Questions and inquiry methods in research

Literacy seeks to give a child competence not expertise. Briefly describe the difference between the two.

Competence in literacy is the ability to meet standards of performance in reading and writing (e.g. grade level or reading/comprehension level). Competence is the basic abilities gleaned, and implies that one has reached a level in which they are comfortable. Expertise, however, goes beyond competence and implies a surpassing of standards, the ability to excel in performance or pedagogy for the subject at hand. The measures are of degree -- one might read at a 4th grade level and be competent, but for a certain task one might need expertise in that area. Similarly, certain materials are assessed at levels that require a certain competency, but are more accessible with a higher level of expertise (Ackerman and Beier, 2003).

Describe at least two methods of self-assessment and the situation in which they would be appropriate.

Self-Assessment is the process in which you learn more about yourself, your skills, what your learning style and preferences might be, and how you might react in certain situations. Essentially, it is the process of gathering information about yourself that allows you to make decisions about your personal goals, expertise in subject matter, etc. One popular method is a self-assessment narrative essay in which a description of accomplishments related to performance objects is noted. This type would be useful in a performance review situation. Another self-assessment might be a psychological personality inventory, such as the Myers Briggs, that would aid the individual in understanding the styles they bring to the organization and/or what basic strengths and weaknesses to acknowledge or mitigate (Stern, et.al., 1998).

3. What are some of the advantage of Large Scale Assessments? Give at least 3 and explain them.

Large Scale Assessments are tests that are administered to large numbers of students, at the city, state, or district level. They are designed not so much to render individual measurement for the instructor (although this is not true for college boards), but to find strengths and weaknesses in programs, demographics, or other cross tabulated data sets. Typically, large scale assessment programs are designed to measure accountability of information and competency. Some examples are:

NAEP -- National Assessment of Educational Process. -- A periodic assessment of student progress development by the U.S. Department of Education. Covers math, science, reading, literacy, and by 2012 world history and foreign language where appropriate. Does not supply scores for individual students, but population cross-tabulated data.

WISC -- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children -- Used for children between 6 and 16 to generate an IQ score; ten core and 5 supplemental subject areas. May be used to rank students or understand their learning disabilities.