A study compared teachers' assessments of students based on alternative evaluation techniques to student assessments based on standardized tests. Teachers in seven kindergarten classrooms evaluated their students (approximately 130 each year) in each of 3 successive years according to how well they had mastered a set of criteria which the teachers…

A study was designed in which a battery of 11 selected instruments was given to 320 professional students (four classes) at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine to measure a variety of parameters of brain function and cognitive ability. Results were to be used to develop ability or competency profiles, to compare scores, to…

This paper explores some of the issues involved in assessing national-curriculum standards at the local level. Some of the things that might foster the use of high-quality assessments include: (1) feasible and assessable state content standards; (2) a clear purpose for each assessment; (3) an emphasis on valid, fair, and reliable classroom…

Report cards on schools have become common in many states, but their contents and formats vary widely. To study the variations and to determine if the differences in presentation have anything to do with presenting valuable data or with educational policy, a study was undertaken of the report cards of Southeastern states. Five states (Florida,…

Author-generated summaries/outlines of papers presented at the annual conference of the International Personnel Management Association Assessment Council (IPMAAC) in 1988 are provided. The "Presidential Address" is by N. E. Abrams. The keynote address is "Is There a Future for Intelligence?" by R. Thorndike. Summaries of 53…

New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) established a Task Force on Student Assessment in the spring of 1990, which was designed to: review available information on testing principles and practices; make recommendations for reform of testing; and communicate its findings to NYSUT members. Ten recommendations were made, centering on the necessity…

Information was gathered to determine the extent to which more authentic education assessments, including whole language assessments, are being implemented, and to identify which organizations conduct authentic education assessments. Materials used by the surveyed organizations were collected and catalogued into a compendium of authentic…

The listening skills component of the Interpersonal Skills Training Program for staff of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service was evaluated. Such services can help individuals and client families explore alternatives and develop resources for coping with crises. An instrument developed by J. E. Jones and L. Mohr (1986) was used…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 13 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the preparation of eighth grade students for criterion referenced reading testing and its effect on standardized reading scores; (2) alternative cloze test…

Sketches some of the dilemmas in language assessment and presents exemplary practical approaches to assessment in the language arts areas of listening, oral language, reading, and writing. (SD)

To explore the effects that changing to performance-based assessment has had on sex differences in science achievement that had been observed with traditional tests, 3 studies involving more than 906 elementary school students compared scores of males and females on performance-based tests. Few gender differences were found. (SLD)

A series of 19 questions illuminates the characteristics of effective performance assessments in 3 sections: (1) the nature of assessment; (2) properties of effective tasks; and (3) making tasks meaningful and engaging. A fourth section offers practical suggestions for the construction of performance assessments and for teacher involvement. (SLD)

The assumption that reliability is a necessary but insufficient condition for validity in assessment is challenged by exploring a dialectic between psychometric and hermeneutic approaches to drawing and warranting interpretations of human products of performance. Hermeneutic alternatives for epistemological and ethical purposes expand the range of…

Neither teacher-made tests nor the Scholastic Aptitude Test are appropriate for measuring the attainment of national education goals. Most practitioners involved in discussions of national high-stakes examinations argue that new tests are needed. A new system that preserves state and local autonomy in education as it measures the attainment of…

The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) is a partnership of the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Colorado at Boulder, Stanford University, The RAND Corporation, the University of Pittsburgh, the Educational Testing Service, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.…