Assessment and Accountability in Education in Ontario

In recent years, Ontario has joined many other provinces in grappling with the issues of assessment and accountability. Although Ontario does not have a long-standing history of standardized assessment or testing, a ferment of activity has occurred since the mid-1980s. This activity has included a number of program reviews (in different subjects areas, using sampling techniques), a literacy assessment in grade 9, and examination reviews in the final secondary year. The next few years will be important ones as Ontario tries to juggle the critical issues associated with changing social, economic, and political conditions; with the role of teachers in assessment; with the complexity and difficulty of communicating with a widely varied audience; and with interpreting and using assessment results wisely. Au cours des dernières années, l’Ontario s’est penché, à l’instar de nombreuses autres provinces, sur les questions d’évaluation et de responsabilité. Bien que l’Ontario n’ait pas une longue tradition en matière d’évaluation ou de tests standardisés, des activités en ce sens ont commencé à surgir depuis le début des années 80. Elles comprennent bon nombre d’analyses de programmes (dans différentes matières, à l’aide de techniques d’échantillonnage), l’évaluation des capacités de lecture et d’écriture en 9e année et des analyses des résultats d’examen à la fin du secondaire. Les années qui viennent seront importantes puisque l’Ontario tentera de faire face aux questions essentielles associées à l’évolution des conditions sociales, économiques et politiques, au rôle des enseignants dans l’évaluation, à la complexité et à la difficulté de communiquer avec un auditoire très varié et à l’interprétation et à l’utilisation judicieuses des résultats des évaluations.

Occupational Stress And Functioning Among Women Elementary School Teachers: A Model Including Personality Traits, Coping, Social Support And Life Stress

In this study, a comprehensive questionnaire was developed and sent to a random sample, stratified by age and marital status, of 1160 women elementary school teachers in Ontario. The data derived from their responses provide a description of occupational stressors, social support structures, personality traits, coping mechanisms, major life events and health status for women elementary school teachers in Ontario. The relationships between occupational stress and physical and mental dysfunction, job satisfaction and job effectiveness were also examined within the context of a model that includes these other variables.;Occupational stressors are related to mental dysfunction, symptoms, job satisfaction and job effectiveness but not to chronic conditions or illness-related behaviour like missing work or seeking treatment. Personality, social support, coping and life events are all related to either occupational stressors or dysfunction but there is little support for the kinds of interactive effects that would suggest an exacerbating or buffering effect of any of these variables with occupational stressors.;The findings also highlight the complexity of the stress process when multivariate analysis techniques are used to examine all of the variables in the model together. When they are all examined jointly the associations among the independent variables change their relationships with the dependent variables. These findings reinforce the need for clearer conceptualization and measurement within the stress research area

Assessing Conceptual Orientations in Teacher Education Programs

A well-defined conceptual framework helps identify a program’s central tasks, such as helping teachers become intellectual leaders, promoting the primacy of experience and/or developing a progressive social vision in teachers. This type of conceptual clarity provides guidance to teacher educators in program development and evaluation by identifying issues or tasks that specific programs should address (Feiman-Nemser, 1990). Conceptual orientations research has typically relied on the analyses of course syllabi to infer a program’s emphases. The degree to which a program fosters knowledge acquisition in a particular area may or may not conform to these course/program descriptions. Direct data gathered from students can help address the issue of espoused versus enacted curriculum. However, students’ voices have been noticeably absent from conceptual orientation research within teacher education programs. This paper describes the instrument development and process for assessing conceptual orientations using a structured questionnaire with student teachers. Qualitative data that was used to help validate the survey as well as the statistical properties that attest to the soundness of the instrument will also be presented. The discussion outlines various applications of the developed instrument and proposes future areas of research

Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions of Conceptual Orientations in Their Preservice Program

Using interviews, focus groups, and observations, we examined teacher candidates’ understanding of the conceptual orientations that defined their preservice program and practicum experience. Using Feiman-Nemser’s (1990) framework, we analyzed our data to determine the dominant perspectives of teacher candidates. Results indicated congruence between the orientations (i.e., critical/social and personal) of their preservice program and teacher candidates’ conceptions of their professional development. The results also suggested that conceptual orientations may not all be equally used in practice. Teacher candidates reported that the critical/social orientation was often not supported by their associate teachers and was particularly difficult to implement in math and science subject areas. Data also suggested that the implementation of the personal orientation depended on a prolonged experience within schools, which teacher candidates reported they were lacking. Keywords: preservice teacher education, conceptual orientation, field-based teacher education, constructivist teaching, practicum À l’aide d’entrevues, de discussions en groupe et d’observations, les auteurs ont cherché à cerner la compréhension qu’ont les futurs enseignants des orientations conceptuelles qui définissent leur programme de formation et leurs stages. Analysant les données recueillies à l’aide du cadre de Feiman-Nemser (1990), ils ont mis en lumière les principaux points du vue des candidats à l’enseignement. Les résultats indiquent une congruence entre les orientations (critique/sociale et personnelle) du programme de formation à l’enseignement et les idées que se font les candidats à l’enseignement au sujet de leur perfectionnement professionnel. Les résultats donnent également à penser que les orientations conceptuelles ne sont peut-être pas toutes utilisées de manière égale dans la pratique. Les candidats à l’enseignement ont signalé que l’orientation critique/sociale ne reçoit pas souvent l’appui des enseignants associés et était particulièrement difficile à mettre en œuvre en mathématiques et en sciences. Les données recueillies semblent également indiquer que le recours à l’orientation personnelle suppose une expérience prolongée dans les écoles, ce qui fait défaut, comme l’ont fait remarquer les candidats à l’enseignement. Mots clés : formation à l’enseignement, orientation conceptuelle, formation à l’enseignement sur le terrain, enseignement constructiviste, stage

COMPARING PERFORMANCE‐BASED ACCOUNTABILITY MODELS: A CANADIAN EXAMPLE

The intention of Performance‐Based Accountability (PBA) policies is to foster school changes to enhance student learning and success. The influence of variation in these approaches, however, has not been empirically determined. This article employs a new conceptual framework to describe PBA models and compare them across con‐ texts. We conducted a comparative analysis, finding three kinds of PBA models exist in Canada. In this article, we consider the policy‐level contextual differences coordi‐ nating large‐scale, provincial, student testing and the use of results, using Canada as an example. Key words: large‐scale assessment, policy, using data for decision making, standards L’intention des politiques de responsabilisation basée sur la performance (RBP) est de favoriser, au sein de l’école, des changements qui améliorent l’apprentissage et le succès des élèves. L’influence de la variation dans ces approches n’a pas été déter‐ minée de manière empirique. Dans cet article, les auteures présentent un nouveau cadre conceptuel pour décrire les modèles de RBP et les comparent dans divers con‐ textes. Leur analyse comparative leur a permis de découvrir l’existence de trois types de modèles de RBP au Canada. Prenant le Canada comme exemple, les auteures se penchent ici sur les différences contextuelles au niveau des politiques quant à la coor‐ dination des épreuves communes provinciales et à l’utilisation des résultats. Mots clés : épreuves communes, utilisation de données pour la prise de décisions, normes

Math Modeling in Educational Research: An Approach to Methodological Fallacies

Math modeling is currently at the focus of educational methodologists\u27 attention. However, little is known about the extent to which principles of the math modeling lead to methodological fallacies in educational research. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and principles of math modeling and to examine its application in educational research according to transcendental realism theory. The conclusion of the article suggests some methodological fallacies in educational research. Finally, the implications of the fallacies in educational research are considered

The Case for Participatory Evaluation

Participatory evaluation is presented as an extension of the stakeholder-based model with a focus on enhancing evaluation utilization through primary users’ increased depth and range of participation in the applied research process. The approach is briefly described and then justified from theoretical and empirical bases. The literature on organizational learning provides theoretical support for participatory evaluation stemming primarily from the view that knowledge is socially constructed and cognitive systems and memories are developed and shared by organization members. Twenty-six recent empirical studies were found to support an organizational learning justification of the model. Studies were classified into one of six emergent categories: conceptions of use; effects of participation on the use of research; effects of participation on the use of disseminated knowledge; effects of research training; school-university partnerships; and internal evaluation. Requirements of organizations and evaluators and an agenda for research are discussed

Learning Networks of Schools: The key enablers of successful knowledge communities

In an effort to intentionally create the level of deep learning necessary for practitioners to make meaningful changes in their classrooms, professional networks are increasingly being promoted as mechanisms for knowledge creation that can makes a difference for students. This paper explores the way networks function by testing a theory of action within the Network of Performance Based Schools (NPBS) in British Columbia, Canada. It presents networks as collaborative systems that support particular ways of working and find expression within two distinct organizational units – the network itself and its participant schools.Dans le but de créer un niveau d’apprentissage en profondeur (deep learning) nécessaire aux intervenants pour que ces derniers apportent des changements importants dans les salles de classe, les réseaux professionnels sont de plus en plus promis comme des mécanismes de création du savoir qui peuvent susciter le genre de changements qui feront une différence pour les élèves. Cet article permet d’explorer le mode de fonctionnement des réseaux en faisant l’essai d’une théorie de l’action au sein du réseau Network of Performance Based Schools (NPBS) en Colombie-Britannique, au Canada. Il décrit les réseaux comme des systèmes collaboratifs qui appuient des façons particulières de travailler et qui trouvent une application dans deux unités organisationnelles distinctes – le réseau lui-même et ses écoles participantes