152 elementary students age ranged from 8–11 were studied on their affective and social domains in a school with an inclusive school curriculum in Hong Kong. Five questionnaires from the Assessment Program for Affective and Social Outcomes (APASO) (EMB 2001) were used to measure students’ attitude to school, self concept, attitude to learning, interpersonal competence, and problem solving strategy. The differences between normal (N=136) and inclusive (N=16) students were examined by one-way ANOVA tests. The outcome was triangulated with teachers’ perspective through teacher conference and school profile report and curriculum policy to reach a descriptive account is reached. The two groups had significant differences on social and academic self concept which were explained by a “positive discrimination” perspective to suggest a gap between what students perceived and teachers thought. There are discrepancies between teachers’ perception on the school curriculum and the effect that students reflected by the study, which suggests the how an inclusive curriculum could be shaped, such as cultivating a multicultural environment and the perspectives on both teachers and students.

Assessment and learners’ achievement have an affinity in enhancing teaching and learning in education. At the time academic achievement is stressed, educators ought to re-think the following questions: How is achievement defined? Who defines achievement and in whose interest? What is the purpose of achievement? Who grades? Who defines the criteria for grading? On the other hand, teacher education programs have educated student-teachers to work effectively with one dominant culture. Teachers are then unprepared to acknowledge the cultural differences and educational inequalities that schools often perpetuate. Some teachers find it difficult to understand that minority and poor students have the potential to be successful; they often are not given the opportunity to develop their academic and social skills. All of these barriers may result in the disadvantaged learners’ underachievement (Sleeter & Grant, 1986, 1988). Assessment for learning has an emotional impact as well, i.e. teachers’ comments, marks and grades can have effect on learners’ confidence and enthusiasm (QCA, 2004). Obviously, the diverse awareness of teachers will affect their use of assessment and students’ learning achievements will then be determined. This article will demonstrate that teacher’s multicultural education beliefs are important in a pluralistic society, where teachers must be prepared to make professional decisions about how best to meet the educational needs of all students, especially the disadvantaged learners. This study reports a group of Chinese pre-service teachers and experienced school teachers’ attitudes of cultural difference with the Chinese pre-service teachers and experienced school teachers’ attitudes of cultural difference with the use of an instrument, Cultural Diversity Awareness Inventory, CDAI (Henry, 1991). The study is trying to understand: (1) the cultural sensitivity levels towards alternative assessment of Hong Kong teachers; and (2) the general assessment practices

The “Active-Classroom” project aims to establish a platform for professional exchange among teachers on skills and strategies that helps to achieve an active classroom, by the use of WebQuest. In the “Active-Classroom”, different learning strategies are arranged as an advanced organizer for learners to navigate. The model of learning provided by the Active Classroom is known as WebQuest. WebQuest aims to involve learners in a meaningful task that results in knowledge acquisition and higher order thinking (Dodge, 1997). It has a well-defined structure that is similar to a lesson plan (Stein, 1998). The WebQuests in the Active-Classroom website provide links to essential electronic resources to motivate learners’ investigation on specific teaching strategies. Another outstanding feature is that all the materials in the Active-Classroom are result of collaborative effort of teacher educators and school teachers, through experimentation of various skills at different period. In this paper, the researchers will report how the Active Classroom has come into shape with its first attempt on questioning skill, during Dec 2004 to May 2005. There are three primary schools participating in studying this skill component. The project demonstrates the functions of the questioning skill WebQuest: (a) focuses learners on a tangible and easy navigated resource; (b) opens up possibility of getting feedback from distant audience via an embedded e-mail form. The Active Classroom has just been launched at this stage and positive influence on teacher professional networking and student learning is perceived. It implicates that online learning on instructional strategies should be promoted as it is a substantial support to education reform.