There are many available screeners for reading and other education or social-emotional outcomes. This brief outlines important things to consider when choosing and using a screener.

These guidelines describe considerations relevant to the assessment of test takers in or across countries or regions that are linguistically or culturally diverse. The guidelines were developed by a committee of experts to help inform test developers, psychometricians, test users, and test administrators about fairness issues in support of the…

The use of data to inform decisionmaking and practice at the school and district levels is now a common feature of reform efforts. Advances in districts' technological capacities have produced data systems that allow a flow of data to and from schools, often to the point of creating an overwhelming flood of information. To make the flow of…

The importance of student assessment, particularly for summative purposes, has increased greatly over the past thirty years. At the same time, emphasis on including all students in assessment programs has also increased. Assessment programs, whether they are large-scale, district-based, or teacher developed, have traditionally attempted to assess…

Sees important aspect of graduate education as learning how to evaluate quality and validity of research. Notes that study of families presents particular challenges. Examines three methods to teach students to critique family research. Sees all three as holding promise in teaching students how to evaluate family research and notes that all three…

Reviews selected research, widely-used commercial tests, and recent literature on critical thinking. States that evaluation of critical thinking processes should encompass more than simple tests. Concludes with six guidelines for evaluating critical thinking. (JDH)

Describes theoretically based structural family assessment procedure designed for use in evaluating therapy outcome. Explains how procedure involves evaluating family's interactional patterns on three tasks along six dimensions (structure, flexibility, resonance, developmental stage, identified patienthood, and conflict resolution). Presents…

Staff evaluation is a time-consuming and unpopular task but one of the most important responsibilities of a school principal. In the evaluation of school guidance counselors, Georgia's DeKalb County School System has developed an instrument for collecting information from assistant principals, head counselors, teachers, and students. By using the…

Reports the efforts of the California Assessment Program (CAP) to interject critical thinking items into its new statewide social studies tests. Provides definitions of the critical thinking skills tested by the 8th grade social studies CAP test, and lists 100 critical thinking skills vocabulary words. (JDH)

This indispensable resource offers a cutting-edge framework and practical tools for screening and assessing K-2 students at risk for reading problems. Provided are critical reviews of 42 specific measures, selected for optimal technical quality and presented in a clear, standardized format. Encapsulated are the scientific basis for each…

The California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) is a comprehensive youth health risk and resilience data collection service sponsored by the California Department of Education (CDE). This part of the guidebook will assist practitioners in understanding, interpreting, and deriving the maximum benefit from the CHKS results. It provides a basic road map…

This book offers a resource guide for qualitative researchers in education, discussing data collection techniques, data analysis, reporting, and the issues of validity, reliability, and ethics. Part 1 reviews the nature and design of qualitative research; it discusses various types of qualitative research (including case studies), and how to…

An instrument for analyzing career education curriculum materials for grades K-12 is presented. The Social Science Education Consortium (SSEC), Inc. staff designed the analysis instrument to check the educational soundness and accuracy of career education materials. The booklet is divided into two main sections. Part I is a modified version of the…

Principles and guidelines for the use of expert judgment of experiential learning are outlined. The report deals with a number of basic issues that apply to expert judgment, such as the role of the evaluator in defining criteria, and structuring the assessment procedure so that it will be reliable and valid. The importance of establishing…

This material provides a discussion of the construction and analysis of tests prepared for classroom use by teachers. The initial discussion is concerned with the purposes of evaluation and the specification of objectives. This is followed by an examination of theoretical and practical considerations in planning a test. The material on test item…