Four of the most important issues currently facing higher education are the need to make students the central focus, to restore public trust and demonstrate accountability, to manage limited resources more efficiently and effectively, and to utilize the power of technology. The driving forces behind these directions are public disaffection,…

A study was conducted to begin a process of validating hypothesized causes of local item dependence (LID) in large-scale performance assessments. Data for the study are item level scores from 26 science tasks from the 1993 edition of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. Causes of high LID were hypothesized from studies by Ferrara et…

Discriminant analysis (DA) is a multivariate technique concerned with either prediction/classification (predictive discriminant analysis) or distinguishing among groups (descriptive discriminant analysis). DA has many potential applications in gifted education research, including investigation of identification procedures in order to obtain…

Response generative modeling (RGM) is an approach to psychological measurement that involves a "grammar" capable of assigning a psychometric description to every item in a universe of items and is capable of generating all the items in that universe. The article discusses the rationale behind RMG and its roots, explores how it relates to…

This document contains papers from a series of Evaluation Forums of the National Science Foundation. The titles are: "Education Program Evaluation at NSF: What Difference Does It Make?" (D. E. Chubin); "Interagency Efforts to Review and Evaluate Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Programs Through the Federal Coordinating Council…

In 1991, the Florida legislature adopted Blueprint 2000, a comprehensive system of school improvement. Guided by the National Education Goals and a commitment to flexibility at the local level, Blueprint 2000 renews the state's resolve to improve student performance by encouraging the involvement of all stakeholders in the schooling process. This…

The 1995 "School Improvement Network Directory" is part of a series designed to facilitate information exchange and support among schools and districts involved in long-term school-improvement efforts. The directory provides information about 260 schools working with the school-based-management process, Onward to Excellence (OTE), to improve…

This book is for curriculum leaders at the state, district, and school levels who want specific guidelines about the recommended content of each field. Contributing authors were asked to address the following issues: standards; the influence of cognitive psychology, technology, and assessment on curriculum content; curriculum structure; current…

The need for training and retraining is a central element in current discussions about the economy of the United States. This paper is designed to introduce training practitioners to some new concepts about how measurement science can provide a new framework for assessing progress and can add new discipline to the development, implementation, and…

Community college reform legislation in California mandates the development and implementation of a comprehensive accountability model. The reform model implemented during the 1991-92 academic year will provide the legislature and state officials with outcomes and process data in five areas of community college services: student access, student…

With accurate information, educators are better able to make effective decisions. Besides being used to assess student performance, a complete program of data collection and use can also show educators how management skills, individual learning styles, and other elements affect student achievement. This digest provides an overview of how…

Accountability reports, using both qualitative and quantitative measures of higher education effectiveness, are being mandated by many state legislatures. To date, not enough is known about the components, measurement, and uses of summary data concerning faculty productivity at the higher education level. There are no universally accepted…

The proliferation of standards developed at the national and state levels makes preparing a meaningful classroom curriculum a daunting task. This book was designed for teachers who seek a model and processes for designing standards-based units of study to use in their own classrooms. Chapter 1 discusses the purpose of standards and defines content…

Characteristics of critical thinking and creative thinking are described along with methods by which educators can encourage students in the development of these cognitive strategies. Intellectual standards applied to the critical thought process include accuracy, precision, depth, breadth, logic, and significance. Effective educators adhere to…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop a model for evaluating teachers' instructional practices in mathematics and the cognitions associated with these practices. The sample consisted of seven beginning and seven experienced teachers of secondary school mathematics, who each taught one lesson of his or her own design. To evaluate…