Inclusive assessment and accountability for all students with disabilities has been a significant focus of educators for the past six years. Yet only 35 states reported 1999-2000 test results for students with disabilities on some of their state assessments. Although the areas of assessment and accountability are just one focus of IDEA 1997 and…

College course placement systems match students with instruction that is appropriate to their academic preparation and other characteristics. At a minimum, course placement involves assessing students' academic skills and providing them with instruction that is appropriate to their skills. Upon entry to college, students might encounter different…

Although educational assessment has played a pivotal role in American education for well more then 50 years, it remained in the background of our nation's policy debated and was considered a technical, if not esoteric, field. This chapter explores what events and trends led to the transformation of educational assessment into nightly "table talk",…

This chapter describes classroom assessment for learning, providing a concrete example and contrasting it with assessment of learning; reviews research demonstrating how enhancing educators' skills in the area of classroom assessment for learning improves student learning; describes what educators need to know and be able to do in order to…

Tests--typically cognitive achievement tests--are instruments for providing a more sensitive analysis of the learning sequence and of the instruction guiding it. In addition to an overall score, standardized tests provide a variety of subscores that help the teachers identify where a student might be encountering the greatest difficulties. The…

National concerns regarding quality education make program evaluation and outcomes assessment more important than ever. Traditionally, however, educators have failed to hold their programs and services accountable, or to provide evidence that selected activities were achieving intended results. The purpose of this chapter is to give educators the…

One role of counselors and educators is to use assessment in the service of students and clients by monitoring educational progress and ensuring that learning is taking place. Under the right conditions and with proper use, employing technology to foster assessment practices can introduce helpful and productive efficiencies into the educational…

The first step to meeting the fundamental aim of any educational institution is to understand clearly what the students need. Needs assessment is a tool educators can use to help meet this goal. Needs assessment data suggest the basis for plans, strategies, and practices that may ultimately lead to school improvement. This chapter reviews issues…

Educational policy issues must be seen as statements of intention, with the practice issues of accountability kept separate. Accountability should not be juxtaposed to school improvement. Instead, accountability should be defined broadly as doing the things that improve practice so that the intended results can be achieved. If there is no balance…

This report presents district- and college-level Management Information System (MIS) baseline information for two fiscal year periods 1997-98 and 1998-99 specific to the systemwide Partnership for Excellence performance goals. The primary purpose of this report is to feed back data contained in the MIS on district and college performance related…

This document presents the assessment instrument used in Glendale Community College's (California) instructional program review and improvement self-study report. This document contains the following chapters: (1) response to demand, which looks at demand, offerings, and scheduling in the areas of enrollment, FTES by course/program, number of…

This final report includes findings that were published in a December 1996 interim report and additional findings regarding student academic performance. Four types of data collection were used: a descriptive database for charter schools operating in Minnesota; 2-day site visits to each charter school during the spring and fall of 1996 to…

This policy brief draws on research and evaluations of efforts in Tennessee, California, and Wisconsin to describe different approaches to reducing class size in kindergarten through third grade. Tennessee implemented a randomized experiment to investigate the effectiveness of smaller classes; California used a statewide approach; and Wisconsin…

This document includes the results of Maine's 2003-2004 study examining actions taken by 18 school districts in response to the challenges of developing a Local Assessment System (LAS) using the principles and criteria set forth in the "LAS Guide" distributed to school districts in June, 2003. The report is organized into three parts:…

An introduction and background to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) discusses how decisions were made as to what objectives were assessed and how the evidence was interpreted. (Author/KM) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Program Description.