Competency-based education has certain limitations: it neglects the role of human judgment and personal motivation and focuses on isolated skills; assessment of some competencies is not practical; present standards do not help people cope with change; and standards such as Britain's National Vocational Qualifications were designed to meet the…

Three options for competency-based assessment in Australia's national standards system are grades, merit, and end-of-course assessment. Grades are well established; merit has flexibility and provides progressive feedback. All three have advantages and disadvantages. (SK)

Examines the theoretical underpinnings of situation cognition and derives implications for the design of situated learning environments. Highlights include a discussion of the four basic issues of the conceptual framework of situation cognition; these include the role of content, context, facilitation, and assessment. A table summarizes the…

Proposes a world systems approach to comparative education to overcome the limitations of mainstream case/country-study approaches and the omission of non-Western perspectives. The approach analyzes the existence worldwide of nation-state controlled education systems, which are structurally similar, yet socially differentiated and ideologically…

Reviews literature regarding the intellectual and linguistic characteristics of Hispanic bilinguals, explores the understanding and proper use of psychometric tests with Hispanic children, and presents specific recommendations for the psychoeducational assessment of Puerto Rican bilingual children that involve the development and use of bilingual…

Discusses the increasing use of assessment as a market signal and as an index of educational accountability. It is argued that, through a failure to state clearly the purpose of assessment, educational reform in this area is overly concerned with the means rather than the ends of education. (47 references) (MLF)

Two reviews consider the program-evaluation standards of the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluations. This edition makes the complexity, risks, and power of evaluation clear through descriptive writing and case illustrations. The organization and content of the standards document are described. (SLD)

Examines the word frequency studies that preceded the 1944 Thorndike-Lorge count and places those investigations in their broad, cultural perspective. Draws attention to the impact of the studies on knowledge about language and its development, educational curriculum and assessment, and methods of research. (MG)

Provides information useful to educators who are rethinking their current approach to assessment and identifies characteristics of each assessment that seem particularly noteworthy. Concludes by raising a number of questions that should be considered before deciding whether or not to use these new performance-based assessments. (MG)

In an excerpt from "Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School," Theodore Sizer states that what is needed is raised expectations within the various agencies that now affect standards rather than their demotion and replacement by a more centralized system. Public policy must address the two barriers to excellence--public…

Clarifies the term "emergent literacy" and reviews significant informal assessment techniques, record-keeping systems, and reporting measures appropriate for emergent literacy. Discusses guidelines for whole-language assessment. Suggests areas of evaluation to be considered for inclusion in a locally developed emergent literacy assessment system.…

Reviews background information about portfolio assessment. Describes the experiences of the faculty in one school with a schoolwide portfolio assessment system. Shares struggles and solutions which may be valuable to others seeking to develop alternative assessment programs. (MG)

Presents strategies teachers might use to assess and promote beginning readers' phonemic awareness, a factor shown to be strongly linked to the successful acquisition of reading ability. (MG)

Industry-based skill assessment and certification should (1) be independent of training providers; (2) use variety of instruments; (3) recognize multiple levels of mastery; (4) promote broad training and continuous learning; (5) be geared to high-performance work organizations; (6) be voluntary; and (7) be flexible to keep pace with technology.…