Although assessment has been an activity at Germanna Community College for some time, it has not been a vehicle for integrating efforts within the college to meet its mission. This policy statement was written in order to make assessment a year-round opportunity for all faculty and staff. The assessment process should begin with the establishment…

The centrality of assessment for facilitating thinking, reasoning, and problem solving is well-documented and indisputable. Less apparent is how to create informative, yet practical measures for classroom use. Clearly, the changing of assessments alone will not in and of itself improve learning; teachers' beliefs and practices will need to be…

Maine's approach to assessing state standards, the Learning Results, has been to use a combination of state and local measures in building a "comprehensive assessment system." The state test, the Maine Educational Assessment (MEA), was revised in 1999 to align more closely with content standards and performance indicators established in…

Oxford undergraduates were surveyed to determine how well their actual educational experiences matched their original expectations about the university. Students evaluated how much they were really allowed to specialize in chosen fields, the effectiveness of the tutorial system, and the value of their membership in the academic community. (AM)

Teacher training institutions should assess the competency level of their graduates so that needed changes in teacher education programs can be made. A model for assessing teacher education graduates and the teacher education program is described. (CJ)

Results from the third national mathematics assessment are presented. Overall, the performance of nine year olds changed little since the second assessment, while significant gains were made by 13 year olds. Data on whole numbers, fractions and decimals, other basic concepts, and problem solving are discussed. (MNS)

Highlights problems in student achievement and the national need to broaden the definition of basic skills and renew the curriculum. Recommendations are included. (MLF)

A study assessed the extent of health education services provided by community health services in Illinois. The need for agencies to define target populations and their health education needs and to state agency educational objectives clearly is underscored. (PP)

A distinction between "education" and "training" is made, and the schools, it is argued, should concentrate on training students. If schools and universities were thought of as special training centers for acquiring certain basic and advanced skills, it would be relatively simple to judge whether they are doing their job. (PP)

Follow-up surveys of four medical and five nursing classes conducted at varying times are compared to examine the effect of timing on program feedback obtained. Graduate assessment of program features was consistent and stable even several years after program completion. Surveying students shortly before graduation is recommended. (Author/MSE)

Assesses the quality of a Head Start program and compares it to a nursery school via a survey of 30 parents from each school/program. Reveals that this one rural South Dakota Head Start program is meeting its goals. (AH)

College and university teacher education programs confronted with declining enrollments and budgetary restrictions, should consider the strategies of refocusing, renewing, or reducing to maintain quality programs, including redirection of program foci and faculty activities, faculty retraining, and elimination of marginal programs. (Author/RC)

Describes a four-step model for implementation and evaluation of the priority needs assessment for Iowa school districts as mandated by the Iowa General Assembly (1974). The steps are: formulation of the steering committee, analysis of priority goal status, implementation of priority goals, and evaluation of progress of goals. (LC)

Reports fourth-grade results in a statewide science assessment program in Minnesota for grades 4, 8, and 11 and a comparable study conducted in Minneapolis. Suggests that hands-on, materials-centered elementary science programs properly managed and accompanied by inservice education are effective. (DC)

If quality assurance is a primary responsibility of accreditation, reviewing an institution in terms of richness of resources and personnel is inadequate. Student work products must be assessed against the meaning of the degrees awarded, and more direct ways of evaluating the quality of student achievement must be developed and implemented.…