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…

This book explains some basic assumptions that underlie different assessment systems, some connections between education and assessment, and some assessment options that have gone unrecognized. The discussion serves as a guide to designing a custom assessment program individualized to fit the students, school, and community. Part 2 contains…

Comprehensive career assessment of handicapped students takes into account medical, psychoeducational, interest and aptitude information, work and job samples, and situational assessment. School-based career assessment programs are described in Texas, New York, Maryland, and Missouri. The author suggests that such programs will become vital parts…

Advocates making large-scale writing assessment consistent with the view that writing is fundamentally about making and sharing meaning. Argues that this is possible through a writing portfolio system of assessment. Describes how such a portfolio program was begun at the University of Michigan to assess beginning students. (HB)

Recounts the story of how the writing faculty at Washington State University successfully reclaimed their university's writing assessment program. Argues that writing teachers should be leery of assessment programs made by others, and should create their own assessment tools. (HB)

The manual describes Maryland's programs and processes for serving learning disabled students. Teacher Assistance Teams, a support service for classroom teachers, is the focus of Chapter 1, which examines the team's composition, function, and responsibilities. Chapter 2 presents the state's admission, review, and dismissal process for special…

A program designed for the achievement of equal educational opportunity in Connecticut's Middletown public schools is presented in this report. The document describes the program's statement of goals, identification of objectives, specification of expected levels of competency for each subject area at each grade and ability level, adoption of…

Focus is on a conceptualization of initial assessment and consultation, the problem-solving paradigm as a framework for guiding this activity, and a description of procedures and initial data from a demonstration program. (Author/DLS)

Schools committed to the success of all children must have an array of activities designed to address barriers to learning. This introductory packet contains some aids to help school staff find new ways of thinking about how schools should assess barriers to learning. The following items are included in the packet: (1) a chart of "Barriers to…

The manual provides an overview of Project ForSight, a program to assist parents in teaching their preschool multihandicapped, visually impaired children at home. Chapter 1 presents background information and describes procedures for locating, screening, assessing, and programing the children it serves. Also offered are procedures for replicating…

Winthrop University (South Carolina) has linked classroom research with program accountability in its Learning Research Project, which focuses on general education. The pilot and implementation phases of the project are described, noting problems, frustrations, and rewards in each. The experiment has convinced administration and faculty that…

The purpose of this Massachusetts Department of Education document is to create an awareness of, and to provide information about, adult high school credentialing programs based upon assessment of skills, which augment existing ways to earn a high school diploma. It is intended for staffs of adult learning centers, adult education programs, CETA…

Outlines a CRADLE (Collections, Reflections, Assessment, Documentation, Linkages, and Evaluation) approach to portfolio development and use in English-as-a-Second-Language classrooms. This approach focuses on a long-term commitment to portfolio usage by teachers, students, parents, and administrators. (MDM)

This document outlines the objectives and procedures of a program at a New Mexico school district whose purpose is to enable school personnel to systematically monitor students' academic and disciplinary progression. The objectives of the program are to diagnose academic or disciplinary problems and prescribe remedies, to establish an oncampus…

Based on the experiences of the Neshaminy School District (Pennsylvania) in developing and providing inservice training for regular and special education teachers involved with mainstreaming gifted and handicapped children, the manual presents a general guide for setting up and providing specific materials and activities for mainstreaming…