This report emphasizes the importance of two types of assessment: (1) authentic assessment, which encompasses a holistic or comprehensive view of student performance, and (2) assessment of institutional effectiveness, or outcomes assessment, which is a process of measuring how effectively a college executes its stated mission. While Hudson County…

There are many procedures to use in the evaluation of student achievement in reading. Each has its pros and cons. No single approach will be perfect, but with a variety of approaches a teacher may determine how much progress each student has made. Standardized, norm-referenced tests, once so popular, have come into disfavor as reading evaluation…

The New Zealand National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is a new qualifications, credit, and assessment system. This report explores the difference the NQF makes for young people. It is the first report of a longitudinal study that will follow two cohorts of students in seven North Island (New Zealand) high schools to see the impact the NQF has on…

This textbook for undergraduates reflects advances in the understanding of effective teaching and learning and is organized around the theme of promoting good information processing. The first part of the book describes the foundations of good thinking, and the second part introduces different theoretical perspectives on the construction of…

This brochure describes the state of Washington's efforts to improve its educational program and to ensure that the state's young people are receiving the knowledge and skills they will need in the 21st century. In 1993, Washington established a Commission on Student Learning to work toward four educational goals. These goals call for students to:…

This report is part of a multi-year project to examine the effects of standards-based assessment reform on schools and classrooms. During the past year, the project investigated school and classroom effects of assessment reforms in the state of Kentucky, a state that has been at the forefront of the standards-based assessment movement. This report…

As an institution having undergone many changes over the past 13 years in the Maricopa Community College District, Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) in Arizona has developed and implemented its strategic planning process, institutional effectiveness and student outcomes assessment model, and resource allocation (budget) process over the…

Compulsory national testing for children at ages 7, 11, 14, and 16 years is part of the British National Curriculum. This development contributes to the fact that the issue of assessment is of increasing interest to parents, teachers, administrators, and employers. This book attempts to explain how assessment systems work and the uses that can be…

This report describes a program for increasing student ownership and responsibility to bring about quality work. The students were actively involved in the collaborative assessment process. The targeted population consisted of first and second grade students in a middle class community in Central Illinois. An increased sense of ownership,…

The chapters in this collection deal with a range of issues that surround the positive and negative aspects of assessment and distinguish assessment and evaluation. Educational organizations have become more and more dominated by the processes of assessment and evaluation in various guises such as teacher appraisal, accountability, and student…

Guidance is offered in Spanish on the creation and use of alternative assessment, and a process model is presented that links assessment with curriculum and instruction, based on contemporary theories of learning and cognition. The introductory chapter provides background on the purposes of assessment and the need for new alternatives, with an…

Criticisms leveled at the American education system are examined in this paper, which asserts that misinformation about Japanese education should not be used as a basis for educational reform in the United States. Commonly reported changes made against the American public school system are explored; they include lowered student intelligence,…

Information about the performance of Pennsylvania's public schools in relation to the six national education goals developed by the nation's governors and the Bush Administration at the Charlottesville education summit is provided in this report. Initiatives taken to improve educational quality and plans for further action are described. The first…

Findings of a study that incorporated a method for measuring the economic efficiency of K-8 school districts in Illinois are presented in this paper. The quadriform concept was used to identify four categories, or quadrants, for identifying school districts--technically efficient, low service, high service, and technically inefficient. The method…

The California Strategic Plan for Special Education sets specific goals and outcomes for the future in 11 critical areas: early intervention for infants and preschoolers, prevention, assessment, student outcomes and quality indicators, service delivery, education in the least restrictive environment, regionalization for students with low incidence…