A Triumph of Politics over Pedagogy? The Case of the Ontario Teacher Qualifying Test, 2000-2005
At a time when most American states have embedded an initial certification test into their teacher preparation programs, Canadian educational authorities are faced with a choice: to test or not. One province, Ontario, has experimented with a standardized entry-to-the- profession testing instrument. For three years, 2002-04, teacher candidates were required to take an externally-administered examination, on top of the normal Bachelor of Education requirements, prior to certification. The results were decidedly mixed: politically viable, but pedagogically questionable. Now, the debate has been re-opened, as a new government seeks a more effective form of entry-level assessment for aspiring teachers.
In Search of Soundness in Teacher Testing: Beyond Political Validity.
When the drive to develop and administer tests comes from a public call for accountability in a profession, from the government's response to this call, or from politicians attempting to identify a hot issue, it may be said that the test must first have political validity in order to be implemented. Only after this political validity has been achieved, will the real psychometric properties of the test be valued. In addition to introducing the concept of political validity, this paper addresses challenges presented by the traditional psychometric validity concerns surrounding paper-and-pencil tests aimed to measure teacher competencies. This is followed by a review of types of performance-based measures that have been introduced to address validity problems and the psychometric considerations inherent in these tests. Among the tests discussed are the teacher testing program in Massachusetts and teacher assessment as implemented in Ontario, Canada. The review of these and other teacher testing programs suggests that current standardized teacher tests leave much to be desired when it comes to evidence of psychometric validity. The paper concludes that, in spite of psychometric validity, political validity is what is primary in determining a test's public acceptance. (Contains 69 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. In Search of Soundness in Teacher Testing: .1 Beyond Political Validity Carol A. Miles and Curtis Lee PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
Exopolysaccharide biosynthesis and related enzyme activities of the medicinal fungus, Ganoderma lucidum, grown on lactose in a bioreactor
Exopolysaccharide (EPS) production and biosynthesis were studied in Ganoderma lucidum, a fungus used in traditional Chinese medicine, grown with lactose in a bioreactor. β-Galactosidase activity, which implies the existence of a lactose permease system, was induced by lactose. Lactose feeding also increased α-phosphoglucomutase activity and EPS accumulation but decreased phosphoglucose isomerase activity and lactate concentration in the culture broth. A maximum cell density of 22 g l−1 and EPS at 1.25 g l−1 were obtained in fed-batch bioreactor culture.