This report details the activities, findings, and actions that have made up Germanna Community College's (Virginia) student outcomes assessment program in specific reporting areas for 2000-2001. The following sections comprise the report: (1) an executive summary; (2) a report on assessment activities in five general education areas, including…

This document is a report on a 2001 national survey of community colleges conducted by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). The survey was designed to identify various community service programs that community colleges administered, partnered, or sponsored. The study surveyed 1,067 community colleges, with 363 colleges (34%)…

This report presents first-year results of a multistage research study that examines the progress made during the past decade by the 50 states and six regional accrediting associations toward establishing and implementing higher education teaching and learning assessment policies. The report provides a history of state and regional assessment…

This study looks at the effects that the general education assessment undertaken for the Performance Funding Program has had on general education at the public two-year institutions of higher education in Tennessee. The purpose of the Performance Funding Project was to provide motivation, through financial incentives, to public institutions for…

Student teaching handbooks from seven state-supported institutions of higher education that offered special education as a major in preservice teacher education programs were studied to determine the extent to which Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) standards for student teaching experiences were incorporated into teacher preparation…

Different kinds of tests are given to determine student achievement. Standardized achievement tests are often used, but have many limitations. They may be useful in determining the content students should learn and its relevance for future learning and the curriculum. Criterion referenced tests eliminate a major weakness of standardized tests in…

This article provides an historical perspective on current interest in alternative assessment in the United States and identifies critical qualities that good assessment should exemplify. The paper then reviews research results regarding the technical quality and consequences of using this new form of assessment for large-scale accountability…

This book provides a succinct discussion of the development and use of classroom assessments. It is designed for college courses and settings in which a full survey textbook is not appropriate in terms of coverage and cost, such as educational psychology or teaching methods courses or self-study by teachers. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction";…

Included in this report is the State of Texas' vision statement, mission statement, philosophy statement, priority goal for higher education statement, and a list of state-level benchmarks for higher education. The report also contains the state's community colleges' mission and philosophy statements, and a section pertaining to assessment of…

This report provides the results of an annual state-level survey of student, staff, and high-school graduate counts for grades prekindergarten through 12. The data are collected from state education agencies, processed by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, and then verified by the National Center for Education Statistics. The report answers three…

A task force appointed by the governor developed Wisconsin's Model Academic Standards to encourage a higher level of learning for all public school students. The standards describe the skills children should have and the things they should know by the end of grades 4, 8, and 12. Every subject is divided into content standards that tell what…

This report examines the potential of adaptive testing, two?-stage testing in particular, for improving the data quality of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Following a discussion of the rationale for adaptive testing in assessment and a review of previous studies of two-?stage testing, this report describes a 1993 Ohio…

The preparation of young men and women in American universities and colleges for the numerous activities and responsibilities that engross the lives of the people has become one of the major enterprises of the country. This is evidenced not only by the remarkable growth in the number and size of higher educational institutions but also by the…

Effective schools research problems (unreliable descriptions and definitions, over-dependency on tests, research limited primarily to elementary schools) result in narrow formulas leading to increased standardization, neglect of nonacademic areas, and failure to improve in schools with high test scores. Author urges using broader, more complex…

This paper reviews three essays in "Philosophy and Education: Eightieth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education." The volume, as a whole, failed to consider economic, social, political, and related educational issues realistically and practically. (PP)