This self-paced online course provides educators with detailed information on creating and using performance assessments. Through five 30-minute modules, practitioners, instructional leaders, and administrators will learn the foundational concepts of assessment literacy and how to develop, score, and use performance assessments. They will also…

Packed with useful tools, this practitioner guide and course text helps educators assess and teach essential literacy skills and strategies at all grade levels (PreK-12). All six literacy modalities are addressed--listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and visually representing. Chapters on specific literacy processes integrate…

As your school district undertakes the process of evaluating its K-12 reading program, literacy curriculum, or literacy instructional practices, this book will be your go-to resource. Pennell offers a step-by-step guide for educators, school leaders, or professional learning communities to evaluate high-quality instructional materials and…

This document summarizes the work of participants in California's Towards Arts Assessment Project (TAAP). The project participants worked on developing guidelines and plans for arts assessments. The document includes the TAAP participants' performance assessments as illustrations and as guidelines for continuing a dialogue in the feasibility and…

Performance-based assessment is recommended for gifted students. In this approach, the students participate in planning the assessment and establishing the criteria by which their work is judged. Guidelines for implementing performance-based assessment and classroom examples are offered. (DB)

This digest offers principles of performance assessment as an alternative to norm-referenced tests. The definition of performance assessment developed by the U.S. Congress's Office of Technology and Assessment is given, common features are listed, and the terms "performance" and "authentic" are defined. Suggested guidelines for…

This book is intended for teachers who currently use (or are planning to use) a hands-on science curriculum. In addition, it would be useful to pre-service teachers, graduate students in education, and other educators interested in alternative forms of assessment. It offers teachers and other educators an opportunity to learn about performance…

This publication is designed to help Illinois social science teachers assess their students' learning using a variety of methods. The guide includes a rubric for scoring site-based alternative assessment activities, a rationale for the rubric, and sample activities to differentiate students' knowledge, reasoning, and communication skills. The…

This guidebook offers guidelines, suggestions, examples, and recommendations for developing a comprehensive, sound system of accountability. The first chapter develops a conceptual framework for developing systems of accountability that identifies some major policy issues that must be addressed. Chapter 2 discusses getting started and identifies…

This resource guide reviews a variety of performance-based student assessment strategies, and provides examples of, and references for, the strategies. Strategies include anecdotal records, interviews, peer report and group evaluations, and portfolios. Materials in the guide include: (1) a resource guide update form for teachers; (2) department…

This book examines the current trends in K-12 curriculum and instruction. It shows how the trends interrelate and provides a higher order, comprehensive model for curriculum reform. The model is based on critical, content-based concepts. Chapter 1 describes the complexity of the change process and illustrates dilemmas encountered in school-based…

This book describes students' accumulation of literacy and enables teachers to assess students independently of standardized tests. The "Profiles" includes scales and reporting formats, sample materials, guidelines for assessment, and norms. Reporting software issued separately complements this book. The chapters are: (1) "What Is a…

Asserts that evaluating cooperative learning experiences is both traditional in the tools used and innovative in the way the results benefit students and teachers. Provides suggestions for encouraging interdependence, grading group projects, and evaluating both academic achievement and group process skills. (CFR)

This report describes educators' collaborative self-directed experiences in learning about and producing alternative forms of assessment for use in elementary-level classrooms. The report analyzes the Virginia Standards of Learning and local curricula in English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science/Health in grades 2-4, to…

Rubrics are tools that formalize the process of evaluation by explicitly stating the criteria to be used for grading. Rubrics help students to evaluate the quality of their work as they progress through a class. They may be very helpful to Ohio adult educators in helping to evaluate the Uniform Portfolio that must be kept on every student within a…