Existing research indicates that there is a disproportionate number of students with cultural and linguistic differences, English Language Learners (ELL), who are misidentified as learning disabled when their problems are due to cultural and/or linguistic differences. As a consequence, these students do not receive appropriate services. With the…

Examines problems inherent in the overuse of testing as a way to identify giftedness, especially with respect to assessing the culturally diverse. Use of portfolios is suggested as an alternative procedure that can provide a more equitable and culturally fair assessment of the culturally and linguistically diverse child. (SLD)

A preliminary investigation has been made of some claims regarding alternative assessment. Using the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS)--Middle Grades Mathematics Performance Assessment as a platform, the study examined how alternative assessment operates in actual practice. Early findings are presented in the following areas: (1)…

National standards and assessments are being proposed as a strategy for improving schools in the United States. However, proposed federal policies for implementation raise serious concerns about the extent to which national standards and assessments alone will help improve the quality of public education for all, or whether they will serve to…

The use of classroom assessments in the context of the new assessment system for California schools, the California Learning Assessment System, is discussed by describing the California Learning Record (CLR). The CLR emphasizes the central role of teachers in equitable assessment of student learning for students of diverse cultural and ethnic…

This book provides specific recommendations to assist practitioners in the development and implementation of plans to meet the needs of all students, particularly those who differ culturally and linguistically from the mainstream. Practical suggestions are offered for program organization. The following chapters are provided: (1)…

Alternative assessments, also called authentic or performance assessments, have first the common notion of a meaningful performance or product. The use of such alternatives with students belonging to nondominant language and cultural groups is of interest because of the hope that this type of assessment can show what these students can really do…

Issues of educational equity and quality are explored in the context of the Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement and Reasoning (QUASAR) project, a national educational reform project aimed at fostering and studying the development and implementation of enhanced mathematics instructional programs for students attending middle…