Global Learning Division

Race to the Top (RTTT) creates concerns for researchers and teachers because of its emphasis on high-stakes testing and the continued lack of collaboration among educators, researchers, and policy makers. These laws reflect Foucault's notion of governmentality due to the approach taken to meet the aims of both the Bush and Obama administrations. This four-step study looked into the impact No Child Left Behind (NCLB) had on preservice teacher preparation based on the integrated math-science (IMS) model. A review of the literature identified 16 studies on IMS that provided the basis for a national survey to determine the reasons for offering IMS, the successes and challenges of the model, and the future of IMS at their higher education institutions (HEI). The number of IMS courses was lower than found in catalogs and the overall rate of IMS courses during 2004-05 was comparable to that in the 1950s.

External reviews of higher education institutions focus on verifying or clarifying performance and results based on mission, criteria, or clearly stated or implied set(s) of standards. Moreover, there is increased interest in program-level accreditation to support and demonstrate enhanced quality; the review process at this level also is based on meeting internal and external criteria and/or standards. The Center for Psychology in Schools and Education (1997) recommends that effective learning should include multiple assessments for diagnostic, process, and outcome purposes. There are national and international associations who advocate certain assessment strategies to ensure appropriate documentation of student performance; however, because these are not involved in the accreditation or audit process the strategies may or may not be elements of the criteria used for review purposes. Organizational theory suggests that organizational behavior is based on previous reality generated from the stream of experience; previous experience argues for regulatory compliance for fear of sanction ranging from conditions, such as refusing reaffirmation or granting of initial approval. Indicators and metrics in this minimaxing regime prioritize data for performance reviews over accurately measuring student learning. Universities thus err on the side of caution, focusing more on traditional testing methodology instead of recognizing the usefulness of different assessment techniques as feedback that enhances student learning as well as documenting student learning itself. This paper discusses the tension between regulatory compliance and good design for student learning and its effect on assessment strategies. It also posits suggestions on how to mitigate some of the effects in order to balance institutional, faculty, and individual learner needs.

The Australasian Council on Open Distance and E-learning (ACODE) benchmarks were the first major attempt, in an Australasian context, to bring a consistent framework to the use of e-Learning at higher education institutions (HEIs). Successful as these were, given the HEI need to interpret the benchmarks differently in accordance to institutional culture, they were not able to fully capture measures of quality of technology enhanced learning (TEL). Ongoing research is demonstrating that distributed leadership can prove to be an additional dimension in establishing quality measures pertinent to TEL activity at HEIs based on identification of role and boundary of activities within a university to help attest to internal efforts and support (fiscal, human, programmatic, and technical) driving the TEL offerings provided by universities.