During a 28-month period beginning in January 1988, the ERIC Clearinghouse on Tests, Measurement, and Evaluation (ERIC/TM) selected documents submitted by over 800 organizations for entry into the ERIC database. Twenty-three organizations, which submitted 595 (31 percent) of the 1,904 documents accepted by ERIC/TM during that period, are…

Approaches to assessment of prior experiential learning (APEL) sit within Enlightenment theories of knowledge. Alternative epistemologies offered by postmodernist, feminist, and antiracist theories suggest a different basis for assessment: situated knowledge. APEL can give visibility to outsider knowledge and alter the relationship between…

Moore reviewed the literature on accountability and assessment in order to design a questionnaire to survey superintendents across Wyoming on their existing and needed knowledge about student assessment. Results on the presence or absence of gaps in knowledge that is deemed important by respondents and/or the literature can be used by colleges and…

This study utilized a rating scale and random sampling of Connecticut school speech-language pathologists about their preprofessional education and current knowledge of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The participants had a minimal amount of preprofessional academic or clinical preparation in ASD, and no differences were found in how…

As educational metrics proliferate, individuals need to be increasingly sensitive to what they stand for in addition to what they seem to say. And because many of the authors of these metrics will not reveal what is behind the curtain, examining the features just reviewed can help individuals determine the values embedded in what appear otherwise…

In recent years, as various agencies have stressed standards, assessment and accountability in schools, more and more attention has been given to getting students ready for the tests or the instruction. A more appropriate and humane approach to readiness considers not only how ready the child is for the school, but also how ready the school is for…

Following a state takeover of the Philadelphia public schools in 2002, 45 schools were turned over to private managers, making Philadelphia the site of the nation's largest experiment in the private management of public schools. This study examines achievement effects in the privately managed schools, as well as in schools with district-led…

Grounded in the real world of public schools and students, this engaging, insightful, and highly readable text introduces the inner-workings of K-12 educational assessment. It covers traditional topics in an approachable and understandable way; analyzes and interprets "hot-button" issues of today's complex measurement concerns; relates…

This paper outlines a model for giving meaning to student achievement by referencing assessment to student learning or standards. This effectively shifts the focus in assessment from notions of rank ordering students (comparing their performance purely to each other) to those of monitoring growth or progress and measurement. More specifically it…

The Commission on the Future of Higher Education appointed by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings issued a report in September 2006 entitled "A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education" [U.S. Department of Education, 2006(ED493504)]. Two key commission recommendations are stated: "Higher education institutions should…

Reporting methods used in large-scale assessments such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) rely on latent regression models. To fit the latent regression model using the maximum likelihood estimation technique, multivariate integrals must be evaluated. In the computer program MGROUP used by the Educational Testing Service for…

This study addressed a twofold problem--the soundness of a theoretical stage-distinction regarding the process of constructing a new (to the learner) mathematical conception and how such distinction contributes to fine grain assessment of students' mathematical understandings. As a context for the study served the difficult-to-grasp concept of…

In this paper the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, a top-down, one-size-fits-all coercive nostrum constructed by politicians purportedly to improve all American public schools that piddles with symptoms rather than deal with root causes, is first delineated and analyzed. Its departure from local educational governance to an accountability-focused…

The Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education emphasizes accountability in higher education as one of the key areas of interest. The Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) was developed to evaluate the effectiveness of general public college education. This study examines how student progress in college, indicated by…

This article addresses the issue of assessment and how it is becoming such a critical problem for higher education, especially for teachers of the liberal arts. While the common-sense goals of assessment are laudable, the actual consequences of the process are far from beneficial. It is suggested that ongoing assessment diverts teachers from…