Instructional assessment is a systematic approach to solving student academic, behavioral, and social-emotional problems by identifying the key factors that have created or are encouraging the problem. The instructional support team (IST) process emphasizes assistance to students. Assessment in IST consists of ongoing analysis of student…

Despite their progress, most schools in Kansas' Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA) System fall short of the philosophy and practice envisioned by QPA. What has been accomplished and what remains to be done in QPA is detailed in this two-volume report. It was found that teachers working together were at the center of improvement. Schools where…

Increased attention has been given to issues of assessment in recent years. Teachers of mathematics have been working to change both the way they elicit evidence of their students' mathematical thinking and the way they use that evidence to monitor students' progress and guide instructional decision making. This publication is based on work done…

In 1998 the Kentucky legislature directed the state's Board of Education to redesign the assessment and accountability system. As a result, the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) was developed. Because of the major changes in the system, trend lines cannot be drawn to the previous assessment, the Kentucky Instructional Results…

Incorporating both educational assessment and service-learning prerogatives, a study examined a communications curriculum implementing service-learning to determine if the service-learning method was accomplishing its full potential. Through an evaluation based on six categories of service-learning objectives (intellectual-, skills, and affective…

This study examined the general nature of school-based student assessment in a small sample (five elementary and three middle schools and one high school). It relies on descriptive analyses and the presentation of data obtained during site visits. The schools have been separated into those with well-developed student assessment systems and those…

Under the direction of the Superintendent of Schools, a comprehensive needs assessment of Hawaii's public school system was conducted from September 1998 through February 1999. This final report contains the findings of the needs assessment, together with integrative conclusions that report the major findings in a way that will provide the…

This document describes the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) Core Indicators for the Perkins III Core Performance Standards and Measures. Core indicators and measures include: (1) student attainment, measured by academic and technical skills; (2) completion, measured by graduation rate; (3) placement and persistence, measured by placement,…

This report describes Truckee Meadows Community College's (Nevada) environmental scanning process and results. The college decided that environmental scanning and forecasting techniques should be used to plan for both short-term and long-term external factors that impact programs, enrollment, and budgets. Strategic goals include: (1) keeping pace…

A meta-analysis was conducted to determine whether there were differences between the assigned academic achievement levels of students who were assessed with traditional methods of assessment and those who were assessed with alternative methods. From the more than 800 studies identified through literature searches, 7 studies, with a total of 5,020…

This digest presents 11 basic principles to guide the assessment training and professional development of teachers and administrators. These are: (1) assessment is inherently a process of professional judgment; (2) assessment is based on separate but related principles of measurement evidence and evaluation; (3) assessment decision-making is…

This report is part of a two-volume publication that outlines the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) 5-year plan to transform education in DoD schools. It is based on the vision that the DoDEA will be a learner-centered organization, unbound by traditional school concepts of time, location, and age requirements, and will be…

This study examined the proposition that if teacher professional development focuses on ways of thinking and teacher action, it will facilitate the ongoing implementation of opportunity-to-learn (OTL) assessment strategies rated as "teacher-friendly" and "very teacher-friendly." Case study methodology was used to investigate…

Santa Fe Community College (Florida) published this guide as a means of addressing the 1983 and 1984 U.S. Department of Education reports that called for a "renaissance in higher education in America." This manual aims to define institutional effectiveness for the college, with the quality of student learning as the major focus. It also…

This guide examines claims for 24 schoolwide programs-- programs that promise to improve student learning by changing the entire school. Focusing on quantitative achievement measures such as test scores, grades, and graduation rates, the report was prepared for educators and others to assist them in their investigation of different approaches to…