Standards, designed to identify and measure the "value added of schooling," are instrumental, not an end in themselves. Every school district needs an academic audit, a systematic way to examine and analyze academic performance by relevant categories. Its purpose is to improve the allocation of district resources to increase academic…

Credentialing programs were surveyed to determine the procedures they use to set performance standards on multiple-choice and open-ended assessments. Implications of the various standard-setting approaches for the National Assessment of Educational Progress are discussed, and it is asserted that generalizing from standard-setting in professional…

Lessons that can be drawn from the standard-setting practices of the U.S. military services for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are explored. The main lesson, and distinction, to be learned is that standards must be grounded in real-life outcomes that affect the lives of educators, something not characteristic of the present…

The American Federation of Teachers has developed criteria for teachers, parents, and others to use in judging the usefulness and effectiveness of student achievement standards. The 10 criteria, first published in 1994, can be used in standards development, professional development, and community awareness efforts. (SLD)

Describes efforts of three official metadata standards-setting bodies. Discusses the three categories of metadata formats; metadata registries; the Dublin Core and its relatives; several geospatial and biological metadata projects; and vocabularies/data element content. Provides a list of links to metadata projects and resources. (AEF)

In the bookmark standard-setting procedure, judges place "bookmarks" in a reordered test booklet containing items presented in order of increasing difficulty. Traditionally, the bookmark difficulty location (BDL) is on the trait continuum where, for dichotomous items, there is a two-thirds probability of a correct response and, for a score of "k"…

The officially reported impressive rises in standards in mathematics and English in primary schools since 1995 are challenged. The article looks at the increases from four different perspectives. First, the general pattern of change is considered. Secondly, the statutory test data are compared with the results from several different studies. These…

This article describes a research and development project the objective of which was to develop a means to produce standardized statewide usage data made available from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Using a range of data collection and evaluation methods, the project staff determined that there were significant problems in…

Sadly, technical support doesn't come cheap. One money-saving strategy that's gained popularity among school technicians is equipment and software standardization. When it works, standardization can be very effective. However, standardization has its drawbacks. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of standardization.

The 1996 American Evaluation Association conference in Atlanta featured a session on strategies to promote monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs). At that time, there was a lengthy list of proposed initiatives to be undertaken in CARE. With the perspective of hindsight and reviewing the…

We know how to address individual learning, but what are the characteristics of organizational learning? How can you tell if your organization is adaptable and changing? Ten characteristics describe organizations that are learning, and examples show each characteristic in practice.

One can chart the shifting cultures of colleges and subsequent changing roles of the further education (FE) professional from the late 1980s through to the present day with some degree of accuracy. Up to around 1992 a paternalistic model of management prevailed, one which saw lecturers working to the NATFHE "silver book" conditions of employment,…

What do the National Staff Development Council's standards look like in practice for teachers, principals, central office staff, superintendents, and board members? Newly developed Innovation Configurations help everyone on the list understand where they fall along the continuum of effective practices aligned to the standards.

For students to compete in the 21st-century global economy, knowledge of and proficiency in mathematics are critical. Whether headed to college or to the workforce, today's high school graduates need solid mathematics skill. The National Mathematics Advisory Panel was created in 2006 and charged with reviewing the best available scientific…

At the present juncture, South Africa is one of the few countries that do not require a compulsory and specific qualification for principalship. This particular need has been part of a discussion among educational leaders for the past thirty to forty years. Despite all the laudable efforts to redesign the landscape of Educational Leadership and…