The approach to assessment taken by the Colorado Springs (Colorado) Public Schools is outlined. Colorado Springs has taken a position similar to that advocated by the National Council on Educational Standards, that of multiple means of assessment applied in a dynamic and responsive manner. This approach in Colorado Springs is called Purpose Driven…

This publication is a guide to assessing the competence of prospective foreign language teachers with respect to their subject area in California. The guide was developed as part of a state-wide response to legislated entry and exit standards for teachers in elementary and secondary schools. A preface stresses the importance of quality education…

At one of a series of hearings on H.R. 6, the Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1993, several experts discussed issues related to national assessment, assessment in Chapter 1, and state efforts to develop new forms of assessment. Eleanor Chelimsky, Assistant Comptroller General for Program Evaluation and Methodology of the General…

This paper advances the perspective that more frequent and comprehensive assessments, and more frequent and complete evaluations of college and university programs, are essential if colleges and universities are to improve minority access and achievement. Without denying the need to create new sources of data and information for measuring…

An outline is provided for a national educational assessment and improvement plan as suggested by the National Education Goals of 1990. The following implicit assumptions underlie National Education Objective 5.5: (1) abilities to think critically, communicate effectively, and solve problems can be defined and the definitions can be agreed upon as…

This paper makes a case for the development of several indirect indicators of national progress in reaching the collegiate attainment objective of the National Education Goals of 1990. These indicators would be developed concurrently with a proposed performance-based assessment to be administered to a national sample of graduating college seniors.…

What has been learned from the study of relationships between abilities and outcomes learned in college and those abilities as they are performed at work is summarized to infer principles that should inform a national system to assess the higher order thinking and communications skills of college graduates in support of the National Education Goal…

College-level assessment efforts in New Jersey are described. For more than a dozen years, students in public colleges and universities in New Jersey have been assessed using a common statewide instrument, the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test. This test assesses reading, writing, and mathematics skills of entering college students as…

The research evidence supporting current beliefs in testing is summarized, and critical qualities that good assessment should exemplify and the current state of the research knowledge on how to produce good assessment are reviewed. Research has demonstrated the difficulties of achieving meaningful improvement in schools and the shortcomings of…

The utility of the proposed Program Evaluation Standards to educational practitioners, and the adequacy of some of the standards in addressing issues in evaluation in culturally and linguistically educational environments are discussed, drawing on the author's experience as Director of the Evaluation Assistance Center East in Arlington (Virginia).…

Information is provided on factors associated with the effectiveness of continuation high schools in California. This Phase 2 report (following a Phase 1 study of 54 schools) is based on information gathered from 10 schools that were selected as among the more effective in the state at retaining students in school and graduating them.…

This paper describes a list of quality indicators for adult education programs. The list was developed after consideration of background materials and input from four focus groups. The list is divided into two main areas: student outcomes and program process and content. Within each area, the primary indicators (those identified by at least three…

The model of feedback processing proposed by R. W. Kulhavy and W. A. Stock (1989) was studied in a traditional classroom setting in which methods of assessing students' response confidence as predictors of postfeedback performance were also examined. The relationship between confidence ratings at the time of the test and confidence assessed prior…

As part of the baseline studies necessary for a new strategic plan for the Saginaw (Michigan) public schools, the relationship of grade point averages (GPAs), student absence, and Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) results were studied relative to the amount of shared variation common to each. All possible correlations were studied at…

The present study explored the perceptions of 664 Hispanic and non-minority high school students as regards barriers to entering health professions and the characteristics of health career jobs. Students were enrolled in a high school for the health professions or an enrichment add-on intervention, or were members of an honor society contrast…