What is meant when people say that "learning environments are increasingly complex"? What is known about the cognitive processing that occurs during complex learning? How can educators provide effective instructional support for students who must learn and apply complex knowledge? These questions, and related issues, have fascinated educators and…

This book is designed to provide future and experienced educators and other professionals with a fundamental understanding of traditional and contemporary perspectives on the assessment of children and youth, aged 3 through 21. It features broad coverage of traditional and contemporary assessment approaches. Individual tests are discussed at…

This paper documents the development of an authentic assessment evaluation process at Ohio's Wright State University (WSU), examining authentic assessment efforts related to PRAXIS III/Pathwise Assessment, which is being piloted by the Ohio Department of Education as the model for teacher licensure. Portfolios receive major attention during WSU's…

The Illinois State Board of Education partnered with two outside groups, the National Computational Science Alliance (NCSA) and the North Central Regional Technology in Education Center (NCRTEC), to provide staff development, along with technological software, hardware, and support, to improve 6th graders' performance in the areas of mathematics,…

Developed by classroom teachers during the development phase of Minnesota's Graduation Standards, this performance package is made up of locally designed assignments that, taken together, show whether a student has learned and can apply the knowledge and skills related to writing in the English language for a variety of academic purposes and…

This paper describes a collaborative approach to using general education rubrics as an additional assessment strategy to American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education members who are revising and sustaining their institutional and teacher education assessment programs. Faculty members from a rural, comprehensive private college in…

This monograph is a "how-to" manual on responsibility center budgeting (RCB) and responsibility center management (RCM) in the context of Canadian and U.S. institutions. It explains how RCB/RCM works in practice and discusses some of the problems encountered in implementing this strategy at a number of Canadian and U.S. universities. The…

This document includes the left-hand column ("What All Students Should Know") and the center column ("What All Students Should Be Able To Do") from "Missouri's Framework for Curriculum Development in Communication Arts K-12." Next to these two columns has been added a column which includes assessment noted for those…

This review of state higher education assessment policies sought to test assumptions and conclusions reached during an initial phase of the study, to explore the dynamics of the process by which assessment becomes a state-level issue or concern, and to better understand the multifaceted relationship between state assessment policy and the…

This report discusses how the Arizona Board of Regents, which has governing authority over the state's three public universities, dealt with the inability of the universities to respond to new societal needs in a timely manner; a major impediment was felt to be tenure. After a series of meetings of administrators and faculty leaders, the Board…

These four newsletter issues provide information on current research and practice to early childhood professionals teaching in the primary grades in Colorado, focusing on education reform and developmentally appropriate practice. The first issue notes research supporting developmentally appropriate practice, describes Kentucky's primary school…

This book presents 10 practices that are essential to making education meaningful and rich for all students, examining brain research and how it can be applied to the classroom. It incorporates information about learning styles and standards into a classroom instructional model for teachers. The 11 chapters are as follows: (1) "Creating an…

Examines reasons why student assessment is undergoing reform, discussing how such reform may affect the nation's schools. The paper describes why school reform is occurring, notes how reform of assessment fits school reform, explains types of assessments and assessment designs, and highlights practical and technical challenges inherent in using…

This article describes a social skills instructional framework, with examples of its use in inclusive and diverse classrooms. The framework has three phases: (1) defining the social skill to be taught; (2) implementing instruction; and (3) moving to self-control. Also provided are guidelines for performance-based assessment of social skills. (DB)

Two studies focused on concurrent validity and instructional decision making in using alternative reading measures with elementary regular and special education students. The first study examined the relation of oral reading performance to several other reading measures; the second study investigated teacher decision making, using quantitative and…