This book describes a comprehensive process by which schools and districts can turn piecemeal initiatives to incorporate standards into curriculum into a coherent plan. The book explains how to determine who is to teach and assess each standard and how to create a curriculum and assessment plan. It defines effective practice in linking curriculum…

Learning outcomes and their assessment has given rise to considerable debate as to whether outcomes should be graded or just pass/fail. Assessment models employing learning outcomes have been used for some time in the United Kingdom (UK) in further education programs for example National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and General National…

This book is designed to help teachers raise the academic achievement of their students and improve the social and moral fabric of school life. To accomplish these goals, it explores and develops the relationships among teaching, learning, and assessment, asserting that these elements of school life must be joined seamlessly, and that they cannot…

Three papers from the American Association for Higher Education conference in 1990 are presented. The first, "Streams of Thought about Assessment" by K. Patricia Cross, discusses three strands of interest in assessment aimed at educational improvement. These three movements are: (1) state-level accountability; (2) institutional assessment; and (3)…

This report is part of a two-volume publication that outlines the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) 5-year plan. The plan was developed in 1995 to transform education in DoD schools and is based on the vision that the DoDEA will be a learner-centered organization, unbound by traditional school concepts of time, location, and age…

As part of the test development process, this document provides the released mathematics items and student responses to some questions from the Michigan High School Proficiency Test (HSPT) in mathematics. This packet is designed for teachers and students who are interested in understanding how the open-ended items from the HSPT in Mathematics are…

This paper explores accountability issues at the district level by focusing on school-district features that might influence school achievement. It examines the effect of input variables on student performance, over a period of four years, and takes these into account when considering school performance. For its theoretical framework, the study…

The passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) in the 1990s made Kentucky one of the first states to initiate comprehensive education reform. It established a legislatively mandated goal that all public schools reach "proficiency" (100 of 140 points) on an accountability index by 2014. This paper tries to predict which schools…

For several decades there has been a loud outcry from the early childhood education community that assessment, especially standardized assessment, is inappropriate during the early years. As we move through the first decade of the twenty-first century, there is a new public outcry for standards and accountability--even for preschool programs.…

This chapter presents the author's perspective on the future of educational assessment in her school district. The author reviews issues including how much testing is reasonable (in terms of time and money), how to support more instructionally useful assessment, the impact of technology on assessment, and accountability. (GCP)

This policy brief summarizes research results and provides guidance regarding decisions associated with school accountability. Unlike previous notions of accountability, a standards-based system examines outputs, such as student performance and graduation rates, as well as inputs like the amount of instructional time or the number of books in the…

This book explains to teachers and administrators the processes for creating student showcase portfolios to be used in student-led conferences. The portfolio is an assessment document of student performance, while the student-led conference truly demonstrates student learning. Creating portfolios without the purpose of sharing them with an…

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) offers a unique opportunity to examine some of the issues related to gender differences in mathematics achievement in an international context. TIMSS report of 8th grade mathematics achievement revealed few significant differences in mean achievement by gender; differences that did…

This report defines and explains the importance of the learning outcomes approach. According to the paper, this approach bases curriculum design, content, delivery and assessment on the application and integration of knowledge, skills and values -- a comprehensiveness that is not achieved with a competency approach. The report also discusses…

This study guide is designed to help teachers understand the role assessment plays in helping students learn and to help teachers improve their own assessment capacities. The guide contains assigned readings, discussion questions, activities, checks for understanding, and reflections for learners using the "Classroom Assessment: Linking…