This article describes a comparative study of the introduction of student portfolios in two departments of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Nottingham Trent University in the UK. Portfolios are designed to facilitate effective management of lifelong learning, to provide a record of achievements and to encourage…

Recent studies have argued that there is a dropout crisis in the U.S. But the authors in this article, find that this contention is based on flawed analyses of inadequate data. Using a much wider range of sources, they conclude that the situation is not nearly so dire as is commonly believed. (Contains 14 endnotes.)

As a result of technological advances such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Geographic Information System (GIS), mapping practices and applications have become far more sophisticated. This article suggests family and consumer sciences students and professionals consider using GPS technology to map their communities as a strategy to…

This manual familiarizes data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the high school transcript component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). A second objective is to provide the necessary documentation for using the data files. Chapter 6 and appendix F, in particular, contain…

The collection of data by face-to-face interviews and questionnaires is common and literature in these areas is extensive; but few cases are reported in which respondents have been provided with a blank audio cassette tape, interview schedule, or open-ended questionnaire items, and been invited to record their own comments and forward these to the…

A study was conducted of students at Saddleback College (SC) in California, who requested that transcripts be sent to a four-year college, university, or professional school between November 1, 1992 and April 30, 1993. The study sample included only students who were registered in both fall 1992 and spring 1993, because those students were more…

In response to a request from the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia of the House Committee on Appropriations, the efforts of the District of Columbia to reduce its overall personnel and personnel expenditures and several financial issues involving the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) were evaluated. Difficulties the District of…

Assessment is broader in scope than testing. Typically, assessment includes gathering and integrating information about a client in a manner that promotes effective treatment. This digest discusses how counselors can use assessment as a continuous process throughout treatment. It also reviews three common forms of assessment techniques which can…

The Beginning Educator Support and Training (BEST) Program (a performance-based assessment program) was developed to enable the Connecticut State Department of Education to implement legislation requiring beginning teachers to achieve a satisfactory evaluation on a professional knowledge clinical assessment during their initial year of teaching.…

The emphasis on using performance assessments to support systematic state-, district-, or school-wide purposes is a recent development in the assessment-reform movement. This document presents data from a 3-year case study that was designed to elucidate the status of assessment reform in United States education systems and offer recommendations…

The emphasis on using performance assessments to support systematic state-, district-, or school-wide purposes is a recent development in the assessment-reform movement. A 3-year case study sought to describe the status of assessment reform in United States education systems and offer recommendations for policy and future research. The research…

The University of Maryland System administration has been constructing a relational database that enables comparisons between the more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The data base contains information from nationally available sources, including the National Science Foundation, National Center for…

Twelve teachers and two principals from the Addison Northeast Supervisory Union School District (Vermont) met to consider what a small rural school district can do to assess its own programs and to discuss how to go about program assessment with the goal of helping schools become effective learning organizations. The district serves about 1,800…

This document is an inventory of public and private educational expenditure from an international perspective and sets out the concepts, definitions and procedures useful in accounting for educational expenditure. The monograph defines the field within which expenditure is to be observed; details the necessary expenditure data to be collected from…

This collection of 21 suggested outcome measures for early childhood intervention services is designed to assist families in evaluating the quality of early intervention services they receive. The measures apply to all types of service and support program models for children with various developmental delays and/or disabilities and their families.…