Indonesia is facing a serious problem in education. The problem is reflected in the form of low learning outcomes as shown by low PISA and TIMMS scores compared to other students of PISA and TIMMS participating countries. These results are believed to have correlation with the low quality of teachers. The Teachers and Lectures Law No. 14 Year 2005 requires teachers to be competent by mastering the four teacher competencies, i.e. pedagogical competency, personal competency, social competency, and professional competency. However, only a few are regarded as competent. Since the quality of teachers is the most important factor in improving the quality of education, the Indonesian government held a teacher certification program to increase the quality of education in Indonesia by improving teacher quality, accompanied by the provision of a professional allowance equivalent to one month’s base wage. By 2015 all teachers have been certified and only certified teachers are allowed to teach in Indonesia.

This research is aimed at developing Web-Based Instructional Media in the Indonesian senior high school writing class. The Dick and Carey Model (2009) was employed as the development model. The steps began with identifying instructional goals, conducting instructional analysis, analyzing learners and contexs, writing the performance objectives, developing assessment instruments and instructional strategies, developing and selecting instructional materials, designing and conducting formative evaluation of instruction, revising, and finally designing and conducting summative evaluation. The overall results identified that the Educational Technology Expert validation reached 94.62%, the Media Expert reached 99.04%, and the Matter Expert reached 85.00%. These results proved that the use of Web-Based Instructional Media significantly improved the students’ writing skills. The small group trial demonstrated 78.38%, while the field trial 82.79%; these showed that the Web-Based Instructional Media could be implemented both in the small group and the field trial. In conclusion, the results of the expert validation and the field trials stated that the web-based instructional media is highly appropriate use in improving Bahasa Indonesian students writing skills.

This study investigated the effects of the Mercedes Model with Embedded Assessment Strategy, subject specialisation and gender on students’ knowledge of selected biology concepts. A pretest post-test control group quasi-experimental research design was adopted for the study. The sample consisted of 666 Senior Secondary Class II biology students from six senior secondary schools randomly selected from two purposively selected Education Districts (EDs) in Lagos State. The two EDs were randomly assigned to treatment such that one was the experimental group and the other the control group. Seven null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Also, five instruments were used to generate data for the study, namely, the Mercedes Model with Embedded Assessment Strategy in Diffusion (MEASID), Mercedes Model with Embedded Assessment Strategy in Osmosis (MEASIO). Conventional Lesson Plan on Diffusion (COLPOD), Conventional Lesson Plan on Osmosis (COLPO) and Test on Students’ Learning Outcomes in Osmosis and Diffusion (TESLOOD). Data collected were analysed using mean, standard deviation, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multiple classification analysis. The study has shown that the use of the Mercedes Model with Embedded Assessment Strategy has positively improved students’ knowledge of selected biology concepts. Further, the biology students in the science class were better than the non-science group at imbibing the knowledge of biology concepts. In the same vein, the males performed better than their female counterparts in knowledge. It was recommended, among other things, that teachers of biology adopt the Mercedes Model with Embedded Assessment Strategy in the teaching of students in secondary school.