3015753    การประเมินผู้ป่วยด้านกุมารศัลยศาสตร์    Pediatric Surgical Patients Assessment

การประเมินสภาพผู้ป่วยโดยทั่วไป ได้แก่ การประเมินสภาวะสมดุลของน้ำและเกลือแร่ในร่างกาย ประเมินภาวะการติดเชื้อ และการส่งตรวจทางห้องปฏิบัติการ

(General assessment of pediatric patients: fluid and electrolytes, infection, investigation and laboratory test.)

(3015753 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

3015833    การประเมินผู้ป่วยโรคหัวใจและปอด    Cardiothoracic Patients Assessment

ความรู้และทักษะในการซักประวัติ ตรวจร่างกาย และการสั่งการตรวจวินิจฉัยผู้ป่วยโรคหัวใจและปอดเพื่อให้ได้การวินิจฉัยที่ถูกต้อง และแนวทางการรักษาเพื่อให้ได้ผลที่ดีที่สุด

(Knowledge and skills in history taking, psysical examination and examination of cardiothoracic patients for diagnosis and treatment methods for the best results.)

(3015833 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

This year, I am thankful for a few days to relax and get caught up! This break could not have come at a better time: I felt very much like I needed a few days to unwind and get my bearings to be at my best heading into the final 2 weeks of my quarter and the final push toward winter recess for my students. Fortunately, the break came at a time that did not impact the progress of the current unit in math. Amber and I are thus able to charge ahead again on Monday and will finish up Unit 4 (including a culminating project) just in time for the winter holiday recess.

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of chaperoning a field trip with about 80 freshmen to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). In Language Arts and World History, the students are reading “Monster” and studying the great diversity on the continent of Africa. Using Chief Sealth’s partnership with the SAM, we were able to take the students to the SAM for a very specific tour relating to identity and cultural identity. It was different from many tours I have been on in the past in that it was not docent-centered. Each docent began by telling the students about the four key aspects when observing and interpreting art: line, shape, texture, and color. In each gallery then, the students were instructed to choose their favorite piece and tell the group about it with these characteristics in mind. Our group’s docent prompted students with questions such as: “If you could buy any one of these paintings, which one would your choose? Where in your house would you put it? What would you tell your parents about why you chose that particular piece?” This approach seemed like a much more interactive and empowering one for groups touring the museum and kept the attention of the students much longer than I had anticipated.

In the Focus/AVID classrooms, we continued to have a few individuals who still have not filmed their projects. Carrie, Sandi, and I all offered ourselves by appointment before and after school and during lunch to film and expressed the clear consequences of losing 10 points (the equivalent of a letter grade) on this portion of the project each day it was late (up to 4 days at which point there would be no more points available to lose). For this project, I made sure to assign different point values for each phase of the project so that groups and individuals would be assessed throughout the process instead of solely on the final product. Given that students were given handouts with clear due-dates and more than enough in-class time to work, I was disappointed that individuals and one entire group still could not deliver a final, videotaped product. We could not impress upon them the gravity of their choice not to film. Also given that this is the only grade thus far this quarter and constituted a 100 point project, we elected to make sure all grades were inputted before the Thanksgiving break. It is our hope that parents and students alike will be using a few moments over break to check the Source and assess how things are going at school and that posted grades will force some self-reflection (particularly for students who may now see the cause-and-effect relationship of not following through on the project).

Lastly, as the final phase of this project, I asked students to do self- and group member- assessments. I asked for 2 commendations and 2 recommendations that each group member could take with them to their next group project. While some were obviously filled out solely for a grade, I was very impressed and excited to see a few students commending their group members for “not just talking to her friends in the group but for including [her] to.” Especially in a unit about bullying, I was thrilled that a few students had embraced the concepts and already were applying them.

Let’s take this opportunity to review, shall we?
My GED program uses a TABE (Test of Adult Basic Education) assessment (though not the full battery of tests) to determine our students’ math and reading levels. The “locator” is given, and has four possible levels, from E (easy) to A (Advanced). After the locator, the students are given the booklet which corresponds to their level, and they take a partial TABE. This highly reliable, rigorous (not!) assessment places them in either a pre-literacy (0 to 3.5), literacy (3.6 to 5.6), or pre-GED 5.8-6.9). Once they get above a 6.9 in reading, (regardless of their math levels, mind you) they are sent out to a GED prep where they are given a predictor test to determine how they would do on the GED if they were to take it then. Unsurprisingly, few are ready, particularly because their math scores are often still abysmal, and there is no writing requirement for them to attain before proceeding.
To illustrate even further the remarkable stupidity of this arrangement, the same exact TABE exams (locators and booklets, same form) are used after 120 hours of instruction to reassess the students to determine whether they can move on to the next level. (This process goes on over and over again, until the student ages out at 21, or reaches the magic 6.9 reading level. Yessirree, same test, every 120 hours.)
So, basically if a student comes in, locates at an E, takes the test and gets a reading level of 4.2, then progresses in120 hours enough to locate at an M or D and gets the same or a slightly lower score, this is considered somehow valid. By the same token, if a student is with it, and realizes that s/he should deliberately locate to the E book, his or her score can be inflated to reflect false progress.
Great program, right? Oh, yeah, you betcha.
By some weird twist of logic, however, the failure of such a ludicrous set-up is being blamed on — you guessed it — the teachers. The ones who are ignored. The ones who are still in the classroom, while administrators with all the answers (many who are inappropriately credentialed, too young, and/or too inexperienced to know what the hell they are talking about) pass out Individual Professional Development Plans, tell us to “align our lessons with standards,” and insist that certain things must be on the board in order for them to assess whether or not we are teaching. I guess they need some guidance. After all, they wouldn’t know teaching if they saw it without a guidebook from the Powers Above.
“Content standards” across various curricula are common sensical. Yet, somehow referring to a standard that someone gave a number to “Reading for the Main Idea” or “Recognizing and Fixing a Run-On Sentence” makes a lesson more valid if you can refer to the STANDARD. This is key, folks. You don’t want to go off in some weird pedagogical direction without making it really, really clear to the Powers Above that you are USING THEIR MATERIAL. You must be a good little pedagogical automaton. You must bow to the programming of you that they are trying to instill, in their apparent intention to destroy creativity and interest in the classroom, and burn the crap out of teachers so that they leave and make room for the less expensive, idealistic instructors and start the process of beating genuine teaching out of them before they cost too much money.
It’s all a sick, twisted game, and the students to whom they pay lip service when they force these bitter pills down our throats are the ones getting shafted.
They know it all. That’s why they lecture about it, write about it, and hire expensive coaches to teach it. Yet, not one of them will answer the challenge: Come into our classrooms. Use your handbooks, your resource guides, your one-size-fits-all pedagogical paradigms. Show us the results you are so sure we’ll get if we would only listen to you. They’ll never do it. Because they are all FULL OF SHIT, THEORY and PRACTICE are very distant relatives, and these people do not respect teachers. In fact, the better the teacher, the more crap s/he gets.
They’re master baiters, the lot of them: rubbing teachers the wrong way, and baiting us to be reeled in by their lines. No thanks. I would rather swim than flop around on the Titanic while these morons rearrange the deck chairs.

The Orlando Sentinel’s Leslie Postal reports in today’s paper that Florida’s high school end-of-course testing program will be limited to Algebra 1 and 2, biology, and US History because of budget issues.  The biology end-of-course test will be field-tested in 2011 and in 2012 will replace the 11th grade Science FCAT as the high school science test required by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Despite the statement of Education Commissioner Eric Smith to the contrary just a few weeks ago, there is presently no plan to develop and implement end-of-course tests in chemistry, physics and Earth science.  The Commissioner had announced a plan to ask for funding for developing and implementing these three tests as part of the state’s Race to the Top application.  Assistant Deputy Commissioner Kris Ellington then announced that the final regulations for the Race did not allow the state to do so.

During last spring’s legislative session, when a proposal to replace the 11th grade Science FCAT with an end-of-course exam in biology was considered, 106 science professors from around the state sent a letter to Governor Crist saying that “the proposal for a single Biology exam is a clear signal to high schools that there would not be accountability – and therefore no reward – for teaching the physical sciences and the Earth and Space Sciences well.”  Today’s Sentinel report noted that ninety of these professors followed this up during the summer with a white paper arguing that “Rigorous science education is the driver that will transform Florida into a modern economic powerhouse,” and arguing for end-of-course tests in all four science subjects (biology, chemistry, physics and Earth science).

Ellington’s announcement that science end-of-course tests would not be included in the state’s Race to the Top application came shortly after Todd Clark, the FDOE’s Bureau Chief for Curriculum and Instruction, told a meeting of the state’s district administrators that “Florida’s students are pretty much last in the nation for science.”

Each end-of-course test costs about $1.5 million per year to develop and implement.

As you may or may not know, I started my journalism studies this year. We had to write four articles which have been assessed (and several essays as well), and as I have never in my life done anything similar to this, it was quite an experience.

The first one was an interview made in Princes Street Gardens so I grabbed my notebook and my pen and went for my ‘person hunt’. We had to find two persons, elderly or tourists. I decided that the best would be to find an elderly tourist And so I did. The first few people I asked said that they were not interested, they did not want to buy anything. Even the elderly people were not kind and this was a shock for me. Grandma and grandpa are kind… You know what I mean.

After walking my legs off, I finally found a gorgeous couple from Germany. The interview was exciting as I had no idea what to ask from them. Imagine: I had to write an article about a person’s life story… And I am not so good in preparing in advance, in fact, I do not believe you can prepare in advance for an interview if you do not know who the interviewee will be. Anyway, I knew what I wanted to know I just did not have enough experience (especially in English), to ask the proper questions. After a while I got the angle of the story and I was unstoppable. You can check the result here: http://viqe.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/43-year-old-love-story/ .

The second piece was an easier one for me: a profile of a journalist. I felt very lucky as I happen to know a Hungarian journalist (we went to the same University and had classes together), so I could do the interview in Hungarian and did not even have to struggle too much with the questions. We have known each other for three years now and I knew a lot of things about him. Thus, I could prepare my questions in advance as I almost knew his answers as well. This happened to be an hour-long interview which I really enjoyed translating into English. I would love to do this all my life. It was also very comfortable as I did the interview through Skype and I could look into my lecture notes to check if I’m doing my thing right. The outcome: http://viqe.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/a-true-story-of-success-–-csaba-balogh/ .

Our third article was a Parliament report. This was the hardest as I had to cope with the different accents of Mps and also with words I have never heard before. I did not know the politicians either, so I tried to guess their names from the vowels I heard. I was not sure if I could manage but I could even get some quotes. You can check my understanding of Scottish Parliament debate here: http://viqe.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/relief-from-aberdeen-to-inverness/ .

Our final task was a feature for BMI In-flight Magazine. We were asked to write something in connection with Edinburgh or Glasgow. As I work in a hotel restaurant this was not really difficult; I meet tourists every single day, I talk to them, I know why they choose certain restaurants, destinations so I decided to write about something in connection with restaurants. I called the head-chef of the four-star hotel, and we had a chat which I recorded. The result was a 1000-word article about the comfort of hotel restaurants: http://viqe.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/eating-in-out/ .

In the future I would like to make a few changes: I would like to be more prepared as luck will not always accompany me throughout my academic studies. I will also have to get used to the different accents here and this might improve by listening to the radio or going to council meetings…and if I read more newspaper my vocabulary will improve and I will also get to know how certain articles look like, what makes them interesting and what readers want.

It’s almost the end of a long teaching semester. For reasons too long and boring to mention, some of my colleagues and I had to start next semester’s teaching this semester.

The two things that usually happen at the semester’s end are I fall ill and I think about what to do next. So I type now before the flu completely takes over!

One thing that doesn’t usually happen at the end of semester is a huge grading load to process during the break and before the second half of the course resumes next year. This is why I found Siemen’s recent comments on grading and evaluation particularly relevant. Some snippets:

Grading is a waste of time. We only do it in schools and universities. It’s a sorting technique, not truly an evaluation technique. Iterative and formative feedback is what’s really required for learning.

Agreed! Our teacher education university is still in sorting mode but for reasons that are no longer relevant. Why? First, they are selected by interviews (coarse sorting). Second, a few bad apples that beat this filter or the trainees who cannot handle teaching will drop out on their own (self sorting). Third, the sorting is only based on academic results. If anyone wants to sort them out, do so along the lines of their values and attitudes because they must be role models and lifelong learners (yes, values and attitudes can be measured). Lastly, even after they are sorted, teacher trainees graduate and end up in schools irrespective of their grades. It is not as if A-grade teachers end up in some schools and C-grade teachers end up in another. So why sort at all?

Siemens concludes with:

The authors of the HASTAC post are not trying to do away with grading (as I would suggest we should). They are trying to use technology to make grading more “modern” or “in line” with society’s needs today. I think that’s exactly the wrong way to go about it. Question the model, don’t modernize it.

Thought-provoking and something I thoroughly agree with. If you consider the concepts of assessment of, for and as learning, I’d argue that most of what we do is, at best, only assessment of learning. Furthermore, assessment is just a number. Unlike evaluation, the value of that number is not made clear.

So what’s on my agenda? This year my guiding principle as I facilitated the ICT course was to get my teacher trainees to use what their students were already using in terms of technology. Next year my approach will likely be “question the model, don’t modernize it”.

November was busy, and I wrapped up the lessons about 7 elements of art. All classes had at least 7 lessons focusing on the basic elements of art, and some had extra lessons delving into certain concepts more deeply.

My in-school volunteering hours topped 79 this month, for a total of 241 hours so far (that doesn’t include time spent gathering materials, asking for donations, writing lesson plans etc.)

I am currently going through the second -fifth grade art assessments, so I can compare them with the same assessments the students filled out in the beginning of the year. However, one thing is emerging clearly: in the first round of assessments, one student named one element of art. In this more recent round, about 50% of kids can name one element, with about 30% naming 3 or more. It’s not a rote thing I drill into them, so I think they’ve internalized it in terms of the projects we’ve made that focus on each element as the main concept each week.  I am still having tons of fun, and the students are, too.

3020972    การประเมินเทคโนโลยีในการบริการสุขภาพ    Technology Assessment in Health Care

การประเมินเทคโนโลยีที่ใช้ในการบริบาลสุขภาพ, เทคโนโลยีสำหรับการตรวจกรอง การวินิจฉัย, การรักษา

(Assessment of technology used in health care, technology for screening diagnosis, treatment.)

(3020972 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

3020975    การประเมินภาวะโภชนาการ    Nutrition Assessment

การซักประวัติ การตรวจร่างกาย มานุษยมิติ การวัดค่าทางชีวเคมี การสัดทางระบบภูมิคุ้มกัน และการประเมินสมรรถภาพกล้ามเนื้อ การประเมินองค์ประกอบของร่างกาย

(History taking, physical examination, anthropometry, biochemical measurements, immunological measurements, and muscle functional assessment; body composition assessment.)

(3020975 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

I attended my first annual meeting of the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) last week.  Hundreds of folks from across the state came together to hear the latest on school finance, student assessment, view vendor booths and reconnect with friends.

Among the sessions from which to choose was a session on student assessment and the new Iowa Core Curriculum.  Though it started with a connection to the core curriculum the session, like many others, turned a bit when the floor was opened for questions.

Many of the questions focused on resources that might be available for districts (of varying sizes) to use to help make sense of achievement data.  Many of the ideas centered around getting staff, teachers and administrators all focused on assessment and the use of assessment data to improve instruction. 

To help districts look at Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and Iowa Test of Educational Development (ITED) results, the IASB put together an Excel tool that district could use to examine their performance.  The tool can be found at the IASB web site where the side-bar on the left of the page lists Student Achievement as the top item under the Information Center.

At the bottom of the Student Assessment page, there is a heading listed IASB Resources and Tools.  The IASB’s Student Achievement Data Tools is currently listed near the top of the items.

To download the actual tool, you will need to click the “Click here to access the tool.”  The site warns you that it may take a while to download the tool.  This is because the tool actually contains the available ITBS/ITED data for all districts in the state going back a few years.

As shown in the image, there is a pink set of cells that can be adjusted.  Selection for school district, topic (reading or math) and grade allow for many combinations to be explored.  

There are tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet when it opens.  The tabs contain information on Board Roles, the most current (08-09) data, 5-yr historical data, and a cohort option.  The cohort options follows a group over time.  For example, results for a 4th grade group in 08-09 would be tied to 3rd grade results in 07-08.

In addition to connections to the new core curriculum, the interest in assessment is tied to one of the main purposes of a school board – a focus on student learning.  Tools like this one should help school boards and districts get a better handle on how students are performing. 

Dr. Dave

3040709    การประเมินโครงการและการประเมินผู้เรียน    Programme Evaluation and Students Assessment

การประเมินผลลักษณะและรูปแบบของการประเมินผล กลวิธีการรวบรวมข้อมูลและวิเคราะห์ข้อมูล พิจารณาแนวทางในการตัดสินเกี่ยวกับคุณภาพของการประเมินผล ตลอดจนการรายงานผลการประเมิน

(Structure and strategy of evaluation; types and models of evaluation; strategies for collecting and analyzing evaluative information; avenues for judging the quality of evaluation; considerations involved in reporting evaluation results.)

(3040709 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

The National Bureau of Economic Research has released their report on whether (and how) No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has helped increase student achievement. They used NAEP data and compared states that had accountability testing in place prior to NCLB with those that did not when the law was passed. It turns out that math seems to have held the greatest opportunity for change:

We find that NCLB generated large and statistically significant increases in the math achievement of 4th graders (effect size = 0.22 by 2007) and that these gains were concentrated among white and Hispanic students, among students who were eligible for subsidized lunch, and among students at all levels of performance. We find more moderate positive effects in 8th grade math achievement. These effects are concentrated at lower achievement levels and among students who were eligible for subsidized lunch. In contrast, our results suggest that NCLB had no impact on reading achievement among either 4th or 8th graders.

While the findings are great news for some kids, the authors make clear that these results also illustrate that, in fact, lots of kids are still behind. And, of course, the report does a good job describing what has happened but not why (the authors suggest the next directions for follow-up research).

If reading this kind of research is your thing, note that the report has a comprehensive review of the literature on this topic.