A new vision of science learning described in the "Next Generation Science Standards"--particularly the science and engineering practices and their integration with content--pose significant challenges for large-scale assessment. This article explores what might be learned from advances in large-scale science assessment and…

This booklet is designed to help parents and community members answer questions about assessment in the context of the Vermont Framework of Standards, the Equal Education Opportunity Act of 1997, and other statewide initiatives. Assessment is changing in Vermont in response to new legislative mandates that call for standards-based assessment…

Ontario's Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) is an independent agency, answerable to the public, created in 1995 in response to input from educators, policymakers, parents, students, and citizens to do large-scale assessments and give objective and informed recommendations for educational improvements. Gives EQAO core values and 10…

The purpose of this document is to provide teachers, administrators, students, and parents with samples of students' performances that exemplify standards in relation to the 1993 Grade 9 Science Performance-Based Assessment Tasks for the province of Alberta, Canada. A sample of 698 randomly selected students from 31 schools did the…

This reference manual guides users in developing or amending school improvement plans for the 1993-96 Performance-Based Accountability Program (PBAP) of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The PBAP was established with the passage of the state's School Improvement and Accountability Act (1989). In addition to establishing a…

This paper describes the development work and research findings of an initiative to create a statewide literacy assessment in New York to inform teaching and learning and report on group performance trends. The Early Literacy Profile (ELP) is a classroom-based, standards-referenced performance assessment for students in the primary grades…

Key pieces of information that are currently available and relevant to setting targets for achievement are organized to help inform goal setting. These include levels of academic proficiency during elementary school, middle school, and high school; rates of high school completion; and levels of literacy of young adults. Much of the information is…

Several leaders in education have concluded that the United States should have some form of national achievement testing. Such tests are proposed as part of the "America 2000" education strategy. Believing that the experience of other countries will be useful to educators, policymakers, and concerned citizens, the National Endowment for…

The assessment instruments of the Maine Educational Assessment emphasize extended constructed-response questions. The results from these assessments are reported in terms of percentages of students at four performance levels. The Student-Based Constructed-Response Method was used to establish performance standards for these levels on the…

The General Accounting Office (GAO), at the request of the House Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education, conducted studies on the extent and cost of testing in the United States, the experience of Canada in testing, and initial efforts to set standards for judging student performance on…

The results of the achievement testing program of the Alberta (Canada) public schools are reported for the June 1991 administrations. The 1991 results help demonstrate what is possible for students in grades 3, 6, and 9 to know and do in science, mathematics, and social studies. For the first time, results are reported in terms of curriculum…