This paper presents the response of the technology teacher education programmes at the University of Limerick to the assessment challenge created by the shift in philosophy of the Irish national curriculum from a craft-based focus to design-driven education. This study observes two first year modules of the undergraduate programmes that focused on…

In the past, engineering programmes were developed with separate technical learning outcomes supplemented by generic attributes. The latter were in most cases a standalone set of attributes developed by academic institutions or professional societies overseeing engineering accreditation processes. Although the technical learning outcomes were well…

This booklet is designed to help teachers begin documenting in the classroom and is a supplement to "Windows on Learning: Documenting Young Children's Work." In that book, three "windows" were used to provide a framework for thinking about documentation: a Window on a Child's Development, a Window on a Learning Experience, and a Window for Teacher…

Techniques for teaching writing should emphasize revision and editing, practice in sentence-combining, and exposing students to fine prose. To encourage good writing in all subjects, teachers should be trained to read students' essays holistically, paying attention to style as well as content. (PP)

Proposes adapting holistic scoring to oral retellings of stories as a means of developing students' concepts of interrelationships and their higher levels of comprehension. (FL)

Describes one teacher's implementation of subjective grading to assess student's achievement on mathematics tests. Reports student and parent reactions to the method. Shares five practices that developed with the experiences, and provides an example of the grading policy utilized. (MDH)

Discusses various aspects of holistic education: (1) educators vary strategies to meet the educational need; (2) educators promote learning as a lifelong process; (3) educators accept that the learner retains ultimate responsibility for the learning process; and (4) evaluation strategies include all individuals involved in the teaching-learning…

Based on a writing program evaluation project that took place in the Ferguson-Florissant School District in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, this booklet provides administrators and policymakers with a plan for evaluating their own writing programs and also provides results of the Ferguson-Florissant evaluation. The first chapter contains…

Discusses problem-solving evaluation methods and describes the development of an instrument to evaluate an individual's problem-solving processes. Provides an example of the instrument. (MDH)

Inconsistencies develop in the educational system both because teachers receive "mixed signals" and because theory and practice become discrepant, a situation which creates dilemmas in language assessment. Some current dilemmas include: (1) the difficulty in determining whether teacher-made and standardized tests measure what they are supposed to;…

Presents tips to help teachers develop and manage valid, truly authentic assessments that are linked to daily class instruction, discussing how to refine assessments, get parents involved, encourage self-assessment, and make criteria clear. A model developmental reading scale for bringing more uniformity to reading assessment is presented. (SM)

A study was conducted to compare the writing performance of tenth grade students across three modes of discourse. Subjects were 80 students who had been classified as "masters" or "nonmasters" of writing based on their scores on the writing section of the Texas Assessment of Basic Skills. The students were assigned three…

Sketches some of the dilemmas in language assessment and presents exemplary practical approaches to assessment in the language arts areas of listening, oral language, reading, and writing. (SD)

Using the right hemisphere of the brain in evaluating student writing means consciously and consistently incorporating its emotional, intuitive, and holistic functions with the more analytical functions of the logical "left" hemisphere when considering, judging, and directing improvement in student writing. Research seems to suggest that…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The eight titles deal with the following topics: (1) the literacy demands of clerical workers; (2) reading as a composing process; (3) relationships between reading and writing performance; (4) the effects of instruction in…