K. K. Waltman and D. A. Frisbie (1994) observed that teachers and parents often interpret grades given to students in both absolute and relative senses. They conclude that this sort of interpretation is illogical and may indicate misunderstandings in several areas. Absolute and relative methods of assigning letter grades are approached from…

Goal-directed performance appraisal (PA) theory includes four components: rating context, performance judgment, performance rating, and evaluation. This study focuses on the components of rating context and performance rating. For the study, the rating context was a large civil service organization that must produce documentation for attorney…

Unstable, and potentially invalid, variance component estimates may result from using only a limited portion of available data from operational performance assessments. However, missing observations are common in these settings because of the nature of the assessment design. This paper describes a procedure for overcoming the computational and…

Three mathematics scoring methods are being used or explored in large scale assessment programs: (1) item-by-item scoring; (2) holistic scoring; and (3) "trait" scoring. This study investigated all three methods of scoring on three mathematics performance-based assessments. Mathematics assessment tasks were selected from a pool of pilot tasks…

The humanities framework presented in this paper is not intended to be a state prescribed curriculum, course syllabus, or study guide. Instead, the framework discussed in the paper is designed to help local schools develop their own curricula to address their own goals as well as those of the state and the nation. An introductory section of the…

The zeitgeist for reform in education precipitated a number of changes in assessment. Among these are performance assessments, sometimes linked to "high stakes" accountability decisions. In some instances, the trustworthiness of these decisions is based on variance components and error variances derived through generalizability theory.…

This report addresses the Florida Community College System's (FCCS) performance based on measures established by the General Appropriations Act. Discussed are: (1) FCCS' performance on the measures used in the performance-based budgeting (PBB) incentive fund; (2) improvements that can be made to the PBB incentive fund; and (3) changes to community…

For years, tests have been designed to reflect the positivistic-quantitative paradigm and have been developed to ensure that children are learning the "basics." Today, a new method is emerging that utilizes assessment as an instructional tool rather than a measurement tool. Through the use of this new authentic assessment, students are allowed to…

This article describes how the author makes the story of "Don Quixote de la Mancha" come alive to fifth graders in her Spanish class. She rewrote several scenes from the novel into short plays that were appropriate to the students' interests and to their novice-high proficiency level. The author chose a combination of scenes that offer…

Discusses the nature and sources of test bias in measuring communication skills. Recommends structured performance assessment to reduce bias, contending that performance tests, if carefully administered, can be valid, unbiased methods of assessing communication skills. (PD)

Because stakeholders within and outside of the university community appear to agree that issues related to teaching, especially the relationship between research and teaching, are worthy of serious debate, this bibliographic paper is a beginning to a major policy study of performance evaluation and pedagogical accountability in Canadian…

New York State currently has three charter school authorizing agencies. Until now, their oversight has focused on performance based, contractual, and regulatory accountability. An emerging literature suggests that authorizers are reluctant to actualize the accountability/autonomy exchange by closing schools for failure to meet performance targets.…

This study explored the mechanics of using an enhanced, comprehensive multipurpose logic model, the Performance Blueprint, as a means of building evaluation capacity, referred to in this paper as performance measurement literacy, to facilitate the attainment of both service-delivery oriented and community-oriented outcomes. The application of this…

In pragmatic philosophy, the consequences of actions determine the moral goodness and evil of the causing actions. Since the beginning of the 20th century, pragmatism has been the central philosophy in America, this includes our schools. Most of our schools are results driven. For these schools, only the data and results are important. The purpose…

The model competency-based education assessments for mathematics have been developed in cooperation with the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics (OCTM) task force for implementing National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards for Grades 1 through 8. Three types of assessment for each grade are presented. The first type of model…