This document provides guidelines for developing competency-based pathways in Iowa districts and schools and outlines waiver requirements and procedures. Competency-based pathways provide ways to validate learning of standards that occurs outside the structure of the traditional school and offer flexibility for schools to engage students in…

Specific procedures for assessing a handicapped student's mastery level within a continuum of mathematics skills are described, and analysis of error patterns discussed. (CL)

Practical ways to document essential elements taught and mastered are presented for the teacher and administrator. With the amendment of the administrative rules to remove the 70% passing requirement, educators received greater flexibility in determining appropriate ways to document mastery. What now determines whether or not students move on to…

This handbook deals with the specifics of integrating teaching and testing in the context of high school classes. It is part of a school-based staff development program for high school teachers and is designed to have faculty members in a department work as a team. Colleagues are asked to help one another develop instructional units and courses…

Most educational objectives can be classified as either mastery or developmental. For mastery objectives, teachers can develop satisfactory assessment instruments relatively easily and can describe student achievement as "can do" or "can't do." For developmental objectives, there are a number of evaluation methods, and student progress varies in…

This article provides information on designing a college course grading plan. It reviews the history of grades; describes and discusses common approaches to grading; examines the purposes of grades, problems with current practices, and situational factors to consider in selecting an approach; and proposes eight principles to observe in developing…

A comprehensive, integrated physical education system that has quality and relevance for handicapped students and their nonhandicapped peers is proposed. The Achievement Based Curriculum (ABC) Model is a systematic decision-making process for an instructional system that incorporates curriculum, instruction, assessment, and evaluation in one…

Designed as a resource for persons interested in improving the quality of teaching and student learning, this book covers aspects of the teaching-learning process that can be altered with relative ease. Practical suggestions are given in chapters focusing on concepts known to have a strong influence on student learning. The chapters include: (1)…

This monograph contains seven articles which focus primarily on formative evaluation for the purpose of furthering the learning of pupils. The articles include: an overview of formative evaluation by Peggy Chnupa; a description of the use of measurement and evaluation as an early screening for entering school children, by Sherrel Marginet and…

This newsletter examines the continuous progress (CP) curriculum, the primary characteristic of which is flexible pacing for the student. The newsletter notes some of the practical concerns limiting implementation of CP curricula, and how some schools have overcome them. It then discusses four issues that schools must address to employ a…

This guide was designed for developers of mastery learning materials for competency based learning situations. Topics include: (1) how mastery learning works and how the mastery learning process can be used in the classroom; (2) the advantages of mastery learning; (3) how to determine if mastery learning is right for student needs; (4) how to…

This text presents basic principles of applying curriculum-based assessment (CBA) to the evaluation of and instruction of students with disabilities. Throughout the book, the mnemonic APPLY is used as an organizing method for teachers to develop and use CBA. APPLY stands for: (1) analyze the curriculum, (2) prepare items to match curriculum…