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Content
Practical Assessment, Research
& Evaluation publishes
the following types of papers
- Overviews
serve as
an introduction to a topic. Its audience is
individuals, whether professional or general, who wish to
acquire introductory information on the topic treated in
the paper.
- Methods plainly speaking demonstrate how to apply a
technique. These would be useful as class hand-outs.
- Fact Sheets
which provide current information of a factual nature
related to a topic. As appropriate, it also
interprets and discusses the facts presented. Its primary
audience is policymakers, administrators, and other
decisionmakers; its secondary audience is other
professionals and members of the general public who are
interested in factual information on the topic.
- Issue
Papers which define and describe a controversial topic. It does not resolve
controversies in the literature or practices, but it
delineates the various perspectives related to the topic.
Its audience is individuals, both professional and
general, who wish to become informed about alternative
perspectives on educational issues.
- Practice Applications
which provide specific, concrete examples of how
practitioners can apply research results in practical
settings. Its primary audience is educational
practitioners, while its secondary audience is other
educators interested in the topic.
- Research Findings
which present the current status of research in an area.
It summarizes and synthesizes recent findings from
relevant research. Its primary audience is those
individuals who wish to become informed about research
findings, including researchers, graduate students,
policymakers, administrators, and teachers.
- Synopsi of Synthesis Papers
which summarize an
existing review and synthesis publication. This type
of paper is based on one primary publication,
which is itself a review and synthesis of many
publications. Its audience is individuals, both
professional and general, who wish to become informed
about the topic.
Two key
questions in the review will be whether the results generalize and
whether the results are likely to alter someone's practice. Thus, PARE
does not accept evaluations of local programs. We also do not accept
validity studies of test instruments. We are not interested in
derivations, but rather practical applications.
Professional
Standards
Manuscripts submitted to Practical
Assessment, Research & Evaluation should adhere to
- The authorship standards
outlined in the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to
Biomedical Journals.
The Uniform Requirements
addresses criteria for authorship, acknowledgments, redundant
publication, competing manuscripts, and conflict of interest. A
concise summary of the Uniform Requirements can be found in
Syrett and Rudner (1996).
A key concept in the Uniform
Requirements is that individuals identified as authors should have
made significant contributions to the conception and design, or
analysis and interpretation of data, or both; to drafting of the
manuscript or revising it critically for intellectual content; and on
final approval of the version of the manuscript to be considered for
publication. Being an advisor or head of a research group, does not,
in itself, warrant authorship credit.
- Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association (4th ed.)
The Publication Manual provides
detailed information about the entire process of publication -- from
organizing, writing, keying, and submitting your manuscript, to seeing
the accepted manuscript through production and publication. Of special
interest in the fourth edition are updated sections on reporting
statistics; writing without bias; preparing manuscripts with a word
processor for electronic production; and publishing research in
accordance with ethical principles of scientific publishing.
Topics
We are
particularly interested in papers that address the following hot topics.
This list is intended to be suggestive, the topics are not in any kind
of rank order. Authors should feel free to submit papers on any topic
within the scope of the journal.
- Issues related to No Child Left Behind, e.g. Determining
reliability, critical N versus confidence intervals, adequate yearly
progress.
- State and Local Assessment
Practices - Extant Practices and Emerging Trends
- Qualitative and
Quantitative Research Methods - an overview; types and their proper
roles and appropriate audiences, i.e., their proper application and
interpretation
- Pedagogy of Educational
Research & Educational Measurement
- Testing Accommodations
for Students with Disabilities - current state of the research and
practice (including commentary on apparent abuses); trends to
anticipate
- Computer Adaptive Testing
- state of the research and practice; trends to anticipate
- Report Cards/Reporting to
Parents - types [format & content], policies, appropriate
intervals of reporting
- Ability Grouping/Tracking
(in Education) - pros & cons; demonstrated outcomes
- Test Selection - process
and important sources, for administrators and committees
- Current Educational
Indicators - definition(s); their role in School Accountability;
factors for parents to consider in school selection; the School
Report Card trend
- Benchmarking Effective
School Practices - sources of benchmarks; benchmarking process
- Benchmarking Curriculum
to National/Subject Standards - sources of the standards;
benchmarking process; a.k.a. "curriculum alignment"
- Grade Retention - pros
and cons; demonstrated outcomes
- Program Evaluation
Primers
- Difference between
Assessment & Evaluation
- Legal Research in
Education - standard sources and processes; explanation of
authoritative entities for education law and education policy at
various levels
- Meta Analysis -
definition, methodology, recent critiques and, perhaps,
response/rebuttal to critiques
- Meta Evaluation -
definition, methodology
- Performance Based
Assessment - definition, types, rationale, current Practices, trends
to anticipate; comparative analyses to traditional assessment; esp.
definitions/apps of:
- Scoring Rubrics;
Portfolios, including Electronic Portfolios; Observation &
Anecdotal Records; Student Led Conferences; Multiple Assessments
[w/performance based assessment as a component]; also, validity,
reliability, and cost concerns in their development &
application
- Demonstrating Statistical
and Practical Equivalence
- Demonstrating Growth
- History of Educational
and Psychological Testing
- National Tests in America
- Precedents, The Executive Proposal and its Rebuttals
- Resources for Education
Statistics - including International, National, and Local Levels
Technical specifications
All Practical Assessment Research & Evaluation articles adhere to the following technical
specifications:
Length --
2,000 to 8,000 words.
Style -- Articles should have
information subheadings and should be written clearly and
concisely. For the most part, keep your sentences short and to
the pointy. Short lists help to break up the text and to focus
attention on series of items. Online constraints currently
restrict our use of a wide range of type sizes, fonts, and other
printing devices.
Introduction -- We like to see a short, two
or three paragraph introduction that clearly indicates what is
covered in the article and the intended audience. We like to see
the second paragraph start with "This article ..."
Content
-- Articles should be
substantive, informative, and based on well-documented sources.
Bibliographies, directories, and extensive lists of organizations
are inappropriate.
References -- List four to six references to
journal articles, commercial publications, and
other resources that you used as supporting material for your
digest and/or will point to key literature in the field.
Reference
and additional reading
American Psychological Association
(1992). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct.
American Psychologist, 47, 1597-1611. [Available online http://www.apa.org/ethics/code.html].
American Psychological Association
(1994). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
(4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. [Available online at http://jama.ama-assn.org/info/auinst_req.html]
Syrett, Kristen L. & Rudner, Lawrence M. (1996).
Authorship Ethics. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 5(1). [Available online:
http://ericae.net/pare/getvn.asp?v=5&n=1].
Thompson, B. (1995). Publishing your
research results: Some suggestions and counsel. Journal of Counseling
and Development, 73, 342-345.
Wilkinson, L. and Task Force on
Statistical Inference (1999). Statistical Methods in Psychology
Journals: Guidelines and Explanations. American Psychologist, 54
(8), 594B604. [Available online: http://www.apa.org/journals/amp/amp548594.html].
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