Instruments

Displaying 1 - 23 of 23

The ACT is a standardized college admission exam. It measures high school students’ readiness for college and career success by focusing on key content areas such as English, math, reading, and science (with the optional writing section). Multiple-choice questions are used in the English, math, reading, and science sections, and scores are converted into a composite score between 1 and 36. 

ACT also provides score interpretations based on its College and Career Readiness Standards, which can provide secondary schools with information to improve instruction. Furthermore, ACT scores can be compared against College Readiness Benchmarks to determine whether students meet the minimum requirements for college success.

Year developed: 1959.

Category: Academic Knowledge and Skills

Sub-Category: College Readiness

Grades: 11th Grade, 12th Grade

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ACT’s Engage assessments measure motivational, skill, social engagement, and self-regulatory constructs related to academic performance in college. 

Category: Academic Knowledge and Skills

Sub-Category: College Readiness

Grades: 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade, Post secondary

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The Assessing School Settings: Interactions of Students and Teachers observational measure (ASSIST) is a classroom observation instrument that rates social processes occurring in the classroom. The instrument was initially developed to evaluate students' and teachers' behaviors using the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS), however, recent updates have primarily focused on teachers. Teachers' behaviors are rated through event‐based tallies and global ratings. The measure has been used to evaluate the effects of school-wide interventions, and the relationship between teacher and student behaviors.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

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Assessing Teacher Learning About Science Teaching (ATLAST) measures teacher knowledge in a specific content area. Assessments exist in the following content areas: Flow of Matter and Energy in Living Systems; Force and Motion; and Plate Tectonics. All questions are set in instructional contexts, with some items requiring teachers to analyze student thinking or to choose among instructional responses to student thinking. The measure has been used as a pre- and post-test to assess the effects of professional development programs. There are also corresponding student written assessments.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

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CampusReady is an instrument that examines schools’ strengths and weaknesses in preparing students for college. Originally known as the CollegeCareerReady School Diagnostic when it was first introduced in 2009, CampusReady utilizes David Conley’s Four Keys to College and Career Readiness, which comprise cognitive strategies, content knowledge, academic behaviors, and contextual skills and awareness. CampusReady target respondents are students in grades 6-12, teachers, counselors, and administrators. 

CampusReady generates four comprehensive reports: the Participant Information Report, which gathers data on participants; the Aspirations Report, which focuses on students’ future plans; the Four Keys to College and Career Readiness Report, which evaluates college readiness across the four dimensions of David Conley’s model; and the Targeted Recommendations Report, which provides customized recommendations for the school or district that utilized CampusReady. These reports serve as valuable resources for schools and districts seeking to improve their college readiness strategies by fostering students’ knowledge, skills, and behaviors. Additionally, schools gain access to a database of effective interventions targeting college readiness.

Year developed: 2013 in its current version, 2009 as CollegeCareerReady School Diagnostic. 

Category: Academic Knowledge and Skills

Sub-Category: College Readiness

Grades: 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

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The Classroom Assessment Scoring System™ (CLASS™) is an observational instrument developed to assess instructional quality in PK-12 classrooms. It is a tool for analyzing the quality of teacher-student interactions in the classroom by capturing multiple dimensions of teaching that are linked to student achievement and development. It produces qualitative ratings of teacher performance on a scale from 1-7 across three broad domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

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COEMET is a classroom observation instrument that evaluates classroom culture and the use of specific math activities. It includes questions about how actively the teacher interacts with the children, how the teacher uses teachable math moments, how math is displayed in the physical environment of the room, how confident the teacher appears about math, etc. The specific math activities measured are not connected to a specific curriculum.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade

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The Classroom Practices Inventory is a classroom observation measure for early childhood classrooms. It is designed to assess the developmental appropriateness of classroom and curricular practices, teachers actions, children's activities, and teacher-child interactions.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: < 3 Years, Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten

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California’s Early Assessment Program (EAP) consists of three parts: college readiness testing in 11th grade, academic preparation in 12th grade, and teacher professional development. EAP’s standardized math and English assessments measure high school juniors’ readiness for college-level work at California State University (CSU) campuses. Based on these assessments, EAP classifies students into four levels: 1) standard not met, 2) standard nearly met, 3) standard met, and 4) standard exceeded. Students taking EAP assessments receive information about their college readiness. If they are deemed unprepared for college, they can enroll in remedial courses in 12th grade and participate in the Early Start preparation program in the summer before enrolling in CSU or participating community colleges. The EAP assessments are administered as part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) tests in the spring semester of 11th grade.

Year developed: 2004.

Category: Academic Knowledge and Skills

Sub-Category: College Readiness

Grades: 11th Grade

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The Early Language & Literacy Classroom Observation Toolkit (ELLCO) is a classroom observation measure that assesses the quality of the classroom environment and teacher practices across five key elements: classroom structure, curriculum, the language environment, books and book reading opportunities, and print and early writing support. The measure is primarily designed for administrators and teachers of preschool and early elementary classrooms to use for professional development and program improvement.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade

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The Geometry Assessments for Secondary Teachers (GAST) Classroom Observation Tool classifies the teaching moves and instructional tasks of teachers according to cognitive demand. It is designed for use specifically within math lessons focused on similarity, congruence, surface area, and volume. It can be used by teacher educators and researchers to identify the quality of math instruction within this domain.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

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The Instructional Quality Assessment (IQA) is a classroom observation instrument that rates the nature and quality of classroom instruction by considering students’ opportunities to engage in cognitively demanding mathematical work and discussions. The IQA uses the following elements to assess instruction: potential of the task, task implementation, rigor of the discussion, teacher’s questions, and accountable talk.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

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The Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) measures college students’ learning and study strategies. It can be used for screening to identify students at risk of poor academic achievement and for diagnostics to examine strengths and weaknesses and provide focused remediation. 

Now in its third edition, LASSI includes 60 items mapping onto ten scales (Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient in parentheses for every scale): Anxiety (.87), Attitude (.76), Concentration (.85), Information Processing (.81), Motivation (.77), Selecting Main Ideas (.86), Self Testing (.80), Test Strategies (.77), Time Management (.80), and Using Academic Resources (.76).

Year developed: LASSI 1st edition: 1987, LASSI 2nd edition: 2002; LASSI 3rd edition: 2016

Category: Academic Knowledge and Skills

Sub-Category: College Readiness

Grades: Post secondary

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Making Sense of Science (Electric Circuits Assessment) is a written test that measures teachers' pedagogical content knowledge regarding electric circuits. Test items are aligned to the National Science Education Standards Benchmarks, the Full Option Science System curriculum, and the Science and Technology Concepts curriculum. Items reflect the format and content of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) assessments. The measure has been used as a pre- and post-test to assess the effects of professional development programs. There is also a student written assessment with 15 linked items.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: 5th Grade

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The Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators Survey (MBI-ES) is a version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory measuring professional burnout among educators (teachers, staff, and volunteers). It contains 22 items examining emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from “never” to “every day.”

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade, Post secondary

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The Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) instrument measures the specialized knowledge of K-8 teachers of mathematics use in teaching. These measures include items that reflect the real mathematics tasks teachers face in classrooms, such as assessing student work, representing numbers and operations, and explaining common mathematical rules or procedures. Assessments composed of these problems can be used to measure the effectiveness of mathematics-focused professional development.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

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The Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) is a Common Core-aligned observational rubric that provides a framework for analyzing mathematics instruction. Observers rate instruction across five domains: common core-aligned student practices; working with students and mathematics; richness of mathematics; errors and imprecision; and, classroom work. Although originally designed for research use, the MQI can be used as a tool to support teachers' professional development.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

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The Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (MTEBI) is a domain-specific modification of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI). The MTEBI measures pre-service teachers’ beliefs regarding mathematical instruction, students' ability to learn mathematics and teachers’ sense of efficacy in teaching mathematics.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

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Perceptions, Expectations, Emotions, and Knowledge about College (PEEK) is a diagnostic instrument focused on student ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and expectations of college. PEEK’s 30 items use a 5-point rating scale (from “not at all likely” to “extremely likely”) to assess students’ academic, personal, and social expectations. Such measurement could potentially assist students in forming more precise perceptions of their college surroundings and potentially prevent disengagement and dropout from college. 

Year developed: 1995.

Category: Academic Knowledge and Skills

Sub-Category: College Readiness

Grades: 12th Grade, Post secondary

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The Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observations (PLATO) is a classroom observation protocol designed to evaluate thirteen elements of English Language Arts (ELA) instruction. It was originally developed for a study of the relationship between teachers' classroom practices and their impact on student achievement. It is currently being used as a professional development tool to support teachers' use of rigorous, research-based teaching practices. PLATO is designed to work across a variety of curricula and instructional approaches.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade

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STeP is a tool that allows instructors to be evaluated by their students across a set of categories identified as critical for effective classroom instruction. Two optional open-ended questions are also included at the end allowing students to provide additional input that may not be fully captured in the body of the survey.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

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The Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2.0 (TSIA2) was introduced in 2021, replacing the previous version utilized since 2013. As per the Texas State Legislature mandate, all students entering Texas public higher education institutions must undergo TSIA2 or qualify for one of its exemptions. The TSIA2 evaluates students' readiness for college-level coursework by testing them in English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) and Mathematics. 

In ELAR, TSIA2 focuses on two key areas: reading and writing. The reading portion assesses comprehension and analysis of literary, informational, and argumentative texts, including paired passages. Meanwhile, the writing portion evaluates skills in revising and editing sentences, paragraphs, and early drafts of essays.

In mathematics, TSIA2 focuses on four key areas: quantitative reasoning, algebraic reasoning, geometric and spatial reasoning, and probabilistic and statistical reasoning. 

Students taking the TSIA2 begin by completing College Readiness Classification (CRC) tests in ELAR and mathematics, comprising multiple-choice questions. If students fail to meet the college readiness benchmarks on these CRC tests, they proceed with the multiple-choice diagnostic tests in ELAR and Mathematics. These diagnostic tests present an additional chance for the students to demonstrate their preparedness for college-level coursework. They also highlight students' strengths and weaknesses in specific content areas, thus facilitating their placement into suitable courses and enabling them to receive the necessary remedial support and interventions.

Year developed: 2021 (TSIA2 replaced TSIA introduced in 2013).

Category: Academic Knowledge and Skills

Sub-Category: College Readiness

Grades: Post secondary

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The Science Management Observation Protocol (SMOP) is used to conduct structured observations of science classroom practice. SMOP identifies specific teacher behaviors and classroom characteristics which influence an inquiry-based classroom. Teachers and administrators can use the protocol to support the development of quality inquiry-based practices.

Category: Schooling

Sub-Category: Teaching

Grades: Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade

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