The accreditation process and the federal role in shaping it are clearly of critical importance for ensuring all students have access to quality postsecondary options. And yet, due to the complexity of the relationship among the federal government, accreditors, and institutions, and the opacity of the accreditation process itself, there is little…

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of the electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) to improving students' performance and the sustainability of their knowledge. The method used is the experiment with an experimental and a control group, and a pair of pre and post measurements. The survey was carried out during the first…

The purpose of this study was to describe the measures used to evaluate principals in New Jersey in the first (pilot) year of the new principal evaluation system and examine three of the statistical properties of the measures: their variation among principals, their year-to-year stability, and the associations between these measures and the…

The evidence that productivity varies greatly across teachers has given rise to the idea that student achievement data should be included in performance evaluation, despite limited empirical evidence on subjective evaluation or the use of objective performance measures in U.S. public schools. In this paper, we examine the results of a randomized…

The perspectives of graduates offer a valuable source of understanding for educators and policy-makers on how to ensure high quality educational pathways that prepare all students for work and college. Based on in-depth interviews with graduates from three Boston Public Schools with well-established performance-based assessment systems, the study…

The Pilot schools Experiential Education Demonstration (PSEED) project was intended to deepen and embed high-quality experiential education within each participating school's academic programs. A continuation of a multiyear set of initiatives by the Barr Foundation, PSEED was an effort to unify the foundation's content area foci on arts,…

This study explored the bases for awarding incentive in a pay for performance system in Jamaica. The bases were generated by surveying the perspectives of a representative sample of teachers in the system at the time. The relative significance of emerging bases were examined through quantitative methods culminating in a set of criteria for…

As portfolios gain currency as an assessment alternative to report cards and transcripts, many schools are beginning to use them to get a more accurate idea of students' capabilities. The Exhibitions Project at the Coalition of Essential Schools (Brown University) is developing a way to address problems associated with large-scale use of…

New research conducted by Boston's Center for Collaborative Education documents significant achievement by students who attend the city's Pilot Schools. Pilot School students are performing better than the district averages across every indicator of student engagement and performance, including the statewide standardized assessment (MCAS). In…

In March 1992 the Arizona State Department of Education and educators across the state conducted a pilot study of 67 performance assessments developed for the Arizona Student Assessment Program (ASAP). This report describes various aspects of the reliability and validity of the 67 assessments (primarily constructed response) developed by The…

The National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching is working with the New York State Education Department to develop an assessment system that addresses both instructional and accountability concerns. The new system is intended to move the state to a system of performance assessments used in the service of ongoing teaching and…

During 1999-2000 school year, the North Carolina Alternate Assessment Portfolio was administered to eligible students with serious cognitive deficits statewide as a pilot program. This report provides state, regional, and local education agency results of that pilot program. The purpose of the pilot was to review the feasibility, validity, and…

Explores high school restructuring efforts under the Kentucky Education Reform Act. Issues of performance-based measures of learning and graduation requirements are discussed. Designing schools with the goal that all students succeed can overcome the friendly fire of cross-purposes in education. (SLD)

Describes the experiences of a teacher participating in a summer workshop held by the Institute for Education That Is Multicultural. Increased parent participation and performance assessment were integral parts of a pilot project that resulted in improved achievement and parent and student attitudes in an urban school. (SLD)

One form of educational inequity faced by most students is that schools recognize only linguistic and logical intelligence and do not allow for forms of intelligence expressed through the arts. The performance-based assessments of the Kentucky Education Reform Act and the Kentucky Basic Arts pilot program address the multiple intelligences of…