Standard-setting practices in states using the National Teachers Examination (NTE) were examined. Passing score-setting procedures, recommended study scores, passing scores established by the states, and the implications of the passing scores were studied. States have typically adopted standards lower than cut scores recommended by advisory…

An analysis is provided of whether good teaching of worthwhile content to all students is better promoted by standard-setting initiatives or through leaving teachers alone. Alternative courses of action are reviewed that might make external standard-setting activities matters of persuasion, not issues of compliance. (SLD)

The implications of international assessments in setting world-class performance standards are explored. Possible uses of recent international assessments as benchmarks against which to compare the achievement of U.S. students are illustrated. Characteristics of international assessments that affect their usefulness as benchmarks are discussed.…

Offers 10 academic criteria considered essential for states to adopt when establishing their educational standards. As an aid to standard setters, the article includes a list of titles from the "Defining World-Class Standards" series written by the American Federation of Teachers. Criteria categories are math, science, history and social…

Explores the relationship between measurement theory and practice, considering five broad categories of: (1) models, assumptions, and terminology; (2) reliability; (3) validity; (4) scaling; and (5) setting performance standards. It must be recognized that measurement is not an end in itself. (SLD)

Issues related to the establishment of formal standards for student achievement on large-scale assessments are discussed, and two approaches to standard setting that have been used in Saskatchewan (Canada) are described. In spite of the general success of these programs, numerous issues to consider in future evaluations are raised. (SLD)

What does it mean to "develop professional standards"? This paper argues that the task is one of setting up the processes and resources that will bring about an informed and growing teaching community. This is not a task in making lists of the "competencies" that teachers are to be measured against. Considerable work by…

Before instituting any new selection criteria for admission to principal preparation programs, the author considers several factors that are likely to interact with admission criteria. These include the impact on program enrollment, effects on applicants' choices in the marketplace, benefits likely to accrue from any new measures vis-a-vis faculty…

In the last decade, voluntary efforts by firms to reduce their environmental impacts have received increasing attention from both policymakers and scholars. This article discusses polluters' incentives to reduce their releases. In particular, using data from Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory, it examines the impacts of conventional…

This article examines major threats to the validity of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the context of rural schools. Although rural students and their schools made significant academic progress in the past on national and state assessments, the current goal of AYP turns out to be highly unrealistic for them unless states set far lower…

Assessment procedures for students with moderate or severe disabilities cover a range of procedures and practices. This article reviews recommendations for assessment practices for these students. These recommendations are compared with the assessment actually conducted by a sample of 22 teachers of students with moderate and severe disabilities.…

The focus of this brief is student success: To what extent can the accreditation process drive significant improvement in student persistence and completion at institutions that undergo the peer review process, particularly for students from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education? Because this inquiry is in service to Achieving…

Current trends in the management of e-learning content in Korean higher education are reviewed, along with important issues for future development. South Korean technological infrastructure, among the most advanced in the world, provides the necessary conditions for e-learning to proliferate, but as e-learning in higher education approaches a…

Many on both "the left" and "the right" passionately oppose an outcome-based approach to education, although their reasons are different. A focus on results, on what children actually learn and how well they learn it, enables taxpayers to hold educators accountable for results. But this apparent good idea has led to…

As constructed-response items become an integral part of educational assessments, setting student performance standards on constructed-response items has become an important issue. Two standard-setting methods, one used for setting standards on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading in grade 8 and the other used to set…