Students should be exposed to open-ended, complex design challenges during their courses to better prepare the students for the design challenges that they will encounter during their careers. This preparation may be achieved by combining flipped classroom instruction, case based learning in an active classroom, and authentic assessments. Between…

Teacher preparation programs on a national level have been called to change, focusing on clinical practice as a primary focus of teacher education rather than course work. Concurrently, performance based assessment is becoming the tool to measure candidate capacity to plan and instruct. This study highlights one teacher education program and the…

In this article, the author describes some efforts initiated about 2 decades ago to reform mathematics assessment. Many, if not most, of those ideas have gradually eroded not only from school practice but also from the knowledge base of current day thinking and research in mathematics assessment. In addition to exploring and explaining the policy,…

A study examined the effects of statewide performance-based assessment (the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP)) on literacy instruction, administrative support provided to facilitate instructional change, and student and teacher affect in response to change in elementary classrooms. Of the schools in Maryland identified by…

The use of standardized tests within the Chicago (Illinois) Public School System and elsewhere is discussed in the context of school reform efforts. Standardized tests have been criticized as: being too general to assess all valued outcomes; being too general to fit with local curricula; and directing instruction only to test objectives. Recent…

Student assessment, from the classroom to the state and national levels, is changing. The era of norm-referenced, multiple choice, standardized tests may be coming to an end, to be replaced by other forms of assessment, not all equally good. This guide outlines a vision of what assessment in the service of learning can be and provides ideas,…

This book supports constructive discussion about assessment and provides concrete directions for change. The 10 chapters outline many of the difficulties associated with current standardized testing. While most educators refer to the new non-standardized test efforts as alternative assessments, this type of assessment is increasingly being called…

In designing the learning process for the comprehensive high school, close attention must be paid to curriculum development, instruction, and assessment. Curriculum theorists have identified definitions of curriculum, forces affecting curriculum adoption, and conceptions of curriculum that provide a framework for a definition of curriculum…

The impact of portfolio assessment, specifically writing portfolios, on the norms of classroom assessment practices were studied in two English Language Arts classes in a middle class suburban high school in the Los Angeles (California) area. Data were gathered through observations and interviews, and the examination of 25 student portfolios, with…

The experiences of two mathematics teachers at a high school in which assessment reform is being encouraged are described. The school district had decided that the implementation of authentic assessment and assessment reform would be levers to broaden school reforms. Observations in the Algebra 2 class of one teacher and the Algebra 1 class of…

As a challenge to traditional assessment, this paper describes how the work of a network of teachers to improve schooling through authentic assessment and practice may lead to a general reform of nearly all aspects of the educational enterprise. The paper springs from observation of participant teachers in the Four Seasons Project which is…

The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) has been laying the groundwork to explore fundamental questions of the implementation of alternative assessment. The CRESST has been working collaboratively with school practitioners to help them implement performance assessment strategies so that the CRESST…

In June 1990, the state of Kentucky passed its innovative Education Reform Act, which totally restructured the finance, governance, and curriculum of its public schools. One of the major provisions of the act was the mandate for Kentucky's primary schools to change from the traditional placement of children of the same age in kindergarten, first,…

Recent documents like the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics'"Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics" have described coming changes in the mathematics curriculum and evaluation. Operating from the point of view that instruction and assessment are closely linked, that good teachers constantly assess students…

This guidebook is intended as a road map to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Technical Education Act of 1998 (Perkins III) for career-technical education (CTE) practitioners and policymakers in Illinois. The following topics are among those covered: (1) framework for Perkins III (national educational reform, Illinois provisions for quality CTE,…