With the education reform movement came dissonance over testing as an indicator of classroom learning. This paper examines both formal and informal assessment and relates one institution's attempt to provide a bridge between authentic and traditional assessment. Authentic assessment is defined as a belief that student evaluation should measure…

The Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) is a statewide program designed to ensure that all students attending public colleges and universities have the basic reading, mathematics, and writing skills necessary to perform effectively at the college level. All entering first-time freshmen are required to take the TASP test, which has a basic skills…

Waldorf Education, founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1919, is based on the philosophy of critical idealism, in which teachers assist in the natural unfolding of children's preexistent possibilities. But because there has been little research on Waldorf Education, few data have been gathered on the effectiveness of its teaching methods and…

Few studies have investigated the knowledge and beliefs that undergrids science teachers' assessment practice. This study was conducted to investigate the perspectives of science teachers on classroom assessment, considering the constructs that inform teachers of their classroom assessment practice. The study was grounded in a socioconstructivist…

What giftedness really means has been discussed over centuries. This exploration, by a researcher involved in the study of mathematically talented youth, considers that giftedness may take many forms. The construct of general intelligence is probably the most widely studied psychological construct, but it is apparent that the IQ is not an ideal…

This book describes results from the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment in U.S. history, conducted at grades 4, 8, and 12. Included in this report card are the results of students' achievement at each grade and within various subgroups of the general population. The report discusses the relationships between student…

Standardized written tests required for teacher licensure and certification often prevent or restrict qualified deaf and hard of hearing individuals from entering their chosen profession. These individuals do not have the same access to English as hearing people and the sentence structures, vocabulary, and language style in standardized tests are…

A study examined methods for helping students earn their Literacy Passport, mandated for all students by the Virginia Department of Education, prior to entering the ninth grade, beginning in grade 6. Teachers were trained at North Accomack Elementary School (Virginia) in the use and implementation of the writing process and in writing to a prompt.…

This study examines the instructional experiences of a national sample of 1992 high school seniors in the subjects of science and mathematics. The study analyzes data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). The information on instruction comes from the NELS:88 1992 survey of teachers, which collected questionnaires from…

The differences in California Achievement Test (CAT) scores from 1990 to 1991 in seventh graders, currently enrolled in Albritton Junior High School in the Fort Bragg Schools, of deployed and nondeployed fathers were analyzed. CAT percentile scores from 1990 and 1991 (1991 being the year of "Desert Storm") were obtained in reading, math…

This module is part of a set of management and supervisor training (MAST) materials developed by the Department of Energy for the Waste Isolation Division. Its stated purpose is to enable trainees to develop and apply leadership in the workplace. The first section of the module is an introduction that includes a terminal objective and opening…

The Even Start--Padres y Progreso program was a nationally funded program in Houston (Texas) designed to prepare young children to enter school not only by offering early childhood education, but also assisting their families with adult literacy/English as a second language, parenting skills training, and employment skills training. The program…

This document is a comparative report based on data that enables a different form of comparison to be made between Japanese and American eighth-graders. The data is drawn from assessments given in each country using tests developed via governmental agencies that were designed to mirror the basic curricula currently being offered to students in the…

One of the major accomplishments of the New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers has been the development of a set of standards describing what beginning teachers should know, be like, and be able to do. These standards have been translated into content-specific standards for…

This booklet, which is intended for individuals responsible for evaluating and improving tech prep and school-to-work programs, examines the history, structure, and use of the Tech Prep/School-to-Work Index and Improvement Program, which was developed to provide a system for conducting internally focused evaluations of tech prep and school-to-work…