This monograph is designed for educators who must make decisions about curriculum, instruction, and the training of teachers. Many important educational decisions are made based primarily, if not exclusively, on test scores. This reliance on test scores has evolved for a variety of reasons. This monograph starts with test scores as a given in…

A rationale for school-based evaluation, criteria for a sensible evaluation and assessment system, and a systematic process for implementing an evaluation and assessment system are presented. School-based evaluation can be used as a management tool and a means of improving aspects of teaching. Sensible evaluation must be aligned with school goals,…

This guidebook shows how school district personnel from many areas--curriculum, instruction, supervision, staff development--can coordinate their activities to focus on instructional improvement. It reveals how data derived from tests, when properly used, can be useful in helping district personnel work with school and community people to assess…

Qualitive data from interviews with individuals and observations of group meetings were gathered from 16 school districts that participated in a study of school district uses of evaluation and test data. The findings are organized around a series of discrete topics presented in a set of independent papers. The title essay, "Working Knowledge,"…