This Partnerships Working Group (PWG) study responds to recommendations from the National Research Council's (NRC) NOAA's Education Program: Review and Critique (2010) for NOAA to better understand how NOAA Education partnerships are formed, fostered, sustained, and evaluated. The NRC report noted that while partnerships were mentioned as a means…

Training and technical assistance programs for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have emerged in many states as educators, administrators, and institutions of higher education attempt to address the increasing needs for enhancing the knowledge and skills of educators and disseminating the ever-growing knowledge of educational practices. This report…

Over the last decade, teacher performance assessments (TPAs) have begun to find appeal in the context of teacher education programs and teacher licensing for their innovative ways of assessing teacher knowledge and skills but primarily for their potential to promote teacher learning and reflective teaching. Studies of preservice teachers who have…

E-portfolios are a rich, flexible tool for teaching, learning, and assessment. They provide institutions with a way to assess how well they are educating their students. However, it is important for institutions to know why e-portfolios are important learning and assessment tool for institutions both now and for the future. Higher education…

This paper presents a focused case study of Ann and Kay, a team of exemplary elementary teachers, as they worked to modify their mathematics instruction to be consistent with the goals of the Kentucky Education Reform Act and Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS), its innovative high-stakes assessment system. At the time of the…

The advantages and disadvantages of state mandated and locally developed curricula are discussed. State mandates emphasize a measurement philosophy of education in which testing is the name of the game to determine how well students are achieving. One of the advantages of a state mandated curriculum is that the curriculum is aligned with the…

This paper describes the intentions of educators and policymakers who implemented a new assessment strategy in Kentucky in 1991, along with its associated shortcomings and one notable success. The principle behind the assessment system was that rather than having an on-demand assessment that would inefficiently replicate the information that was…

The two articles in this special section, combined with two previous articles, discuss the use of portfolios in large-scale assessment. Ten years ago, there was great interest in portfolio assessment in state testing programs, but no large-scale program relies on portfolios at the present time. These articles continue to consider their uses. (SLD)

This manual is designed to assist educators in using the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Alternate Assessment, an assessment intended to allow students with the most significant disabilities to participate in MCAS. The manual provides guidelines, materials, and procedures necessary for the preparation of student portfolios for…

This document focuses on assessment portfolios and examines the advantages and challenges of using an assessment portfolio system inclusive of English language learners as a district-wide assessment tool. Advantages of including English language learners in the assessment program include increased school accountability for all students, a shared…

Results from the component tests of the New Mexico Statewide Articulated Assessment System, an elementary-level assessment, are presented. The New Mexico Achievement Assessment, uses the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills to assess the achievement of students in grades 3, 5 and 8. Score increases were seen for students in grade 3 in mathematics, in grade…

In 1998, the Kentucky legislature made adjustments to the assessment and accountability system established by the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 to create a new system, the Commonwealth Accountability and Testing System (CATS). The Kentucky Core Content Tests (KCCT) are a component of CATS. KCCT assessments are given in grades 4, 5, 7, 8,…

Summative evaluation of student achievement in reading emphasizes determining learner progress at the end of a unit of study, end of course, or end of the school year. Generally, state mandated tests stress an end of the school year percentile which is to indicate the present state of learner achievement. This paper discusses and analyzes…

This article describes the development of Kentucky's alternative assessment for students with disabilities, including the content and scoring standards for the Alternate Portfolio. Specific examples of entries at each grade are given. Initial implementation data are presented, and critical issues in the development of alternate statewide…

Reports on an ongoing evaluation of the Vermont portfolio assessment program. Indicates that the positive news about the instructional effects of the assessment program are in contrast with the empirical findings about the quality of the data the program has yielded. (SLD)