Katherine E. Ryan - Böcker

In recent decades testing has become a much more visible and high-stakes accountability mechanism that is now seen as a powerful tool that can be used to drive school improvement. The purpose of this book is to identify and analyze the key issues associated with test-based educational accountability and to chart the future of educational accountability research. Chapter contributions are intended to be forward looking rather than a compendium of what has happened in the past. The book provides an accessible discussion of issues such as validity, test equating, growth modeling, fairness for special populations, causal inferences, and misuses of accountability data.

"The Ory/Ryan volume offers practical advice for developing, using, and grading classroom examinations. The book encourages faculty to understand the potential benefits they can reap from appropriate and careful testing and grading practices, and the role of testing in promoting quality teaching. . . . it is very helpful and well structured for those faculty who rely on traditional forms of assessment. This book will help such faculty improve their test development and assessment skills as well as encouraging them to reflect on their own testing and grading practices."

--Patricia H. Wheeler in Evaluation Practice

"This [book] provides a thorough discussion of general testing and grading issues. . . . The topics one would expect to be covered are all addressed in a thorough and step-by-step manner. I particularly like the activities accompanying each chapter. They are brief, doable, and inviting. . . . It would be particularly helpful for new faculty, but experienced faculty might also benefit from the discussion of how to evaluate past exams and the pros and cons of various grading policies."

--Shirley Ronkowski, Office of Instructional Consultation,

University of California, Santa Barbara

Do you enjoy teaching students about your field, but loathe the testing and grading process? Do you find yourself using the same kinds of tests that you had as a student? Aimed at helping faculty develop more effective assessment strategies, Ory and Ryan's book provides practical suggestions for developing, using, and grading classroom exams. Through the use of detailed examples, check lists, exercises, and lucid explanations, this book will help you determine what content to include on an exam, assess difficulty level of items, write different kinds of test items (multiple-choice, matching, true-false, essay, and short answer), prepare a professional-looking exam, deal with cheating, score different test items, determine if various content areas were adequately taught, help students review for an exam, select a grading method, and develop your own grading strategy. If you want your exams and grades to be an accurate reflection of the material your students have mastered, then this book is the resource for you.

In recent decades testing has become a much more visible and high-stakes accountability mechanism that is now seen as a powerful tool that can be used to drive school improvement. The purpose of this book is to identify and analyze the key issues associated with test-based educational accountability and to chart the future of educational accountability research. Chapter contributions are intended to be forward looking rather than a compendium of what has happened in the past. The book provides an accessible discussion of issues such as validity, test equating, growth modeling, fairness for special populations, causal inferences, and misuses of accountability data.

Bringing together the expertise of top evaluation leaders from around the world, The SAGE International Handbook of Educational Evaluation addresses methods and applications in the field, particularly as they relate to policy- and decision-making in an era of globalization. The comprehensive collection of articles in the Handbook compels readers to consider globalization influences on educational evaluation within distinct genres or families of evaluation approaches.Key FeaturesDiscusses substantive issues surrounding globalization, and its implication for educational policy and practice and ultimately evaluation;Includes state-of-the-art theory chapters and method chapters within scientific, accountability-oriented, learning-oriented, and political genres of evaluation approaches;Provides real-world case exemplar chapters to illustrate core concepts within genres;Extends dialogue on controversial topics and contemporary educational evaluation tensions in the context of globalization;Summarizes, by means of an integration chapter, the issues, tensions and dilemmas confronting educational evaluators in an era of globalization. Serving as a state-of-the-art resource on educational evaluation, this volume is designed for graduate students, evaluation scholars and researchers and professional evaluation practitioners with an interest in educational program and policy evaluation.

An exploration of evaluator role and identity. The areas addressed include: evaluation in an organizational world; evaluation as responsibility, conscience and conviction; the evaluator's role in the transformative context; hidden images of self; and evaluation in dystopian times.