Examinando formas de hacer evaluación: Un acercamiento desde la teoría de respuesta del ítem para educadores de profesores

El presente estudio examina como distinguir de manera significativa y sistemática los niveles de evaluación de conocimiento en aula entre profesores practicantes, utilizando un marco de progresión del aprendizaje. Guiados por principios nacionalmente reconocidos sobre el desarrollo y adquisición de evaluación en aula (CAL por sus siglas en inglés), el instrumento fue usado para identificar las diferencias cualitativas y cuantitativas sobre evaluación de aula de educadores principiantes. Los resultados de rendimiento en la escala presenta nuevas direcciones para modelar el entrenamiento de los profesores practicantes y sus progresiones en este complejo ámbito. Los descubrimientos preliminares resultan relevantes para educadores que utilicen evaluaciones y estén interesados en usos diagnósticos y formativos del instrumento presentado para evaluar el crecimiento de los profesores practicantes

Language and Literacy Trajectories for Dual Language Learners (DLLs) with Different Home Languages: Linguistic Distance and Implications for Practice

Using a large sample of longitudinal assessment data from children in publicly funded infant/toddler care, preschool, and kindergarten (analytic N = 453,468), this study modeled language and literacy trajectories from early infancy through kindergarten for dual language learners (DLLs) from homes representing many different languages and their peers from monolingual English-speaking homes. DLLs and their monolingual peers showed common developmental trajectories, including an initial period of rapid growth that slowed between 10 and 30 months, plateaued between 30 and 45 months, and then accelerated from 45 to 60 months of age. Although the general developmental patterns were similar, differences emerged between children in English-speaking versus non-English speaking homes: DLLs’ growth rates slowed more than their monolingual peers’ between 10 and 30 months but then grew more sharply after 45 months. A linguistic distance hypothesis helped to explain the magnitude of the differences between groups of DLLs and their monolingual peers. The differences occurred as children passed through specific developmental levels of the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) assessment’s learning progressions. The current study adds new quantitative information about language and literacy trajectories from early infancy through kindergarten among children from different language backgrounds and demonstrates how the findings may be applied to support effective instruction with culturally and linguistically diverse children

How Chinese and American Students Construct Explanations of Carbon-Transforming Processes

Previous studies reported a learning progression that described the development of American students’ explanations of carbon-transforming processes. This study examined the validity of this learning progression for Chinese middle school students. The comparison of American and Chinese students’ performances showed both similarities and differences between the two groups. They shared similar general trends in their learning progressions from simple force-dynamic accounts to scientific model-based reasoning. Most students did not construct model-based explanations: (1) they did not trace matter and energy separately, and (2) they did not connect phenomena at the macroscopic scale to mechanisms at the cellular and atomic-molecular scale. There were some key differences. These differences might be due to culture, exam systems, or other aspects of science education in these two countries. Implications for improving science education in each country are discussed.status: publishe