IAEA 2013 Conference in Tel Aviv, Israel
I just returned from the IAEA conference that took place in Tel Aviv, Israel. IAEA is an International Association for Educational Assessment. It focuses on all kinds of assessment. However, one of the most prominent interests of the members of the Association is the International Assessment – something like PISA, TIMSS or other large scale international tests. I enjoyed the conference very much. First of all, it was an opportunity to meet with the people whose work has a tremendous international impact. Second of all, it was truly an international conference. When I attend AERA or AAPT conferences, they all dominate by the Americans. While the researchers from other countries attend, the conferences focus on the issues relevant to American (USA) educators. Here, it was a conference that had 400 participants from 48 countries. It was a great opportunity to see what is happening in other countries, how teachers are educated and evaluated, how students are evaluated, how the ministries of education and the government in general support education. It was one of the best conferences I have ever attended. I hope our summer STEM 2014 conference at UBC in July (12-15) will be as great as this one!