Impediments of educational bureaucrats on teacher education in Nigeria
This paper set out to discuss the impediments of educational bureaucrats on teacher education in Nigeria and to examine the person of the education bureaucrat, their functions in Nigeria context, their management behaviors and why they failed in the country. It was expected that at the end of the day stakeholders in teacher education would be able to have a positive orientation and understanding of the place of educational bureaucrats in the success of the country’s educational enterprise in teacher education. Nigeria has not been so lucky with good educational bureaucrats in all her endeavors in general and in schools in particular. For this reason, this paper toiled with the future of children with compulsory miseducation in a context of schooling without education – a rebirth of the diploma disease. Therefore, it is recommended that the education bureaucrats should involve teachers, non-teaching staff and students as well as the community through Parent Teachers Association to enhance teacher education in the country.
Facing Challenges of a New Era of Educational Assessment
Educational assessment is undergoing rapid change in American schools. The changes are easy to see. But the underlying causes are not so easy to detect. As a result, we have yet to realize the depth of the change taking place and its importance for the future of our educational system. In fact, over the past 2 years, we have seen the end of a six-decade assessment era and the beginning of a whole new era, in my opinion. In this article, I describe the old era in terms of its origins, characteristics, and the reasons for its demise. Then, I turn to the new era, discussing how it will be different and detailing four critical challenges to be met by the assessment community if we are to make a smooth transition between apparently conflicting eras.
THE ECOLOGY OF CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT
Research on classroom assessment has tended to focus on standardized tests and has paid minimal attention to teacher-developed assessments. As a result, we have a narrow understanding of the classroom assessment environment. This study was designed to broaden that understanding by exploring the nature and quality of teacher-developed assessment. Teachers from a range of grades, subjects, and school districts described their patterns of test use, concerns about assessment, and use of performance assessment by completing an extensive questionnaire. When responses are summarized across teachers, the results suggest that the foundation and structure of classroom assessment consists primarily of teacher-developed assessments, with performance assessment serving as one of the key assessment tools. Teachers are concerned about assessment and know that improvement may be needed, but they will need help to bring about necessary changes. Action plans are suggested for enhancing the quality of teacher-developed tests.