Authentic and direct assessments of performances and products are conceptualized in terms of multiple distinctions having implications for validation. These include contrasts between performances and products, between assessment of performance per se and performance assessment of competence or other constructs, between structured and unstructured…

Nationally set indicators of performance have increasingly become a medium for exercising choice and decision making in the new education market place. Contributors to this book suggest that such a framework is not unproblematic. This book offers some insights into the general debate about performance indicators in education. It explores the…

Performance tasks build on earlier content knowledge, progress skills, and work habits. They are not add-ons at the end of instruction, but an integral part of the learning and an opportunity to assess the quality of student performance. This guide was written by teachers to share their experiences in the introduction of performance based…

The current controversy about using results as a way of assessing the success of efforts to improve the lives of children and families, and of shifting to a results-based accountability system, has given rise to hope, fear, and confusion. This paper sets out some of the issues in the shift to results-based accountability and identifies a startup…

Issues and problems in assessment research are explored, with suggestions to help establish an acceptable correlation between student assessment scores and final grades. Topics include assessing instructor grading variation, instructor grade point average (GPA), success rates, and lack of linearity in grade scales. Solutions to these problems are…

A national survey of state-articulated student goals and outcomes led to the analysis of documents from 30 states for correspondence with the outcomes specified for grade 8 in the conceptual model developed by the National Center on Educational Outcomes for Students with Disabilities (NCEO). All of the 30 states' goal documents included statements…

Test developers continue to struggle with the technical and logistical problems inherent in assessing achievement across different languages. Many testing programs offer separate language versions of a test to evaluate the achievement of examinees in different language groups. However, comparisons of individuals who took different language…

Among the most notable aspects of the educational reform movement are the efforts by government, corporate, and philanthropic leaders to establish academic standards. This paper addresses two questions: (1) Why is it important for the Catholic high schools of America to set standards and improve assessments? and (2) What types of standards and…

The ARCS Model of Motivational Design, developed by John M. Keller of Florida State University, is a systematic model for designing motivating instruction. The ARCS Model identifies four essential strategy components for motivating instruction: attention strategies for arousing and sustaining curiosity and interest; relevance strategies that link…

The California Assessment of Academic Achievement Act of 1995 mandates the development and adoption of statewide academically rigorous content and performance standards in core curriculum areas. This brochure summarizes the findings of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) standards task force. The brochure is organized around…

Five secondary school teachers participated in a 3-year project to support the rethinking of their assessment practices. The teachers met regularly to share ideas, submitted assessment tasks and their assessments of students, and received feedback. All of the teachers professed significant changes in their understanding of assessment and four…

American schools are being challenged to provide opportunities for students to achieve at much higher levels. Assessment is viewed as one of the essential elements in assisting schools to address the standards now deemed to be important in a manner that will help all students to achieve them. The major challenge for assessment is to implement…

The Educational Policy Analysis Training Workshop is designed to provide training in quick response analysis to typical policy issues encountered in developing countries. The workshop emphasizes working in small groups, approaching problems from a variety of analytic standpoints and presenting understandable and persuasive conclusions for use by…

Monitoring school performance has become an overriding concern in American political and educational circles, and some of that scrutiny is being directed at the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES). However, there is concern that pressure to prove the effectiveness of Essential Schools may overshadow efforts to actually improve education. Taking…

Fit statistics provide a direct measure of assessment accuracy by analyzing the fit of measurement models to an individual's (or group's) response pattern. Students that lose interest during the assessment, for example, will miss exercises that are within their abilities. Such students will respond correctly to some more difficult items and…