Public criticism of teachers has put pressure on teacher educators to prepare their students better. Any process to strengthen teacher education programs must include a careful study of student teaching since it is usually the final education course taken by students and the most influential field experience in a teacher education program. Many…

This digest discusses several major issues in the area of assessment of counselor performance, looking at the need for counselor assessment, areas of assessment in counselor performance, evaluation methods, evaluators, and the time of assessment. Several recommendations are made for more effective assessment of counselor performance. (NB)

This digest notes that there has been an increase in the number of graduate community mental health counseling programs requiring course work in abnormal behavior, psychopathology, and psychodiagnosis and that, as a result of this increase, utilization of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) also has…

The heightened interest in college program review is traced to a widespread interest in improving educational quality and the need to respond creatively to financial constraints and external expectations for accountability. Current program reviews have also been designed to aid in decision making about resource reallocation and program…

A synthesis of the report, "The Current State of Assessment in Literature," (produced by the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature), this digest discusses methods of evaluating students' knowledge of literature. The digest argues that, by and large, the tests that now exist in the United States do not live up to the…

More than 10,000 instructional software packages have been published for elementary and secondary schools--thousands in each discipline. Unfortunately, not all sources of courseware evaluations are equally reliable; therefore, it is important to determine that evaluations include: (1) critical appraisal of content accuracy; (2) in-depth…

To serve the function of assessment, the language arts portfolio should be a record of a student's literacy development--a kind of window on the skills and strategies the student uses in reading and writing. Portfolio collections can form the foundation for teacher-student conferences, a vital component of portfolio assessment. The use of…

Although Total Quality Management (TQM) has been adopted at a number of community colleges in the areas of financial aid, admissions and registration, and staff performance, its use is almost non-existent in the evaluation of classroom teaching. Barriers to its application to the classroom include faculty resistance to the idea of students as…

Certification of professional counselors is presently viewed in two realms, that of state regulation and of national voluntary credentialing. This digest considers national voluntary certification. The first national certification began in 1972; in 1983 the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) began certification for general practice…

This digest summarizes principles of performance assessment, which connects classroom assessment to learning. Specific ways that assessment can enhance instruction are outlined, as are criteria that assessments should meet in order to inform instructional decisions. Performance assessment is compared to behavioral assessment, mastery learning, and…

The urgent need to improve big city schools has been a powerful incentive to adopt accountability systems. The following types of accountability systems may exist alongside each other: (1) political; (2) legal; (3) bureaucratic; (4) professional; and (5) market. Bureaucratic accountability is a "top down" system that holds teachers…

The current school reform effort emphasizes the need to improve the education of all students. Assessing the academic achievement of every student is an essential part of this reform, but one that presents a challenge for most schools, school districts, and states. Traditional assessment practices in many states and school districts have tended to…

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) was organized in 1981 as the accrediting agency responsible for reviewing and evaluating counseling and student affairs practice in higher education programs against a set of nationally recognized standards. The CACREP accreditation process incorporates a pattern…

School psychologists can play a unique role in schools because of their assessment expertise. Traditionally, they have been most involved in individual psychoeducational assessment for classification and labeling purposes, but the limitations of this form of assessment for building intervention strategies has led many school psychologists to…

Because of their open-door policy, community colleges enroll a significant proportion of the poorly prepared students entering higher education. Many educators feel that colleges operating under open-door policies have a responsibility to identify underprepared students and provide them with the necessary developmental support. Colleges are…