an additional outlet for evaluators to share their work in educational evaluation.

Over the past two years CREATE has been engaged in strategic planning to help keep the organization dynamic and current.  We are currently working to redefine and improve our consortium model.  Further, the name change of the organization is an effort to reflect more realistically the current state of what CREATE and the NEI stand for as an organization.

Over the next week, entries from CREATE’s community will appear in AEA365.  If you find these posts valuable you can learn more by visiting the CREATE conference website.  There you can find information about the next NEI (October 10-12 in Atlanta, GA, the week before Evaluation 2013 in Washington, DC) and the organization.

 

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Rad Resource: Many of the invited addresses and talks from past NEI’s can be found in the archives of the web page. Visit those pages to learn more about practices and research surrounding educational evaluation.

The American Evaluation Association is celebrating Consortium for Research on Educational Assessment and Teaching (CREATE) week. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from members of CREATE. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

Related posts:

1. CREATE Week: Marco Muñoz on Evaluation Within a School System
2. LGBT Week: Jason Taylor on the Educational Context for LGBT Youth
3. Ed Eval Week: Tiffany Berry on Resources for Educational Evaluators

My name is Susan Kistler and I am the Executive Director Emeritus of the American Evaluation Association. I am a student of the act of presenting, always on the lookout for ways to improve.

Rad Resource – Haiku Deck: I have been trying out Haiku Deck, an alternative to PowerPoint for creating presentation slide decks. I had read about it in this blog post from Stephanie Evergreen, and Karen Anderson (blogger at On Top of the Box Evaluation), prompted me to give it a try. What a wonderful surprise!

Lessons Learned – Haiku Deck Capabilities: Haiku Deck allows the creation of two basic types of slides:

• Type I – Photo-based Slides: These slides consist of a full-bleed photo and limited text. You have five ‘themes’ from which to choose that change primarily the font, as well as multiple options for text placement. Here are three examples from an upcoming presentation on survey question development at the AEA Summer Institute.

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad

• Type II – Graph-based Slides: These slides take one of three forms – number callouts, donut graphs, and bar charts. I made an example of each of the three below.

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad

Lessons Learned – the Pros of Haiku Deck:

• Outstanding photo search, selection, and recognition: The process of selecting Creative Commons licensed photos from Flickr was easy and fun, and the selections it recommended were excellent without having to wade through hundreds of pictures. Thinking on how much time I have spent finding and cropping pictures, I wish that PowerPoint had this functionality.
• Good design principles for photo-based slides: The photo-based slides look sleek, clean, and modern. They follow the designe guidelines suggested by AEA’s Potent Presentations Initiative. The pictures are high quality and full-bleed – going all the way to the edges of the slides. Text is kept to a minimum. Only two fonts are used and they are complimentary. Things are well-aligned.
• Extremely easy to use: I made a demo deck in the car!
• Free

Lessons Learned – the Cons of Haiku Deck:

• iPad Based: No iPad? No making Haiku Decks, although anyone can view the final decks on the Haiku Deck website.
• Requires Saving to the Web: Thus, you have to have an internet connection and potentially some patience as saving decks full of gorgeous pictures can take time.
• Graph-based Slides are Limited and Less Well Designed: The graph-based slides come in only three flavors and, like the photo-based ones, have very limited editing capabilities, which for me created more of a problem with the graphs than the photos.  Quality design principles are adhered to less closely here, with often too-small fonts and the questionable use of the donut chart.

I will do a follow-up post delving deeper into Haiku Deck in a subsequent week.

Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.

Related posts:

1. Susan Kistler on Tips and Tools for Presentations From Ignite AEA
2. David Urias on a Unique Reflective Tool as an Evaluative Component
3. Susan Kistler on Sites for Free Photos for Great Presentations

تكشف أزمة اللاجئين السوريين في لبنان، والذين يقارب عددهم نصف المليون، من بين ما تكشفه، واقعاً لبنانياً كارثياً تطغى فيه الحسابات الضيقة والمصالح المتفرعة إلى حد تهديد ما تبقى من الدولة والنسيج السياسي والاجتماعي والاقتصادي وحتى الأمني للبلد.

The United States Institute of Peace announced today that Ambassador Johnnie Carson has joined USIP as a senior advisor. Carson stepped down as assistant secretary of state for the bureau of African affairs on March 29, 2013. His work at USIP will continue his focus on African issues and will look at new challenges to Africa’s stability and growth, peacekeeping operations, democracy promotion, and conflict prevention and resolution methods.

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