This paper provides information about the development of a successful quality-assurance process in the New South Wales, Australia, school system. In 1992 the New South Wales (NSW) government announced its commitment to a program of quality-assurance reviews of schools. During that year, approximately 100 meetings were held with principals, school…

The new "Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools" identifies complex instructional activities and student performance, and requires new assessment methods to reveal that performance. One of the goals of the California Assessment Collaborative (CAC) is to study the effects of local assessment development and implementation…

This report reviews five major international comparative studies on educational practices, assessment systems, and educational outcomes for students with disabilities. The five studies reviewed are: (1) the Reading Literacy Survey conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA); (2) the International…

One method for assessing teacher performance is the teacher portfolio. This is a collection of work produced by a teacher to highlight and demonstrate his or her knowledge and skills in teaching. A portfolio also provides a means for reflection and an opportunity to critique one's own work and evaluate one's own effectiveness as a teacher. Rather…

Drawing from both state and institutional data sources, this report provides personnel at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) with an in-depth analysis of assessment issues, offering both quantitative and qualitative information on assessment and student outcomes. Section 1 provides data on student transfer goal achievement, indicating that…

Each year, the Illinois community colleges conduct comprehensive reviews of their current program offerings. In fiscal year 1994, the colleges reviewed a total of 870 occupational, 176 general education or academic, 53 developmental and adult education, 90 academic and student support, and 22 other programs. Occupational programs were reviewed in…

The use of portfolio assessment in the Dallas (Texas) Independent School District and the future of portfolio assessment are discussed. A literature review is followed by a description of the development process that preceded the Chapter 1 portfolio assessment of the Dallas schools. Portfolio results are then compared to the standardized measures…

This report outlines key issues and provides a baseline for an examination of the progress of states, districts, and schools toward realizing the objectives of the restructured Title I program. The fundamental goal of the new Title I is to help children who are at risk of school failure improve their academic achievement. The National Assessment…

The design and implementation of a broad-based intervention program for students at risk of school failure are described, and implications are drawn for efforts to improve the education of at risk children. The Learning City Program uses state-of-the-art research to create a facilitating environment in which the continuous development of children…

A 67-item Assessment Practices Inventory (API) was administered to 311 inservice teachers. The application of principal components analysis to the data yielded a 6-factor solution that explained 64% of the variance. The Rasch rating scale model was applied to the API to estimate item calibrations. The factor analyzed assessment categories were…

The critical thinking curriculum used in the four-year business degree program at the Auckland Institute of Technology Faculty of Commerce in New Zealand is described. The design of the business program is modeled on the authors' view of critical thinking as concerned with the intellectual maturity of the whole person. Key intellectual standards…

Previous research clearly documents that teachers often award what S. M. Brookhart (1991) has referred to as a "hodgepodge grade of attitude, effort, and achievement." This paper reports on a survey of grading practices involving 310 middle and high school teachers of academic subjects in a single school system. Also surveyed were 7,367 middle and…

This report describes the evaluation of the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP) which provides assessment and academic support for students entering Texas public institutions of higher education. The report includes a trend analysis of year-end TASP Test results and a cohort analysis of academic performance for 431,737 students tested for the…

This literature review lists and describes current assessment methods for process writing. Writing instruction's shift of focus from product to process is part of education's greater shift of emphasis from knowledge transmission to inquiry, which allows students to become problem solvers and independent thinkers. Process writing creates…

This report synthesizes the results of activities of the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) focused on determining whether secondary data analysis of state and/or national data collection programs could produce policy-relevant reports on the status of children and youth with disabilities. The report describes methodology and findings…