This paper reports on many aspects of an in-progress Scottish national effort to improve curriculum, assessment, and progress reports on students ages 5 through 14. The 5-14 Development Program was launched in 1987, and this paper reports information from the first two years of operation. The study not only evaluates progress to date but also…

Assessments are authentic when they have meaning in themselves--when the learning they measure has value beyond the classroom and is meaningful to the learner. Authentic assessments (AAs) address the skills and abilities needed to perform actual tasks. Perhaps the most widely used technique is portfolio assessment. Well-designed AAs demonstrate a…

This report summarizes a variety of major collaborations in which the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) of the University of California at Los Angeles participated in Fiscal Year 1992. Most of the collaborations are part of the CRESST's Program One, "Building the Infrastructure for Improved…

This book presents training activities for special education or regular teachers to use with children having auditory processing disorders. Each chapter begins with a discussion of theory and general intervention guidelines and then presents remedial activities. The first chapter looks at auditory processes overall, lists the normal sequence of…

Descriptive statements of evaluation practices by principals were studied concerning normative expectations and J. Dewey's general logic of experience. Focus was on describing what principals think and do in terms of evaluation as a step toward bringing evaluation specialists and educational practitioners into a closer working relationship. Four…

Whatever the cause of present-day problems in American education, there is little doubt that proposals for national curricula and examinations are a response to widely-held perceptions of serious problems in the schools. Although national examinations have been proposed, there has been little consideration of their purposes and structures. The…

The attractiveness of some European education policies and the current push toward national standards of academic achievement have converged recently in proposals for national educational testing in the United States. This paper examines the origins and status of student examination policies in 12 countries of the European Community. A major…

The American Association of School Administrators, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the National Council on Measurement in Education are cooperating on a project to develop competency standards for educational administrators in the area of student assessment. A…

Psychopathology in outpatient children was explored using two classification systems. Clinically derived Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition, Revised) (DSM-III R) diagnoses in three high frequency diagnostic groups were compared to empirically derived Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores for an overall sample of…

This paper describes a project conducted to strengthen consumer and homemaking education programs in economically depressed, urban areas of New Jersey by increasing the competence of home economics educators. The project focused on meeting the needs of school-age pregnant and parenting students. Objectives included identification of relevant home…

The severity of the silent epidemic of lead poisoning and its long range effects on young children in impairment of intellectual ability, short-term memory, concentration, and reaction time have been recognized. A 3-year strategic plan for preventing childhood lead poisoning in Illinois was developed by a planning committee working through four…

This study investigates student learning in science center exhibitions as a form of informal education and examines intrinsic, instrumental, and situational student motivation. Subjects (N=130) consisted of 6 comprehensive school classes of 7th graders in the greater Helsinki area. The design of the study was quasi-experimental with two…

This book provides guidelines for those responsible for the development of contemporary curriculum for instruction in vocational-technical fields. It is a compendium of the various systems of teaching and testing for students training for a variety of occupations requiring specialized knowledge and skill development. The guide consists of 12…

The fifth-grade and eighth-grade science items on a state performance assessment were compared for differential item functioning (DIF) due to gender. The grade 5 sample consisted of 8,539 females and 8,029 males and the grade 8 sample consisted of 7,477 females and 7,891 males. A total of 30 fifth grade items and 26 eighth grade items were…

A study investigated common discourse features in the Spanish of six novice-level Spanish second language learners, as evidenced in oral interviews by two interviewers. Features examined included use of cohesive devices, use of the first language, whispering to self, scaffolding with the interviewer to express themselves, and negotiation. Results…