Discriminant validity of a measure of children's readiness for school was assessed by testing whether it distinguished between groups of children hypothesized to differ, on the basis of demographic characteristics, in their school readiness. The volunteer sample consisted of 3,370 kindergartners in Vermont public schools. Previous group care…

Assessment systems to measure high educational standards emerged as the major theme at the 1996 conference of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), "Moving Up to Complex Assessment." This feature article, providing a summation of the proceedings of the conference, reports that the…

The 9 articles of this theme issue stem from a project on alcohol and drug abuse that involved 14 projects, 10 of which began with randomized clinical trials. These papers describe implementation problems associated with experimentation in field research and the focus on ensuring internal validity. (SLD)

Seven chapters present 31 propositions challenging traditional ideas about the nature and practice of program evaluation. Methods to improve evaluation models and approaches and ways to address intermediate and advanced evaluation issues are explored. The discussion also serves as an introduction to the most analytical and comprehensive of the…

The seven chapters of this issue focus on technical qualities of performance assessments and report the findings of systematic empirical inquiries. They add to the body of research that shows that performance assessment, although time consuming and expensive, merits the serious attention of educators. (SLD)

This special issue includes the following: "Introduction"; "Interest Inventories: Which One, Why, and for Whom?"; "Recent Reports from the Committee to Screen Career Guidance Instruments"; "Assessment of Career Specialty Interests in Business and Medicine"; "Using Career Interest Inventories with…

A discussion of current second language testing trends and practices in Australia focuses on the use of performance assessment, providing examples of its application in four specific contexts: an occupational English test used for to assess job-related English language skills as part of the certification procedure for health professionals;…

This report presents the design, procedures, and findings of the advanced testing of 100 modules in a set of performance-based vocational teacher education curricular materials. (The modules are based on 384 secondary/postsecondary level performance elements, including program, instructional, and other elements.) In the first of five sections the…