This study examined whether charter schools in Arizona were accomplishing the goals communicated in their charter applications and explored the evolutionary nature of charter schools. Forty highly varied charter schools in Arizona were tracked over 5 years of continuous operation, from 1995 to 2000. Interviews lasting 4 hours were arranged at each…

Assessment procedures for school principals need to be valid, reliable, and utilitarian. They should emphasize the humane elements of the school setting, and they should reflect a concern for a safe school environment. Breaking these requirements into component parts allows the development of five-point Likert scales teachers may use to assess…

Artistic endeavors can be planned for and used wisely in ongoing science lessons and units of study. Criteria in rubric form could be developed to assess student art projects and processes, and art in science might become part of a student's portfolio. Art can be a method of learning science subject matter as well as a skills objective stressing…

Advances in cognitive psychology deepen the understanding of how students gain and use knowledge. Advances in technology make it possible to capture more complex performances in assessment settings, by including, for example, simulation, interactivity, collaboration, and constructed response. The challenge is in knowing just how to put this new…

This document describes ways to facilitate reflection and planning in challenging areas of school reform. It outlines a process, "image-making," that is based on research conducted with high-poverty schools that made substantial reforms over time. Image-making helps initiate thoughtful dialogue among adults in the school community by using…

This book offers a comprehensive program of holistic accountability for educators, school board members, school leaders, and parents. Holistic accountability systems yield information about curriculum, assessment, and instruction that can lead to better practices, better decision making, and higher student achievement. The chapters are: (1) "What…

This book explores the links between assessment and instruction and provides a jargon-free look at classroom and large-scale test construction, interpretation, and application. The book offers a "crash course" in instructionally focused assessment with practical advice for dealing with testing targets and standards-based achievement tests. The…

Papers in this collection were commissioned for a workshop designed to share advances in the cognitive sciences and methods of measurement and their implications for improving educational assessment. A second goal of the workshop was to delve into the role that technology could play in bringing these advances together. The papers are: (1)…

This second edition contains updated and refreshed material on the problems caused by the current grading system and contains new information on assessment, standards, and social promotion. The chapters are: (1) Overview; (2) History of Grades; (3) Myths about Grades; (4) Normal Variation in Academic Ability; (5) The Lock-Step Curriculum; (6) The…

Three groups of persons are involved in the testing enterprise: test producers, test users, and test takers. A wide literature is available to guide the first two groups, but only recently have measurement professionals considered the interests of test takers in any careful way. The content of this chapter is presented as a set of 26…

Inclusive assessment and accountability for all students with disabilities has been a significant focus of educators for the past six years. Yet only 35 states reported 1999-2000 test results for students with disabilities on some of their state assessments. Although the areas of assessment and accountability are just one focus of IDEA 1997 and…

College course placement systems match students with instruction that is appropriate to their academic preparation and other characteristics. At a minimum, course placement involves assessing students' academic skills and providing them with instruction that is appropriate to their skills. Upon entry to college, students might encounter different…

Although educational assessment has played a pivotal role in American education for well more then 50 years, it remained in the background of our nation's policy debated and was considered a technical, if not esoteric, field. This chapter explores what events and trends led to the transformation of educational assessment into nightly "table talk",…

This chapter describes classroom assessment for learning, providing a concrete example and contrasting it with assessment of learning; reviews research demonstrating how enhancing educators' skills in the area of classroom assessment for learning improves student learning; describes what educators need to know and be able to do in order to…

Tests--typically cognitive achievement tests--are instruments for providing a more sensitive analysis of the learning sequence and of the instruction guiding it. In addition to an overall score, standardized tests provide a variety of subscores that help the teachers identify where a student might be encountering the greatest difficulties. The…