Educational Leadership & Student Assessment in Pennsylvania Student assessment has recently become a matter of great controversy in Pennsylvania, as many critics argue that it is not an accurate measure of students' attainment of the state's academic standards. For example, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) is designed to assess the quality of public schools and make the information known to parents, teachers, school districts, and the general public (Commonwealth of

Additionally, administrators need to be trained to recognize appropriate and inappropriate test preparation strategies. Teachers also need to be trained on developing authentic assessments with the same rigor as the state assessments. Popham (2001) suggests the use of multiple measures including writing, open-ended response questions, and performance-based tasks. The use of these types of assessment may provide a more accurate picture of student learning. Additionally, the public must become

Unfortunately, there is great controversy in the debate over educational testing. This especially revolves around SAT scores, and other standardized tests that many believe are placing students at a disadvantage. Recently, SAT scores declined significantly, which made many in power to blame schools as providing inefficient educational programs. As a result, many states began increasing the number of tests and their weight in terms of school funding as a way

Educational Psychology: An Overview The topic of educational psychology, or psychology as it is practiced within a school system, has become increasingly important in recent years as the number of special education demands on school systems and especially public school systems has increased. While educational psychologists tend to work in universities and other research settings rather than in the school system per se, they are continually affected by what is happening

Educational Leadership Select five empirical articles from peer-reviewed journals that you consider critical to your understanding of your specialization In the last several years, educational leadership has become an integral part of helping schools to outperform their peers. This is because the techniques which are utilized will have a dramatic impact on the teacher's ability to connect with stakeholders. To achieve these objectives, they will often turn to those who can inspire

A main goal of both scaffolding and the multiple intelligence curricula is to improve self-esteem that goes hand-in-hand with low achievement. Similarly, the diversity and respect for differences emphasis, is meant to make low achieving students (for whatever reason) less intimidated by others in the classroom. They need to see that they are being respected in the same fashion as anyone else. Regardless of the students and their achievement levels,