scholarly journals Policy incentives in Canadian large-scale assessment: How policy levers influence teacher decisions about instructional change

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Derek T. Copp
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Instructional Change ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
Teacher Decisions ◽  
Grade Levels ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Scale Assessment ◽  
Improve Instruction ◽  
Policy Incentives

Large-scale assessment (LSA) is a tool used by education authorities for several purposes, including the promotion of teacher-based instructional change. In Canada, all 10 provinces engage in large-scale testing across several grade levels and subjects, and also have the common expectation that the results data will be used to improve instruction in classrooms. Yet despite agreement between ministries that instructional change based on LSA results is a positive development and employs data-based decision making at its heart, there remain significant differences in the kinds of incentives written into assessment policies in Canada. It is also true that implementation of the policies is less than uniform between schools and school divisions. Using mixed methods (survey data and follow-up interviews), this study examines which policy factors have the most significant impact on teacher decisions regarding the use of data. The findings indicate that highly incentivized policies correlate well to instructional change including aspects of both teaching (to) the curriculum as well as teaching to the test. Since the latter will be examined as a neither an educationally defensible practice nor a stated policy goal, the statement that ‘incentives work’ does not fully capture the nature of these impacts.

scholarly journals The impact of teacher attitudes and beliefs about large-scale assessment on the use of provincial data for instructional change

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek T. Copp
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Teacher Attitudes ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Instructional Change ◽  
Assessment Data ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
Scale Assessment ◽  
The Impact

In the quest to improve measured educational outcomes national governments across the OECD and beyond have instituted large-scale assessment (LSA) policies in their public schools. Controversy almost universally follows the implementation of such testing, related to such topics as: a) the uncertain quality of the tests themselves as psychometrics measures; b) the uses to which the data can and should be put; c) the unintended consequences of test-preparation activities and resulting score inflation; and d) the effects of high-stakes tests on students. Debates of this nature naturally involve and impact the attitudes and opinions of teachers related to their collection and use of these data. This paper examines the impact of these attitudes using both the qualitative and quantitative data from a large-scale research study on Canadian provincial assessment. Data were collected from nation-wide teacher surveys as well as interviews with teachers, administrators and district-level staff. Results show that teacher attitudes about these assessments are strongly correlated to classroom-level instructional change. Three attitudinal factors have significant effects on teaching (to) the provincial curricula, yet none significantly affects the use of less constructive instructional strategies also known as ‘teaching to the test.’ Specifically, the belief that large-scale assessment data have more appropriate uses and the belief that these data could lead to school improvement were significant factors in facilitating change. The implications of these findings are profound in that large-scale assessment policy cannot succeed even by its own standards without more buy in from teaching professionals.

Using Web-based Testing for Large-Scale Assessment

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura S. Hamilton ◽  
Stephen P. Klein ◽  
William Lorie
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
Scale Assessment

scholarly journals Predicting Shifts in Land Suitability for Maize Cultivation Worldwide Due to Climate Change: A Modeling Approach

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 295
Author(s):  
Yuan Gao ◽  
Anyu Zhang ◽  
Yaojie Yue ◽  
Jing’ai Wang ◽  
Peng Su
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Suitability ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
Scale Assessment ◽  
Maize Cultivation ◽  
Large Scale Screening ◽  
Selection Of

Suitable land is an important prerequisite for crop cultivation and, given the prospect of climate change, it is essential to assess such suitability to minimize crop production risks and to ensure food security. Although a variety of methods to assess the suitability are available, a comprehensive, objective, and large-scale screening of environmental variables that influence the results—and therefore their accuracy—of these methods has rarely been explored. An approach to the selection of such variables is proposed and the criteria established for large-scale assessment of land, based on big data, for its suitability to maize (Zea mays L.) cultivation as a case study. The predicted suitability matched the past distribution of maize with an overall accuracy of 79% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.72. The land suitability for maize is likely to decrease markedly at low latitudes and even at mid latitudes. The total area suitable for maize globally and in most major maize-producing countries will decrease, the decrease being particularly steep in those regions optimally suited for maize at present. Compared with earlier research, the method proposed in the present paper is simple yet objective, comprehensive, and reliable for large-scale assessment. The findings of the study highlight the necessity of adopting relevant strategies to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change.

scholarly journals Is environmental legislation conserving tropical stream faunas? A large-scale assessment of local, riparian and catchment-scale influences on Amazonian fish

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 1312-1326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecília G. Leal ◽  
Jos Barlow ◽  
Toby A. Gardner ◽  
Robert M. Hughes ◽  
Rafael P. Leitão ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Legislation ◽  
Tropical Stream ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
Amazonian Fish ◽  
Scale Assessment

Large-scale assessment of masking potential by underwater ship noise the North Sea

2021 ◽  
Vol 150 (4) ◽  
pp. A80-A81
Author(s):  
Jakob Tougaard ◽  
Thomas Folegot ◽  
Christ de Jong ◽  
Emily T. Griffiths ◽  
Alexander M. von Benda-Beckmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
The North ◽  
Scale Assessment ◽  
The North Sea
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