Assessment is a complex function requiring an understanding of student learning, assessment principles, practices, and purposes of data to implement effective classroom assessment. The purpose of this study was to add to the growing base of knowledge about teachers' engagement with assessment data and their motivation for classroom assessment.…

There has been little data collected on how much testing actually goes on in America's schools and how the results are used. So in the Spring of 2014, the Council staff developed and launched a survey of assessment practices. This report presents the findings from that survey and subsequent Council analysis and review of the data. It also offers…

A long-held ambition for many educators and assessment experts has been to integrate summative and formative assessments so that data from external assessments used for system monitoring may also be used to shape teaching and learning in classrooms. In turn, classroom-based assessments may provide valuable data for decision makers at school and…

This case study offers an in-depth look at how one school achieved change in its culture and in its approach to curriculum and instruction. The unit of analysis for this single case study is South Loop Elementary School (SLES) and the time period is from August 2002 to June of 2007, during which SLES students demonstrated sharply improved…

This paper proposes a humanistic approach that may not be evaluation as commonly regarded, but it does have a much greater chance to enact program improvement. It assumes that program developers and directors really want their activities to be effective and relevant. The role of the evaluator is that of facilitator, that of a linking pin to…

Five problems concerning faculty evaluation are identified, along with seven proposed solutions. The problems are as follows: (1) summative and formative evaluation objectives are mixed; (2) most instructional evaluation is designed with institutional convenience in mind; (3) evaluation results are given impersonally; (4) most evaluation…

This paper describes the research and evaluation efforts of the Navy Substance Abuse Prevention Program at the University of Arizona. The importance and usefulness of formative and summative evaluations are discussed and specific evaluation tasks are identified. The first of these tasks is associated with personnel selection; the functions and…

Value-added modeling (VAM) to estimate school and teacher effects is currently of considerable interest to researchers and policymakers. Recent reports suggest that VAM demonstrates the importance of teachers as a source of variance in student outcomes. Policymakers see VAM as a possible component of education reform through improved teacher…