Employers, postsecondary institutions, and civic leaders are urging greater focus on 21st century skills essential for college, career, and civic success: problem solving, interpersonal skills, and collaboration, among others. In response to these demands, states across the country are working to realign policies--on learning standards,…

This article describes the findings of studies conducted on a large-scale, classroom-based performance assessment of literacy for the early grades designed to provide information that is useful for reporting, as well as teaching. Technical studies found the assessment to be a promising instrument that is reliable and valid. Follow-up studies of…

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…

Provides a broad perspective on results-based performance measurement (RBPM). It describes the reasons for its growing popularity in government and outlines several of the key elements and considerations that must be included in the implementation of the RBPM system in the public sector. (Author)

This commentary discusses three essential themes in performance assessment and its scoring. First, scores should mean something. Second, performance scores should permit fair and meaningful comparisons. Third, validity-reducing errors should be minimal. Increased attention to performance assessment may overcome these problems. (SLD)

This book is a collection of nine commissioned papers that consider the educational reform represented by performance assessments, their advantages and disadvantages, and the challenges of successful implementation. Both theoretical and practical issues are addressed. (SLD)

This Addendum was created with the expectation that it would enhance the understanding of the conceptual framework of "Improving Classroom Assessment: A Toolkit for Professional Developers," link its text and activities to other assessment aids, and help trainers design high-quality workshops. The first section of the addendum contains…

This paper reports the results of an analysis of the relationship between scorer behaviors and score variability. Thirty-six essay scorers were interviewed and asked to perform a think-aloud task as they scored 24 essays. Each comment made by a scorer was coded according to its content focus (i.e. appearance, assignment, mechanics, communication,…

Reviews developments in educational assessment and in journals devoted to assessment during the editor's tenure with this journal, with a special focus on the place of performance assessment. Discusses the problem of generalizability in many new forms of assessment. (SLD)

A study was conducted to begin a process of validating hypothesized causes of local item dependence (LID) in large-scale performance assessments. Data for the study are item level scores from 26 science tasks from the 1993 edition of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. Causes of high LID were hypothesized from studies by Ferrara et…

The traditional concept of validity divides it into three separate types; content, criterion, and construct validities. This view is fragmented and incomplete, failing to take into account evidence of the value implications of score meaning as a basis for action and of the social consequences of score use. The new unified concept of validity…

This paper presents a study of primary and secondary mathematics teachers' changing assessment practices in the context of policy, stakeholder, and personal presses for change. Two cohorts of teachers, one of 35 elementary, middle school, and high school teachers and the other of 24 elementary and middle school teachers participated. Using survey…

This paper traces the origins of the portfolio movement, examines the treatment of portfolios in texts and other writings on classroom assessment, and poses several questions about the use of portfolios in classrooms. Interest in portfolios as assessment devices first emerged in the literature in the field of composition and writing, but interest…

This resource guide was published as part of the college-wide assessment and evaluation activities at Columbia Basin College (Washington) in 1997. The purpose in producing the document was to meet the need for some guidelines and written information about how to develop an assessment plan, the different ways to assess that plan, and how to use the…

To make the transition from traditional assessment, which was often counterproductive, to an array of assessment applications that will be more constructive for students, teachers must expand their vision of the relationship between assessment and effective schools. Assessment must be used to inform classroom decision making, and it must become…