The purpose of "Effective Student Assessment and Evaluation in the Classroom: Knowledge + Skills + Attributes" is to more clearly articulate the student assessment knowledge, skills and attributes expected under the Teaching Quality Standard Ministerial Order of applicants for Alberta interim professional teacher certification. The…

The Program for International Student Assessment 2000 (PISA) is an International Examination that was developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to assess the reading, mathematics, and science literacy of students in participating countries, including the United States. PISA is a two-hour paper-and-pencil…

This issue of "Focal Point" explores some of what is known and unknown about strengthening social support. This introduction outlines some of the major concepts and themes in research on social support, and some implications of this research for interventions in children's mental health. This sets the stage for the rest of the issue, which…

Universities are coming under increasing pressure to demonstrate accountability in operations that affect student enrollment and that contribute to the increased cost of higher education. Institutional researchers are responding by working to provide strategic data-driven decision support that enables managers to evaluate the benefit of dollars…

This bulletin presents basic information for parents about identification and services for gifted students in Pennsylvania. Written in a question and answer format, the bulletin addresses the following concerns: the Individualized Education Program (IEP) required for all exceptional students in the state; the multi-disciplinary evaluation process;…

The purpose of this report is to provide technical information about the 1996 State Assessment in Mathematics. It provides a description of the design for the State Assessment and gives an overview of the steps involved in the implementation of the program from the planning stages through to the analysis and reporting of the data. The report…

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the use of young children's artwork in the assessment of reading abilities. The research method for the study was qualitative, and the design followed an interpretive approach. Subjects were 12 transitional-first grade students (a transitional-first grade allows a child with normal academic ability…

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health created the School of the Future (SoF) project to enable selected Texas schools to coordinate and implement school-based social and health services on their campuses and to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method of service delivery by evaluating the project to show the process used and the outcomes that…

The system whereby teacher education faculty demonstrate their professional rectitude in most colleges and universities is a record of achievement more properly called a dossier (a collection of material and evidence) rather than a portfolio (the developmental record of a career). The scholarship of teaching (one of four overlapping functions of…

Pre- and post-course surveys of faculty and students participating in 8-week format courses at Austin Community College (ACC) in fall 1998 yielded the following recommendations: (1) offer more 8-week classes at more locations and class times; (2) build in class meetings to compensate for any time lost to holidays; (3) piggy-back, in the first and…

An initiative of the Open Society Institute (OSI) and the International Reading Association (IRA), Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (RWCT) promotes classroom teaching practices that help students learn actively, think critically, and work cooperatively. It offers an integrated program of staff development, activities for teachers of the…

Educational researchers have employed various self-efficacy instruments in a wide spectrum of disciplines and academic settings. However, self-efficacy measures specific to the online environment have not been developed yet. This paper provides a brief history of the online environment and discusses the development and validation of an instrument…

This packet contains four papers from a symposium on evaluation in human resource development (HRD). The first paper, "Context and Causation in the Evaluation of Training: Relating Economic and Learning Transfer Theory" (Kevin Hannigan, Paul Donovan, Elwood F. Holton III, Reid A. Bates, Sharon S. Naquin), links the following three…

This study examined the use of employer satisfaction surveys in the field of teacher education at a state university. Specifically, the issues addressed were whether new graduates' ratings of their job performance could substitute for direct employer satisfaction ratings, and if ratings of individuals by their supervisors yielded similar results…

This report discusses the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that require states to develop alternate assessments for students with disabilities who cannot participate in large-scale assessment programs. The report also profiles five state alternate assessment practices that have been developed or are emerging and…