High quality student outcome measures provide the foundation for effective learning assessment. These outcomes can be organized into different categories, such as skills or habits of mind, and evidence types, such as direct or indirect. Prevailing models of assessment, however, focus only on the distinction between direct and indirect evidence…

Accountability in education was implemented to improve poor learning outcomes by documenting and monitoring learning achievement results. In this process, external standardized achievement tests have played a central role, being the mechanism most frequently used to measure learning outcomes. However, several decades after its initial…

School mental health treatment services offer broad public health impact and could benefit from more widespread implementation and sustainment of standardized assessments (SA). This demonstration study describes one approach to increase SA use in a large school behavioral health network using the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation and…

Assessing student learning is a cornerstone of educational practice. Standardized assessments have played a significant role in the development of instruction, curricula, and educational spaces in college physics. However, the use of these assessments to evaluate student learning is only productive if they continue to align with our learning…

The author gives an overview of typical learning outcomes in business education and assessment instruments that help measure and test these outcomes. Using data from a recently accredited program the author investigated the determinants of performance on assessment exams to help identify and evaluate differences between homegrown and standardized…

The Economic Actions in Education training module (EAE) teaches how to handle, use and judge external standardized tests in schools. The EAE programme was implemented in teacher training at the University of Kiel, because teachers are increasingly under external scrutiny and are being held accountable for student and school achievements. The EAE…

Introductory biology courses are widely criticized for overemphasizing details and rote memorization of facts. Data to support such claims, however, are surprisingly scarce. We sought to determine whether this claim was evidence-based. To do so we quantified the cognitive level of learning targeted by faculty in introductory-level biology courses.…

Professional Development Units (PDUs) were new to the AISD REACH program in 2010-2011. This report summarizes participants' experiences with PDUs and the influence of PDUs on student performance on the state academic tests (TAKS) and Student Learning Objectives.

This report examines the Texas state student academic assessment (TAKS) growth for teachers who established and met individual and/or team Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) in 2010-2011. Results are inconsistent regarding the overall influence of SLOs on student growth.

What is meant by the term "standards"? This article will use the definition of the National Academy of Sciences for their workshop on Assessing the Role of K-12 Academic Standards, "generally used to refer to both content standards, which describe material that students should be expected to learn, and performance standards, which…

This study investigated the Individual Learning Plans of eighty-eight students who were deaf and hard of hearing attending facilities and schools for the deaf in Victoria Australia. The students' assessment and planning portfolios were scrutinised for evidence of formal and informal assessment used to generate goals for the Individual Learning…

A program at North East High School (NEHS) was started to help improve state test scores. Senior students work with underclassmen in one of the four state test areas: Algebra, English 10, Biology, and Government to help improve scores with hopes of passing the test. State test scores help to determine whether or not a school will meet their Annual…

Objective: The authors examine the association between the selection factors used in a psychiatric residency program and subsequent clinical and academic performance among international medical graduate (IMG) candidates. Methods: The authors completed a retrospective review of application files and residency evaluations of 50 IMG residents who…

The controversy over standardized tests and falling scores does not address the real problem--what should be done about school learning to insure more effective in-life behaving? A basic philosophy for such a program is suggested. (Author/LS)

Ten questions about education are asked a member of the board of education and a teacher. (MF)