A broad review of educational assessment during the past 40 years (1930's to 1970's) is presented. The review begins with the birth of the term "evaluation", when the depression made educators aware of the need for new programs and ways to appraise them, and continues into an explanation of the Eight-Year Study (1933-41), which gave attention to…

This paper provides a brief overview of three direct measures of writing assessment--holistic, analytic, and primary trait scoring--and several variations and combinations of the three. It then relates these measures to eight types of educational decisions: (1) diagnosis of individual learner strengths and weaknesses, (2) student placement, (3)…

The purpose of the study was (1) to develop an accurate and comprehensive listing of the major goals and specific needs in large city vocational education programs using input from vocational education program practitioners and a literature review, (2) to determine the relative national priority for meeting these goals and needs as viewed by urban…

This paper presents a model for conducting educational job analysis and the field test of that model on ten teaching fields. This model was tested for its ability to job analyze a teaching field's content knowledge according to federal employment guidelines. Differences between teaching and other job fields meant that actual time spent on a skill…

This is one of a series of reports summarizing the results of the second mathematics assessment conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Nine, 13- and 17-year-olds were assessed during the 1977-78 school year. The assessment measured achievement in various content areas at four levels of cognitive processes (knowledge,…

This is part of a series of four modules intended to present guidelines to representatives from a community for evaluation of their school's secondary science programs. This module encourages the representatives to review, ponder, and evaluate the science curriculum in their schools for their children and students and then: (1) decide what it is…

Two methods for evaluating continuing education of the Western Missouri Area Health Education Center (WMAHEC) are examined. The evaluation questions concern whether WMAHEC provided regionally accessible continuing education and whether WMAHEC catalyzed the development of administrative mechanisms to support continuing education program…

The Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Model for Competency Based Education (CBE) Assessment Programs is designed to assist state and institutional decision-makers in the cost analysis of alternative assessment strategies in CBE programs. The general model indicates stages of decision-making related to the use of various assessment strategies within the…

A statewide career education needs assessment was done in Tennessee by surveying all superintendents and samples of principals, teachers, and community leaders. State employment security data and Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) scores for a sample of the state's ninth graders were secondary information sources. The primary conclusion was that the…

In this study of the scope of reading and study skills programs in California colleges, 97 college catalogs, written for 1974-75, were studied, and on-site visits were made to 25 colleges. Information reported concerns the type of college departments offering reading programs, program formats and scheduling, diagnosis of reading needs, the degree…

The document contrasts, compares, describes, interprets, and generalizes about needs, activities, and objectives of music education programs in accredited, nonaccredited, public, and nonpublic secondary schools. The objective of the study was to provide information about the strengths and weaknesses of the music education programs so that…

Clearly defined goals are described as the first component of a program evaluation. The goals of this booklet are: to demonstrate the need for clearly written statements of goals, outcomes, and objectives; to provide examples; to provide a method of deriving goals from already published materials; to demonstrate the relationship between writing…

The report evaluates the accuracy with which achievement tests measure social studies learning. Research is based on test items derived from the Social Studies Curriculum Guidelines (1971) and the Multiethnic Guidelines (1976), both prepared by National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). The major objective of the project was to help test…

Cross-referenced to instructional objectives defined in a previous publication, (Guidelines to Mathematics, K-6), the Wisconsin Mathematics Test can be used to measure achievement gains over a given year, or to detect student strengths and weaknesses, by correlating missed items with the objectives. It is also possible to compare results on a…

Professional development is the central focus of the collection of five papers included in this monograph. Casting views in the framework of "advocacy," each paper addresses one of the following topics which are of central interest in the field of vocational education: accountability, work experience, assessment, career clusters, and postsecondary…