Reviews the history of initial teacher licensure testing in the United States and summarizes issues and problems, focusing on Massachusetts, a state that has only recently begin initial licensure testing. Provides information on past practices and a table of current state approaches to teacher licensure. (SLD)

Legal and policy aspects of testing of hearing-impaired teachers are reviewed. Issues addressed include those associated with test administration, teacher education program reform, student aid, national efforts, and longitudinal research. (TJH)

The experience of the RAND Corporation as it develops the performance test component of a licensing examination for secondary school teachers is explored. The performance test, composed of written tasks that simulate important teacher activities, corresponds to portions of other professional examinations. (SLD)

Describes the processes in which judges, trying out an integrative approach to portfolio evaluation for the first time, engage as they construct and document their conclusions. The research agenda in which this research is situated is described. (SLD)

The Connecticut Teacher Assessment Center Project has, since 1986, been developing a semistructured interview in the area of mathematics to evaluate beginning teacher competence. The strategy for validation of the project's performance tests, Connecticut's reform initiatives, and implications of systematic validity for traditional psychometric…

This article attempts to outline the issues and to describe the process of developing a metaevaluation framework for assessing the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of the performance-assessment instruments being created by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The metaevaluation framework consists of a set of evaluation…

Standard-setting practices in states using the National Teachers Examination (NTE) were examined. Passing score-setting procedures, recommended study scores, passing scores established by the states, and the implications of the passing scores were studied. States have typically adopted standards lower than cut scores recommended by advisory…

Issues related to the development of test items to assess pedagogical content knowledge for an elementary school licensure test are discussed. The subject test is the Connecticut Elementary Education Certification Examination. Several items useful for assessing pedagogical content knowledge are described. (TJH)

The Georgia Job Analysis Questionnaire was administered in January 1987 to all certified mathematics and science personnel identified by the State Department of Education. Ratings of task statements by 1,384 science and 1,600 mathematics teachers indicated significant differences associated with racial and gender differences. (TJH)

The degree to which between-group differences in performance on individual questions on the NTE Professional Knowledge Test conform to expectations was studied for 19,307 examinees who had taken the NTE Core Battery. Some items are quite consistent with the intended test interpretation test, whereas others are less consistent. (SLD)

The forms of assessment used in preservice teacher assessment were studied through a survey of 166 colleges of education, a review of other national surveys, and a detailed examination of the policies of Alabama. The efforts made by one institution to use alternative methods recommended by the profession are explored. (SLD)