In this book, author, consultant, and longtime educator Betsy Moore shows teachers how to use data to make informed instructional changes in their classrooms. Strategies will help them to pinpoint and carry out instructional changes that ensure student success. Teachers will learn to: (1) Compile and make sense of data; (2) Analyze data--Find out…

States and school districts are exploring alternatives to state tests for measuring teachers' contributions to student learning. One approach applies statistical value-added methods to alternative student assessments such as commercially available tests and end-of course tests. The evidence suggests that these methods can reliably distinguish…

How has the teaching of writing changed in the 21st century? In this innovative guide, real teachers share their stories, successful practices, and vivid examples of their students' creative and expository writing from online and multimedia projects, such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, electronic poetry, and more. The book also addresses assessment:…

Place- and community-based education--an approach to teaching and learning that starts with the local--addresses two critical gaps in the experience of many children now growing up in the United States: contact with the natural world and contact with community. It offers a way to extend young people's attention beyond the classroom to the world as…

The 2007 reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act in the United States has provided additional incentive to sustain attention on this law. Based on a review of the literature, this article highlights some objectives of the act and identifies shortcomings associated with the type of assessments the act endorses. Because these assessments…

The guiding principles and procedures for pupil assessment in Portuguese compulsory education were established by the Implementing Order No. 1/2005, 5th January, with amendments introduced by the Implementing Orders No. 18/2006, 14th March and No. 5/2007, 10th January, and apply to the learning objectives and competencies defined for the various…

This article examines the contribution of the No Child Left Behind Act. The authors believe that the "other means" that can substantially advance equal educational opportunity are to provide "meaningful educational opportunities" for all children in each of the schools that they attend. In this article, the authors discuss…

This book examines the changes in educational policy in the U.S. and Britain over the last twenty-five years. The author contends that education in the States and Britain has been significantly transformed, through efforts to create curricular standards, increased emphasis on accountability measured by standardized tests, and efforts to introduce…

The motivation and methodology for measuring intelligence have changed repeatedly in the modern history of large-scale student testing. Test makers have always sought to identify raw aptitude for cultivation, but they have never figured out how to promote excellence while preserving equality. They've settled for egalitarianism, which gives rise to…

The Swedish school system comprises: (1) Pre-primary school (Forskola), typical age 1-5; (2) Preschool class in the compulsory school (Grundskola) typical age 6 (participation voluntary); (3) Compulsory school, typical age 7-16, grades 1-9, and (4) Upper secondary school, 17 programmes (4 mainly academic, 13 vocational), typical age 16-19, grades…

This article discusses recent changes in formative and summative assessment in Scotland. The Examination system is being extended to cover all aspects of schooling for all pupils. There are extensive changes in the system, now called Scottish National Diploma, for those pursuing business, technical, or vocational courses. (LMO)

The Polish school education system makes a distinction between two types of assessment: (1) Intra-school or internal assessment; and (2) External assessment. The idea of introducing external examinations into the Polish school education system emerged in 1992. This was directly inspired by study visits to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands…

Problems in higher education were identified by a study group in a year-long study funded by the National Institute of Education. Problem areas included: college student attrition, declining test scores of graduate school applicants, an increasingly impersonal atmosphere on campuses and less involvement of students with academic life,…

Discusses the need for researchers to determine what should be tested and how when evaluating educational computing programs, describes efforts of Educational Testing Service's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to measure the impact of computers on achievement, and concludes that it will not be easy to evaluate computers' effects.…

Changes in Scotland's curriculum have led to changes in student testing. A system of grade-related criteria has been developed--descriptions of expected performance in key aspects of a subject at different grade levels. (GDC)