This digest summarizes the highlights of an analysis of assessment practices used in education and professional development for educators. A research team from RAND conducted a broad review of the literature and reviewed the documents of organizations engaged in such assessments. Researchers interviewed experts, attended conferences, and conducted…

Alternative forms of evaluating student progress are changing testing or assessment in U.S. schools. From the teacher-made to the standardized test, the familiar over-emphasis on multiple-choice items is giving way to expanded generative formats in which students are called upon to demonstrate mastery through applications in which they use complex…

One of the main obstacles to effective faculty evaluation is the inability to reach consensus on the evaluation's intended purpose. On one hand, faculty evaluation has a formative purpose, supporting faculty development, growth, and self-improvement, while it also has a summative purpose in that it provides data to make personnel decisions on…

Learners of all ages need to expand their self-knowledge and determine the ways their interests and abilities are applicable in the changing social, economic, and work environments. Many of the new ways of teaching and learning offer processes by which students can gain experiences that enhance their self-knowledge. These varied learning processes…