Discusses current visions for reform in science education to be reached in 2005. Presents tables on changes in teaching, assessment, content, and situation and goals for 2005 by indicating less and more emphasis. Discusses what must be done, visions for 2025, how to achieve Vision 2025, and models for achieving the visions for science education in…

Reviews developments in educational assessment and in journals devoted to assessment during the editor's tenure with this journal, with a special focus on the place of performance assessment. Discusses the problem of generalizability in many new forms of assessment. (SLD)

Evidence from 100 women in women-only reentry courses suggested that any form of assessment and credit may deter the target audience. Assessment imposes requirements that may reduce program effectiveness. Noncredit programs for disadvantaged women are recommended. (SK)

States that comprehensive, systematic plans to assess student learning can be both the rudder guiding and the sail driving change in staff, program, and organizational development. Explores the nature of assessment and how it can and does serve such roles, driving change in the college or adapting to emerging community needs. Contains 27…

Presents a comprehensive model for assessing the institutional effectiveness of academic programs and illustrates, through a case study, strategies for managing the difficulties inherent within this process. Models the system designed for West Point's Academic Program and describes how the model was implemented into an academic environment.…

Developed and evaluated an assessment of orthographic knowledge designed to help teachers interpret children's spellings for instruction and to advance understanding of how children acquire knowledge of words. Reliability and validity studies with 1,016 urban and rural elementary school students support the use of the Developmental Spelling…

Explores the assessment and improvement of educational programs and administrative services at metropolitan colleges and universities through the primary academic unit the department. Discusses the development of intended student outcomes and administrative objectives; also identifies issues related to implementing assessment at the department…

Claims fundamental educational reforms of the past 10 years in the United Kingdom lack a strong sense of rationale. Discusses seven areas where a clear, broad vision of the purpose of education can serve as a guide in taking education policy and practice forward. (NH)

Examines dilemmas of educational accountability and why large-scale assessment of student achievement has come to dominate educational reform policy. Provides a brief history of large-scale assessment in education in Canada. Looks at both expected and unexpected consequences of large-scale assessment and calls for educators and politicians to…

School systems have recently experienced a dramatic shift toward the use of large-scale assessment to improve school performance. Discusses the ways in which external assessment may benefit education, the need for multiple measures of various dimensions of school success, and guidelines for using assessment to create a dynamic cycle of continuous…

Traces the major historical milestones achieved by Nova Southeastern University in its pioneering of graduate level online learning programs. Highlights include delivery systems; Web-based electronic classrooms; overview of the technology, including telecommunications through UNIX; evaluation and research; and technology used in the School of…

Accountability has become synonymous with standardized testing in many Western countries such as Canada, the United States, Great Britain and New Zealand. Schools and districts are increasingly ranked based on their students' performance on standardized tests. Unfortunately, standardized testing measures possess a number of limitations that…

Whilst there is evidence of significant investment in policy-led initiatives to raise attainment in schools, there is rather less evidence of the positive impact of such initiatives. In this paper we explore stakeholder views of recent initiatives in assessment in Scotland in an attempt to discern the relationships between assessment policy,…

Portfolios, a term derived from the carrying case of paintings or drawings that artists present as proof of their talents, are collections of student work. With the nationwide efforts to raise graduation standards and the increasing use of standardized testing, the idea of basing promotion and graduation decisions on portfolios of students' work…

This chapter addresses the opportunities and challenges of using alumni research in Spain.