Reviewed the literature on competency-based medical education to: (1) understand the evolution of this educational paradigm; (2) assess the evidence to date of the efficacy of competency-based education; and (3) provide practical insights into how to accomplish full implementation and evaluation of the paradigm shift. (EV)

Explores the economic and political contexts of assessment in New Zealand adult education. Discusses assessment in relation to power, objectivity, reliability, and validity, suggesting that accountability prevails over autonomy. Advocates a context-dependent learner-teacher partnership for assessment in adult education. (Contains 54 references.)…

Discusses the effects of high-stakes tests in Michigan and how these tests affect the teaching of mathematics in classrooms. (ASK)

Shares some thoughts on and successes in assessment practices. Provides a collage of possible techniques from the literature that teachers might like to try in their classrooms in an attempt to broaden their assessment practices. (Contains 13 references.) (ASK)

Provides an overview of the concept of alignment and the role it plays in assessment and accountability systems. Discusses some methodological issues affecting the study of alignment and explores the relationship between alignment and test score interpretation. Alignment is not only a methodological requirement but also an ethical requirement.…

Describes a Web-based survey system developed for evaluating distributed learning at the University of Central Florida. Results are incorporated into a participation database table that restricts duplicate and unwanted responses, and compares the pilot test results of this Web-based survey to those of a traditional mailed survey. (Author/LRW)

Presents a problem on solubility equilibrium which involves macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic levels of representation as a resource for the evaluation of students, and allows for assessment as to whether students have acquired an adequate conceptual understanding of the phenomenon. Also diagnoses difficulties with regard to previous…

Chief executive officers in the proprietary and nonprofit sectors have found that well-designed board standing committees can serve as very effective governing engines, producing several important outcomes. This is true among boards of education as well. Above all else, standing committees can divide the labor of governing into chewable chunks,…

Reliability is a problem inherent in all educational assessments, but the amount of attention this particular problem should be given is related to the function and use of the assessment. In this article, classification accuracy is put forward as a conceptualization of reliability that is meaningful for a large number of educational assessments.…

The importance of educational accountability and assessment literacy is recognized as a long-term challenge to the educational system. The complexities in becoming an assessment literate and provide an opportunity to the educators to display their effective learning is discussed.

Gickling's model of curriculum-based assessment (CBA) has been linked to problem identification and intervention development and is used in several school consultation approaches. This article uses Ellis's (2001) three levels of research criteria to examine the use of CBA in a school consultation model. Aside from the need for more psychometric…

This article has three purposes. First, it makes the case for assessment as an educational practice that flows from the core concerns of a school, in this piece particularly seminaries and theological schools. Second, it describes practices that enable assessment to be a resource for achieving the quality everyone wants from an educational and…

The planning and implementation of institutional and programmatic assessment to ascertain what students have learned and how well they have learned it encompasses a number of challenges. Some of these major challenges are gaining institutional resources for assessment, designing faculty development plans, determining student learning outcomes and…

This article presents a rejoinder to the commentaries on the authors' article titled, "Instructionally Supportive Accountability Tests in Science: A Viable Assessment Option?" The commentaries offer a series of well warranted cautions regarding the adoption of any form of large-scale accountability testing. However, the authors contend…

This article discusses the increasing number of schools that met all of their 2004 annual achievement targets under U.S. federal law. Over half the states released at least preliminary lists of the number of schools that had made adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act, based on 2003-04 test data. In general, the percentage of…