Discusses values ascribed to performance assessment and recent criticisms of assessment and suggests model-based performance assessment for remedying and avoiding these criticisms. The paper explains the merits of a systematic approach to developing performance assessments and rubrics based on general models across ages and subject areas for…

Addresses the discord between school-reform efforts and many jurisdictions' accountability requirements. The paper explores the elements of school accountability systems that aid and impede innovative practice. Information comes from principals at 20 reforming schools who spoke about the impact of accountability tests on school reform. (SM)

Uses oral-language skills assessment to illustrate sound classroom assessment practices, stressing interrelationships among teaching, learning, and assessment and viewing assessment as a continual, ongoing reference in a dynamic process, not an end in itself. Describes supportive classroom environments, explains oral language profiles, and…

Cognitive science research has created considerable change in people's understanding of what learning is and how it happens. This change has implications for teaching, learning, and assessment. To develop students' deep understanding of a subject, teachers must understand cognitive theories of learning and apply them in their classroom-assessment…

State and local mandates are important considerations for preservice and inservice teacher education, offering teacher educators a way to provide teachers with global perspectives. The article describes characteristics of mandates in global education and notes that performance-based assessment is effective in preparing teachers to implement global…

Describes efforts to help teachers learn to use new math and reading assessments in their classrooms, highlighting characteristics of professional development that successfully foster change in teachers' ideas and practice. After describing a multi-year staff development/research project on assessment, the paper discusses factors that support and…

Examines the usefulness of accountability measures for student achievement as empowerment tools for all students, providing examples from Native American schools. The paper posits the need for understanding current standardized testing, demonstrates how content currently tested can help increase the utility of instructional programs, and advocates…