Although portfolio evaluation is the key issue with which the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, currently struggles, the department has yet to develop a reliable quantitative method of assessing the portfolios. The department found itself ill-prepared to have the state immediately thrust it into new…

This paper presents a summary of research on outcome-based education (OBE). The first section provides an overview of the evolution and history of OBE in the United States. Other outcome-based models are described in the second section. The third section reviews research on OBE and related concepts, including mastery learning, cooperative…

The assessment process is necessary to determine what adults need to know in order to do what they need to do--that is, to be literate. The characteristics of "good" assessment need to be identified using multiple indicators that determine progress toward goals for learners, programs, and policies. Ongoing learner-centered assessment…

The debate about national assessment in education is in its infancy in New Zealand. It is recognized that the requirements of assessment for national monitoring may conflict with assessment of a formative nature within the schools because of differing requirements for the numbers of students assessed, the type of assessment advisable, and the…

This Action Plan sets out a series of recommendations designed to support and deliver an extensive network of social, medical, and educational programs and services for children with special needs in Alberta, Canada. The plan focuses on three areas: funding for services, coordination and delivery of services, and assessing outcomes and developing…

An audit was carried out to determine whether the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had implemented applicable portions of the Education Amendments of 1978, enacted to provide quality education to Native Americans. The Office of Inspector General of the Department of the Interior found that management of Indian education programs showed many…

In 1989 the National Association of State Directors of Migrant Education appointed a National Migrant Education Evaluation Committee to plan the development and implementation of a uniform nationwide migrant education needs assessment and evaluation system (MENAES). This report summarizes the committee's activities and recommendations. The…

In an address to the National Council on Measurement in Education, R. M. Jaeger (1987) commented that there appears to be a fundamental difference in measurement philosophy between those on the two sides of the debate over the Rasch model. Jaeger's observations are explicated by contrasting the views on measurement of B. D. Wright and E. F.…

The first 3 years of a 4-year project to plan and implement school change using a school improvement strategy in five low income, rural, resource-bound school sites are described in this report. One school from each of the following states--Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana--participated in the project. Extreme diversity…

A review of literature and a survey of approximately 40 percent of 4,688 public, private, and parochial school principals and 60 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I institutions provide information on the effects of NCAA Rule No. 48, which mandates new academic criteria for the athletic eligibility of college entry level…

Resulting from the Advanced Training for Child Care Administrators project (ATCCA), this manual serves to promote, in similar projects, training in administration and staff development in the areas of child development, education, or social work. Section 1 describes the rationale, goals, expectations, responsibilities, and participant selection…

The need to upgrade programs and services in rural communities is rapidly moving toward a critical juncture. A rural telecommunication network could act as an equalizer through: serving information needs of people in the fields of entertainment, education, health, governments, business, and industry; or serving special populations such as the…

This paper examines the major influences of state minimum standards of pupil proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics; state curriculum guides; basic skills testing; and a state-funded compensatory/remedial program on public schools in Louisiana since 1980. The state testing program is described in some detail. Its influence in the home is…

In 1982 vocational schools participated in Pennsylvania's state assessment program, the Educational Quality Assessment (EQA). When EQA data were tabulated, the vocational school scores were low in comparison to the comprehensive high school scores. An analysis of the vocational school and comprehensive high school scores using state assessment…

Suggests that educational research may have to settle for the role of information purveyor rather than that of a catalyst for change because education is so much intertwined with the political processes which permeate our national life. (Author/AM)