The Assessment Clearinghouse of the Memphis (Tennessee) City Public Schools is a collection of performance-based instructional tasks that have been designed to address specific content standards at specific grade levels. The tasks consist of a complete set of instructional and assessment activities for immediate classroom use. They also provide a…

Research on developing technology for large-scale performance assessments in science is reported briefly, and a conceptual framework is presented for defining, generating, and evaluating science performance assessments. Types of tasks are discussed, and the technical qualities of performance assessments are discussed in the context of…

To say that assessments must be authentic, dynamic, fluid, and formative is not to say that normative, standardized evaluations have no place in the overall assessment scheme. What is needed is a combination and balance of assessments. The tri-assessment model promotes using traditional assessments along with portfolio and performance assessments.…

This document describes state and local elementary and secondary education standards developed for academic achievement and assessment of student progress in Missouri. In response to the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993, the Show-Me Standards were established to represent knowledge students should acquire and how they should be able to communicate…

In a previous paper the authors presented a model of assessing portfolios, the Cognitive Model for Assessing Portfolios (CMAP), as a lens to view, think about, and make decisions about portfolio projects. Two projects in which the CMAP has been used are described. One is an authentic assessment project in mathematics and science by the Educational…

This report explores the application of cost analysis to testing and assessment in elementary and secondary schools. A case for economic analysis of testing is first outlined. The case rests on the importance on test information, the magnitude of resources devoted to testing, and the relevance of an economics of information model to testing…

An overview is provided of the "Authentic Assessment for Multiple Users" project funded by the National Science Foundation to determine whether portfolio assessment can be structured to permit meaningful aggregation for multiple hierarchical users. The research focus was in the context of science and mathematics instruction in grades…

The use of portfolio assessment in the Dallas (Texas) Independent School District and the future of portfolio assessment are discussed. A literature review is followed by a description of the development process that preceded the Chapter 1 portfolio assessment of the Dallas schools. Portfolio results are then compared to the standardized measures…

At one of a series of hearings on H.R. 6, the Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1993, several experts discussed issues related to national assessment, assessment in Chapter 1, and state efforts to develop new forms of assessment. Eleanor Chelimsky, Assistant Comptroller General for Program Evaluation and Methodology of the General…

One educational change that is beginning to take hold is the use of alternative ways of testing and assessment, often referred to as authentic assessment. Advocates of authentic assessment believe that conventional testing is distorting educational goals, while authentic assessment can foster good educational practices. In fact, many educators…

This document is a guide to the use of alternative assessments (surveys, interviews, observation measures, and performance samples) in a family literacy project. This resource guide focuses on using alternative approaches to identify learners' needs, determine learners' ongoing progress in meeting project objectives, ascertain overall success of…