This study aimed to examine the influence of Adversity Quotient (AQ) on the academic achievement among Malaysian polytechnic students. A total of 1,845 students from five polytechnics in Malaysia participated in this study and these polytechnic was selected from five different zones, namely Nouthern, Southern, Eastern, Western and Borneo. The samples for the study was selected using the proportionate clustered multistage stratified sampling technique. Data collected for this study was analyzed using regression analysis and the results showed that the findings of the analysis showed that AQ contributed only 0.9% (r = .098) changes in the variance of academic achievement score. AQ still has the potential to be studied from the other perspective of the success factor in the polytechnic students as a whole.

This paper aims to review research on the challenges of implementing formative assessment in Asian classrooms. Multiple electronic databases were used to search for relevant articles and twenty-one studies were selected. The challenges faced while conducting formative assessments were analyzed and categorized into three levels (micro-, meso-and macro-level) based on Kozma's model, which examines contextual factors influencing teachers' classroom instructional practice as well as inherent disadvantages of formative assessment, namely, being time-consuming and demanding a heavy workload. The findings showed that the majority of challenges were on the micro and macro-levels, and were basic formative assessment disadvantages. Significantly, 80 percent of the studies reviewed reported inadequate knowledge of formative assessment among teachers at the micro-level. This is a vital issue for future research on formative assessment in Asian countries and highlights the ISSN 2329-9150 2017 http://jsss.macrothink.org 161 need to draw more attention to training teachers through effective professional development programs. Future studies in this area should focus on practical formative assessment activities to reconcile formative assessment theories within the Asian culture and conditions. Journal of Social Science Studies

Abstract. In order to fulfil the need of sizeable skill workers, Malaysia will introduce STEM integration education in mainstream schools throughout the country. However, like any educational reform, one important issue that needs to be taken into account is the teachers' readiness especially in terms of their skills and competency in implementing the reform. As such, the purpose of this study is to assess differences between teachers' competency for STEM integration education between urban and rural teachers. A total of 244 teachers (urban = 129, rural = 115) are employed as sample in this cross-sectional quantitative study. Responses from an 18-item questionnaire were analysed using Rasch Model analysis to determine characteristics of item that measure competency between urban and rural teachers. The DIF analysis shows that items related to competency in (1) ICT integration, and (2) organizing co-curricular activities showed a significant difference in their measures between both sets of teachers. The result from this study would certainly provide useful information to relevant stakeholders, especially with regards to providing training for the teachers in the designated areas.

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