Lessons from the 18-year institutional experience of Alverno College in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) with assessment for the improvement and verification of student learning are summarized. Principles are described that should inform a national assessment system with the dual purposes of improvement and accountability by incorporating the following key…

For a national program assessing college graduates to succeed, it must be institutionalized at the majority of colleges and universities in the nation. The information generated must play a clear and key role in formulating state and institutional higher education policy, college matriculation standards, and degree-granting decisions. Such an…

The conference reported in this document was convened by the Indian Adult Education Association in collaboration with the Adult Continuing Education & Extension Centre of Marathwada University. Attended by 230 delegates from throughout India, the conference focussed on ways of developing an all-out attack on the country's huge illiteracy…

This directory contains information about organizations in the United States that offer the following types of services to parents of children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders: support groups; education; training; referral; advocacy at the case or systems level; transition services; or direct assistance such as respite care, child…

This is the third periodic report on the programs and plans of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The challenge facing the NCES is to collect and analyze data that track the growth and change in educational experience in the United States. Current programs toward this goal, future plans, and major publications of the NCES are…

This book is the result of a cooperative project of several European countries--Belgium, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Each country involved provides a chapter outlining a national project or a specific organization presents its own approach and initiatives to teacher education, with particular…

The CEO Forum on Education and Technology is an alliance of CEOs of leading United States corporations and educational organizations, all committed to a four-year project to annually assess and help improve America's program on integrating technology into its classrooms. Since the Year 1 report (1997) was issued, there has been solid progress…

A detailed analysis was conducted of the difficulty over time of the essay prompts for the English Composition Achievement Test (ECT) with Essay of the College Board. Differential difficulty was explored by considering whether the relationship between the reference groups of male and white students and the focal groups (female, American Indian,…

Reflections on the proposal for creation and implementation of a national test are presented from the perspective of a test author. The most readily identified characteristic of the proposed national test is the intensity of debate surrounding it. Another easily identified characteristic is the anticipated effect. While proponents expect higher…

Today, nearly 1 billion adults are totally illiterate; the large majority are women. Varying and vague definitions of literacy abound in the literature and in practice. Literacy is only a potential tool that can be used for a variety of economic, social, political, and cultural purposes. Three principal state objectives for launching literacy…

Student learning is the bottom line for nearly all efforts to establish a national test system. Major efforts in this area are summarized in this paper. The various efforts seem to move ahead independently, but some common ideas include: (1) creating a national assessment system rather than a single test; (2) developing more than multiple-choice…

The 18 papers presented at this conference address national information policies, information for industry, and electronic publishing. The titles of the papers are as follows: (1) "Industrial Information Policies of Developing Countries" (keynote address, Sung Jin Choi); (2) "National Information Policy. Current Trends and…

This resource guide is designed to help adults who suspect they have a learning disability gather sufficient information to set realistic goals, achieve those goals, and lead productive lives. The first section, which discusses assessing learning disabilities, includes lists of agencies equipped to help diagnose learning disabilities in adults and…

In 1991, the Adult Education for the Homeless (AEH) Program consisted of projects in 31 states; a total of $7.4 million was available to these projects. The projects provided instruction in basic and life skills, further assisted homeless adults through counseling and life planning activities, and coordinated efforts with other homeless…

As in the first year of the Adult Education for the Homeless (AEH) Program, a majority of second- and third-year projects tended to focus on either delivery of services in urban areas or on a statewide approach. A few states continued an approach that resulted in service primarily to women. The number of homeless adults served in year 2 increased…