The question of the appropriateness of a set of national standards for educational achievement in the United States is extremely complex. One source of the complexities is the diversity of human characteristics, and the distortions that come from racism, sexism, and other forms of chauvinism. The current practice in testing seems to treat validity…

This yearbook, a retrospective and prospective exploration of educational change, focuses on the challenges of curriculum, instructional supervision, and leadership for education in the United States. The yearbook opens with a foreword by Stephanie Pace Marshall, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) President, 1992-93, and…

The relationships among factors reported on report cards developed for local school districts in Tennessee were studied, offering information about how the selected factors relate to student outcomes. Each year Tennessee's State Board of Education produces a report card on each school district using data provided by the district and the State…

This paper presents arguments for changing a portion of current federal policy for evaluating Chapter 1 grants to Local Education Agencies (LEAs). Chapter 1, part of the federal Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA), provides funds to schools and districts to improve education for economically disadvantaged students. The paper advocates that…

A study conducted in 1988 assessed the effectiveness of the multigrade system in providing a primary education at four pilot schools in sparsely populated, rural areas of Zambia. In an attempt to alleviate the problems of financial strain and low enrollment in rural schools, this system combines two or more grade levels into one class taught by…

This publication is the second annual report on the programs and plans of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Representatives of state and federal education agencies have presented the NCES with a report, "A Guide to Improving the National Education Data System," which contains recommendations for improving the nation's…

Indicators of current issues and concerns in the assessment of science teaching and learning outcomes are discussed. The greatest public attention to science test scores is devoted to scores from assessments that are external to schools, including national assessments such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), international…

This report contains preliminary results from the 1992 mathematics assessment by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of nationally representative samples of about 26,000 4th, 8th and 12th grade students in 1,500 public schools and private schools in 44 states; and compares data to findings from the 1990 NAEP mathematics tests.…

An evaluative study in New York (New York) comprehensive half-day public school prekindergarten programs serving language minorities is reported. The study investigated effectiveness of city policy supporting the use of the children's native (home) languages for some portions of instruction. Information was gathered on: (1) supervisory staff's…

The use of portfolio assessment as a method of evaluating the writing competence of elementary school students was studied. The study contained two components: (1) an empirical study of the utility and meaningfulness of using an analytic rubric developed for the evaluation of traditional writing samples to score student portfolios; and (2) a…

The assessment process in whole language classrooms in the Honolulu (Hawaii) School District is described. The development of alternative measures based on actual student performances was a natural outcome of the teachers' training and implementation of a holistic education/whole language program. Multiple and multidimensional assessment emerged…

The second International Assessment of Educational Progress focused on the mathematics and science achievement of 13-year-olds. Performance assessments were used as part of the overall assessment in four countries (England, Scotland, Soviet Union, and Taiwan) and five Canadian provinces. The performance assessment approach drew heavily on the…

This paper, commissioned for the development of the national report, "National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent," presents data which suggest that America's top students do poorly in comparison with top students in comparable nations and that few strides have been made in significantly improving American students'…

Researchers at the Coast Guard Academy have designed and tested a series of exercises for assessing the development of intellectual skills in an interdisciplinary context and providing career-related motivation for continued learning. These exercises are based on realistic situations that cadets might encounter as commissioned officers in the…

The 1992-93 school year was the second year of the implementation of the Vermont assessment program. Evaluation of the 1991-92 year yielded mixed results, with some evidence that the assessment program was having a strong impact on instruction, but other indications that the reliability of the portfolio scoring in both writing and mathematics was…