An assessment with the Environment Rating Scales (ERS) is designed to give early childhood administrators and teaching staff much more than a set of quality scores. Appropriately used, an ERS assessment can provide a blueprint for planning and carrying out both immediate and long-range program improvements. Unfortunately, programs often complete…

Universal screening enables service providers and families to quickly identify difficulties and implement strategies that are likely to lessen the probability of longterm negative outcomes including severe persistent challenging behaviors. The practice of universal screening is in line with the prevention approach that is the foundation of the…

Available resources and indicators of high quality inclusive practices are presented in this compilation. Assembling many different resources in one place allows for easy comparison of potential indicators of quality. Excerpts and adaptations of the resources are intended to provide some familiarity with the content of each resource and encourage…

This compendium, a deliverable for "Assessments for Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning with Preschool/Elementary-School Children," focuses on tools to assess the social and emotional learning (SEL) of preschool and elementary school students (i.e., five- to ten-year-olds), along with aspects of the contexts in which they learn and…

This article provides some research-based tools to describe and evaluate vocal development of the young singer. It offers resources and literature reviews relating to teachers' understanding of their learners as individuals and measurement of their learners' musical achievement. It focuses on one thing all music teachers strive to do: evaluate…

Discusses research literature dealing with measurement of solo instrumental music performance. Compares the Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale with facet-factorial and other rating scales. Covers acoustic analysis and evaluation of tone, loudness, and pitch. Includes discussion of computer-assisted acoustic analysis and instrumental evaluation.…

A discussion of holistic scoring, developed for use on essays in composition courses, argues that it can be used effectively in other disciplines. Procedures for establishing criteria of quality, ideas for identifying writing features relevant to the discipline in question, and methods of providing feedback to students are suggested. (MSE)

The paper describes the system of rater comments used in an American College Testing (ACT) Program English language test designed for use with Japanese secondary school students learning English as a foreign language. The writing portion of the test consists of two short essays, each scored by two native speakers of North American English, using a…

A scale of processes found most constructive for second-language learning was validated with two groups of adult French students. Instruction of one group included use of the scale. Pre- and posttests of language learning and use of processes suggest that unsuccessful language learners can be taught to improve performance. (31 references)…

A study compared student evaluations made by residency directors and deans in 2 medical schools, using 3 standard methods of ranking 20 students per school. Ordinal ranking showed substantial agreement for 15 of 16 residency directors. Two methods of clustering into fixed groups gave high agreement only for top students. (Author/MSE)

The purpose of elementary physical education is poorly defined, and the public has low expectations and support for the field. The Developmentally Appropriate Physical Education Practices for Children rating scale emphasizes teaching practices that are appropriate to each student's age and ability. The paper describes use of the scale. (SM)

Designed for university educators, a 34-item checklist for improving the quality of student internships and field experiences is provided. The content of the checklist is based upon comprehensive evaluation results gathered from post-internship students, agency personnel, and university staff. Topics on planning for seminar experiences and field…

Microcomputer software can provide excellent drill and practice, simulations, and problem-solving. Yet, software developers often have designed elaborate graphics and unique characters in lieu of sound instructional programming. Many instructional programs for learning-disabled students do not provide appropriate reading levels, the opportunity to…

For a class project students in an industrial/organizational psychology course had to construct a performance appraisal instrument for assessing the instructor's performance. Evaluations revealed that students found the exercise useful. (RM)

This process guide consists of a rating scale for use by supervisors of student teachers. The teacher sponsor is instructed to rate the student teacher's performance on a variety of teaching skills in order to provide a structured format for conferences. It is suggested that the scale be used at least three times during the student teaching…