A critical aspect of the development of culturally relevant classroom assessments is the design of tasks that affirm students' racial and ethnic identities and community cultural practices. This paper describes the process we followed to build a shared understanding of what culturally relevant assessments are, to pursue ways of bringing more…

Learning progressions--particularly as defined and operationalized in science education--have significant potential to inform teachers' formative assessment practices. In this overview article, I lay out an argument for this potential, starting from definitions for "formative assessment practices" and "learning progressions"…

A simultaneous equating of four new test forms to each other and to one previous form was accomplished through a complex design incorporating seven separate equating links. Each new form was linked to the reference form by four different paths, and each path produced a different score conversion. The procedure used to resolve these inconsistencies…

Describes the principles that guided the creation and implementation of a system of embedded assessments, the Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research System (BEAR). The assessment system builds on methodological advances in alternative assessment. Discusses how the application of the principles generates the component parts of the system. (SLD)

Developmental (vertical) scales are often constructed for subject areas such as reading and mathematics that are taught continuously in elementary schools. In other subjects such as science, and across a wider grade span, such scales are hard to justify. For tracking student progress and school accountability (including the No Child Left Behind…

This project evaluated the relationship between assessment practices and achievement and the mediating roles of student self-efficacy and effort. In part, this was based on a framework proposed by Brookhart (1997). The United States portion of the Third International Math and Science Study was used to estimate these relationships. Several student…

The Educational Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Tests, Measurement, and Evaluation (ERIC/TME) provides researchers and practitioners with bibliographic citations for journal articles, conference papers, and reports on all aspects of educational testing, evaluation, and learning theory. The ERIC system and the ERIC/TME Clearinghouse…