A discussion of environmental education in French elementary, secondary, and higher education looks at official policy statements, related educational research, integration of environmental education into curricula and instruction at each level, and needs for future development. More thorough integration and additional emphasis in the curriculum…

This paper argues that the quality evaluation trend in European higher education reflects the state's effort to gain greater control over higher education. First, performance indicators are imposed, and then this technical form of evaluation is used to steer the higher education system toward the labor market. (MSE)

To investigate the ability of multiple-choice tests to assess higher order thinking skills, examinations were constructed as half multiple choice and half constructed response. Results with 90 undergraduate and graduate students indicate that the 2 formats measure similar constructs at different levels of complexity. (SLD)

Describes the rise and evolution of educational evaluation, discussing trends in evaluation that have emerged since 1970 and projecting these trends into tentative estimates for 1991-2010. Paradigmatic and methodological shifts in evaluation that have affected today's educational evaluation are examined. (SM)

Discusses the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) research concerning the identification of indicators of service efforts and service accomplishments. The GASB has proposed that financial reports should not only be useful in assessing accountability, but they should also assist in making economic, social, and political decisions. (six…

An administrative change in faculty hiring in a continuing education department was assessed in five ways, concluding that the adult education program improved, the number of scheduled courses increased, students evaluated teachers more highly, anecdotal information and a commissioned survey showed policy changes, and a campus poll reflected…

This guide for school administrators is written to promote careful and wise use of scores from standardized achievement tests. Authors of two sections particularly criticized in the review respond about what should be included in a primer on testing and interpreting test scores for compensatory education students. (SLD)

The history of educational assessment and research in Czechoslovakia and changes in attitudes toward educational testing are reviewed. The current status of educational assessment is evaluated and found wanting. A plan is proposed to resuscitate educational testing in Czechoslovakia in spite of the current economic and political problems. (SLD)

Debate about the levels-setting process for criterion-referenced tests of achievement is reviewed. An alternative framework is proposed for conceptualizing the problem and practice of setting performance standards on such tests. Standard setting is reconceptualized as the development, description, and implementation of reasonable rules for…

Discusses the role that technology will have in the national standards being developed by the New Standards Project. Examines the need for national standards, the use of technology in assessing whether students achieve those standards, and the timetable for the standards implementation. (MDH)

Describes the processes and techniques used to assist a suburban, lower-middle socioeconomic community's school system plan strategies to improve its students' proficiency test scores. Techniques included content analyses of the system's textbooks, the Graded Course of Study, and standardized tests for grades four, six, and eight in comparison…

Discusses assessment in education, examining how the current desire to assess outcomes of significance can be incorporated into an outcomes assessment system. Assessment characteristics and how assessment fits into an outcome-based educational system are explored. (SM)

The perspective of classroom measurement and assessment is broadened by providing a general description of classroom context and the measurements and assessments teachers use. A particular focus is how informal assessment is used to inform daily classroom decisions, and how these decisions spill over into formal measurement and assessment. (SLD)

Discusses some of the definitions of successful instruction stated or implied by researchers in science education and examines reasons for the diversity of definitions. Describes how a high school chemistry teacher decides whether his or her instruction is successful and how these assessments influence instructional practices. (PR)

Evidence is presented on the generalizability and convergent validity of performance assessments using data from six studies of student achievement that sampled a wide range of measurement facets and methods. Results at individual and school levels indicate that task-sampling variability is the major source of measurement error. (SLD)