Cheating attracts a significant amount of attention in conversations about assessment, and with good reason: if students cheat, we cannot be sure they have met the learning outcomes of their course. In this conceptual article we question the attention given to cheating as a concept and argue that the broader concept of validity is a more important…

The Performance Expectations described in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) pose significant challenges for assessment design. Multiple models of assessments, including paper-and-pencil and hands-on based performance assessments, can be utilized to assess student competency while applying scientific and engineering practices, in the…

Reviews problems with the current movement to use national standards and performance assessment to reform education and the impact of the standards on students with disabilities. The characteristics of standards, as they are currently being employed, are discussed, along with issues related to measurement, reliability, and validity. (Author/CR)

In response to the greatly increased use of statewide high stakes testing, the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented at the University of Virginia developed differentiated authentic assessments for middle school classroom use that embodied key concepts, principles, generalizations, and processes in the disciplines of English/language…

In response to the growing achievement gap between English Learners (ELs) and non-ELs, standards-based instruction and assessment have been promulgated at the state and federal level. Yet, the consequences of standards-based assessment reforms for ELs have rarely been systematically studied. The work reported here represents the initial study of a…

Critiques William Mehrens' 1992 article on performance assessment, claiming that Mehrens professes to favor performance assessment but only as an afterthought to traditional assessment, and Mehrens' view of traditional assessment limits his portrayal of performance assessment. The paper encourages the research community to support performance…

This paper describes the development work and research findings of an initiative to create a statewide literacy assessment in New York to inform teaching and learning and report on group performance trends. The Early Literacy Profile (ELP) is a classroom-based, standards-referenced performance assessment for students in the primary grades…

The concept of performance levels in criterion-referenced assessment is explored by applying the idea to different types of tests commonly used in schools, mastery tests (including diagnostic tests) and achievement tests. In mastery tests, a threshold performance standard must be established for each criterion. Attainment of this threshold…