The decisions teachers make about what to assess and how to assess it send messages to students about what is important. Portfolio assessment is a viable alternative for assessing students' understanding while focusing on the process of learning. In this study, 283 students in an undergraduate teacher education course over 3 years developed…

In 1995 Catholic educators established Selected Programs for Improving Catholic Education (SPICE). The program is a form of action research that identifies, validates, and systematically diffuses elementary and secondary school programs that work. This handbook is the first volume in a series of annual National Catholic Educational Association…

This guidebook offers strategies for creating a district context that is conducive to initiating and sustaining school improvement. Designed to provide resources for those working at school district level, the five stages of the school-improvement process are based on effective-schools research--organize, focus, analyze, develop, and…

Test developers continue to struggle with the technical and logistical problems inherent in assessing achievement across different languages. Many testing programs offer separate language versions of a test to evaluate the achievement of examinees in different language groups. However, comparison of individuals who took different language versions…

Determining how to monitor and enhance school effectiveness is one of the major concerns in current education reforms in different areas of the world. This paper describes the existing conceptual and practical possibilities and dilemmas in developing a framework for monitoring school effectiveness. The paper identifies the different types of…

In 1996 North Carolinians approved the largest bond issue in the state's history, thus sending a message of support for public schools. The next step is to make sure that the quality of instruction in North Carolina schools matches the new facilities approved by over 70 percent of the state's voters. This report outlines the steps needed to build…

The principal focus of this study was the assessment of mathematics in primary education within Realistic Mathematics Education (RME), a mathematics reform movement begun in The Netherlands in the 1960s. The book that resulted from this study is comprised of seven chapters, the first four of which constitute part 1 and are the core of the work.…

A set of methods is proposed for the analysis of opportunity to learn (OTL) in relation to achievement in large-scale educational assessments. The focus is on how to assess the effect of OTL on performance while taking prior performance and other background factors into account. The methods are illustrated with mathematics data from the National…

This review identifies options for developing alternate assessments for students with disabilities who are unable to participate in the general district and state assessments used for accountability purposes. It notes that students with disabilities are often excluded from these educational assessments used for accountability and urges development…

The National Assessment Governing Board and the National Center for Education Statistics sponsored a Joint Conference on Standard Setting for Large-Scale Assessments to provide a forum for technical and policy issues relevant to setting standards at local, state, and national levels. Volume I contains an executive summary of the conference and…

This document summarizes the academic standards-related activities of 26 national organizations, business organizations, and professional organizations. Each summary includes contact information and describes the organization's mission and purpose, interest in standards, and activities for technical assistance, dissemination, assessment, and…

Tomlinson testified on Goal 5 of the National Education Goals, which states that "every major American business will be involved in strengthening the connection between education and work," and particularly on methods to assess progress toward that goal in higher education and postgraduate training. The testimony proposed that the…

This paper reviews a year's work with third-grade teachers who introduced performance assessments in the hope of improving both instruction and assessment in mathematics. The 14 participating teachers in 3 schools tried many changes in their educational and assessment practices. Patterns of stability and change that resulted from their efforts…

Unless communities create equitable learning environments, many students will be excluded from learning and will not be fully prepared for the workforce of the future. The Vermont Institute for Science, Math and Technology has developed benchmarks to assure educational equity. Benchmarks are listed for the following areas: (1) school and classroom…

This report summarizes the results of research conducted by a research group at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University which examined the current status of computer networking in K-12 education, including ways in which network linkages are impacting educational tasks. Conducted for EDUCOM and IBM Corporation, the fact-finding project…