Today's standardized tests are not the best way to evaluate schools or students. These tests do not evaluate what students have learned in school. There is a high likelihood that the specific content sampled by a standardized test may be seriously inconsistent with local curricula aspirations. Sidebars report on recommendations from the Commission…

This article examines legal issues involved in the assessment of educational results for students with disabilities, especially requirements under the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It suggests that policies regarding assessment of students with disabilities may have outpaced practices and legal interpretations…

Continuing medical education (CME) must demonstrate its effect on the quality of health care. Performance measurement methods, such as public report cards, are gaining strength. CME providers should link timing and content of their offerings with performance measures. (SK)

Summarizes sections of the Americans with Disabilities Act that have implications for educational measurement and discusses the implications for applied educational and occupational testing practices. Presents general guidelines for adapting tests to accommodate a range of disabilities. (SLD)

Examined outcomes on multiple-choice tests and performance-based assessments for 102 field-independent and field-dependent college students. Finds a substantial interaction between cognitive style and assessment approach. Results suggest that performance-based assessment tends to favor field-independent subjects. (SLD)

Describes four ways that principals can provide leadership to overcome several school culture barriers to accountability: Be a champion for standards; emphasize learning, not performance; educate the public; and protect the things that matter. (PKP)

Describes findings and recommendations of the first annual report of the Massachusetts Education Reform Review Commission, which focused on standards and assessments, accountability, district and teacher capacity, and funding. (PKP)

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requirement that states prepare and disseminate an annual state report card became effective at the beginning of the 2002-03 school year. Each state agency must also ensure that each local district collects appropriate data, both at the district level and for each school, and includes such data in its annual…

Although the application of the balanced scorecard (BSC) in the business sector is well documented, very little research has been reported regarding the adaptation or application of the BSC in the education sector. In this article, the authors (a) describe how the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence has adapted the concept of…

In this article, the author discusses the Dubois school's important discoveries about their instructional program after taking a closer look at the year-by-year academic progress of individual students and their participation in a pilot project of the Pennsylvania education department that provides a value added assessment of student test scores.…

An increasing number of families are enrolling their children in out-of-home early childcare services. In addition, a growing number of community childcare programs are including children with developmental disabilities. While some studies have explored the effects of inclusion for preschool children with disabilities, there is little knowledge…

Recent reforms in K-12 education have increasingly emphasized the educational system as the unit of change. The theory underlying systemic or systemwide educational reform is that powerful improvements in teaching and learning can come from developing coherence and alignment across the complex and different elements and components of an…

An increasing number of studies are concerned with the international comparison of the results that different education systems achieve. For example, TIMSS, PIRLS and PISA publish the results from different countries in mathematics, science and literacy. The European Commission has also published indicators and benchmarks relating to the quality…

It is difficult to find a person who unabashedly admires each and every detail of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. However, amid all the howls and moans about the implementation of NCLB, the flywheel has been whirring, catching, and turning. In some places, it has turned more than in others, but no matter what the underlying philosophy or…

Reviews a series of service-learning programs implemented over a four-year period by special education teachers enrolled at California Lutheran University's preservice graduate program. Finds that an increasing number of these programs involved students with special needs in the service learning projects. These "reciprocal empowerment"…