Describes the implementation of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) at many educational institutions across Canada. Suggests that PLA should be incorporated into every skills training and upgrading program. (JOW)

Developments in cognitive and developmental psychology have broadened the inferences researchers want to make about students' learning and the nature and acquisition of knowledge. The principles of inference that led to standard test theory can support inference in the broader context of the cognitive revolution. (SLD)

Studied evaluation practices and the attitudes of teachers in the Netherlands toward these practices through a survey of 617 teachers and 214 principals. Findings show assessment routines to be strongly domain-dependent. Teachers have a preference for curriculum-embedded tests and the grading of work sheets above norm-referenced tests. Overall,…

This article provides a brief history of curriculum-based measurement (CBM), clarifies its relationship to curriculum-based assessment, summarizes the primary features of CBM, and gives a rationale for its design. Extensions of CBM to new research domains are identified, and a perspective is provided in the place of CBM in the broader context of…

An implementation of the portfolio approach in screening the performance of educational programs is discussed. The approach supports an institutional management system that integrates management information systems, research, and evaluation efforts. Productivity and potential are used as broad dimensions for assessing program worth. (TJH)

Reports on the effort by the National Teacher Examination to set standards in the field of speech communication. Describes the way in which the examination is put together and discusses some of the strengths and weaknesses of such a method. (KEH)

Influences on the educational validity of examinations are reviewed. Changes occurring in approaches to standard setting are traced. A view of reliability is presented, with emphasis on assessment of project work, which often involves individual investigation and design by students. A consistency index formula for grading standards is presented.…

Argues that the assessment of scholastic achievement should be based on a primary system of reference formed by the structures of educational objectives, corresponding to both the logical organization of the subject matter and the mental logic of its acquisition. Uses research in written language and elementary mathematics to illustrate binding…

The development of the paper-and-pencil instrument called the Organizational Culture Assessment Inventory (OCAI) is based on the theory of organizational culture. Recent literature and organizational analysis are combined with Schein's model of organizational culture to provide the background for metaphorical analysis of organizational culture…

A preliminary analysis of the Organizational Culture Assessment Inventory yielded four root metaphors descriptive of the type of culture likely to be found in public schools: the family, the machine, the circus, and the "little shop of horrors." (10 references) (SI)

Describes the Metacomprehension Strategy Index, a multiple-choice questionnaire, and its supporting validity and reliability data. Discusses how teachers can use and interpret this information to evaluate middle and upper elementary students' knowledge of strategic reading processes. (MG)

Reviews the recently released Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Third Edition. Identifies the test as one which is widely used by school systems to measure students' reading progress in instructional settings. (MG)

Since education is lifelong, linking teachers' salary and benefits to students' learning levels marks a novel approach to quantifying instructor ability. Adult Americans need to be asked how they feel about the education they received, and the teachers under whom they studied. (MLW)

Describes several problems associated with England's oral examination requirement, particularly within the framework of Further Education. (MM)

Assessment is analyzed using the conceptualization of educational evaluation. Ten questions provide the framework for this analysis: the meaning of assessment, purpose of assessment, criteria to judge the merit or worth of what has been assessed, who should be served by assessment, etc. (MLW)