This handbook describes the responsibilities of district and school assessment coordinators in the administration of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). This updated guidebook contains the following sections: (1) General Assessment Guidelines for All Assessments; (2) Writing Specific Guidelines; (3) Reading and Mathematics…

Contains three articles designed to help practitioners with practical assessment for the GCSE. Articles include: "GCSE Biology Practical Assessment--Can the End Justify the Means?"; "Investigating the Effect of Catalase: GCSE Assessment Practical"; and "An Experimental Design for GCSE Physics." (CW)

This report, submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, contains summary details of Delaware students' growth in the areas of reading, mathematics, writing, science and social studies. The results reported herein are part of a long-term effort to gather data on Delaware students' educational progress and use the data to inform decisions about…

In assessing the quality of science teaching for an effort such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), it is important to understand what is meant by scientific thinking--the search for explanations. Instruction should involve higher-order cognitive skill development, but it is difficult to measure reasoning and understanding…

This paper evaluates the procedures and results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in science. A brief description of the 1981-82 assessment, funded by the National Science Foundation, precedes a discussion of strengths and weaknesses of the current science assessment program, conducted by Educational Testing Service. Major…