The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) rightly calls itself the Nation's Report Card. As the gold standard of educational assessment, it offers a picture of what U.S. students know and can do in a subject. There have been NAEP Geography assessments in 1994, 2001, and 2010. The next assessment is planned for 2014. Before reacting to…

Made up of rectangular boxes aligned on rectangular sheets of paper, the hallmark of the report card is the list of grades. Numbers or letters are intended to represent the achievement of a young person, who too often sits at a rectangular desk in a rectangular room, and provides evidence of learning by making pencil scrapings upon rectangular…

As a public school English teacher, the author observes standardized testing season each year with a sort of grim fascination. "So this is it," she thinks as she paces around her silent classroom, peering over kids' shoulders at articles about parasailing. Line graphs tracking the rainfall in Tulsa. Parts of speech. Functions of "x." "These are…

Every two years the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), "the Nation's Report Card," reports the nation's average reading and math scores in grades 4 and 8. Despite the strong focus on reading under the 2001 No Child Left Behind law, the recent 2009 reading scores were not statistically different from those of 2007, which…

Report cards should give parents descriptions of the progress of their children in at least these seven areas: play, social/emotional growth, arts and crafts, music, oral language, academic skills, and following directions. (Author/IRT)

Asserts that the means by which student achievement in reading are reported should be a focus rather than an afterthought. Discusses key questions related to developing report cards that serve a variety of audiences. Provides guidance and models of report cards that are more closely aligned with the literacy curriculum than traditional report…

Problems involved in grading mainstreamed students are examined, and solutions are suggested, including communication between regular class and resource teachers, use of a combination of corrective feedback and quantitative scores, use of individualized education program performance objectives, and emphasis on intra-individual assessment. (CL)

The article focuses on Fraser Institute's (Vancouver, British Columbia) "Report Card on Elementary Schools in British Columbia." The rating of a school is based on reading, writing, and numeracy levels for both Grade 4 and Grade 7 students, gender differences in reading and numeracy in Grade 7, and the percentage of students not meeting…

When schools are compared, there are variables that need to be considered because the playing field is not level. This paper discusses concepts and generalizations that must be understood to interpret test results and school report cards properly. There are many limitations in using test results to compare schools, particularly since students may…

It is difficult to know the information that should be included on state report cards to enable comparisons among school districts and among different states. There may be many problems with such report cards, ranging from the possibility of computer error to the chance of reporting test scores that are not reliable or valid or the use of tests…

Traces development of educational accountability in California; examines role of state political leadership; considers impact of requirements of reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act. (PKP)

Reliability methodology needs to evolve as validity has done into an argument supported by theory and empirical evidence. Nowhere is the inadequacy of current methods more visible than in classroom assessment. Reliability arguments would also permit additional methodologies for evidencing reliability in classrooms. It would liberalize methodology…

Summarizes findings of a project that reviewed eight commercial gradebook programs to determine range of features offered, e.g., menu and group organization, calculations and weighting of grades, error checking and correction, reports and printouts, documentation, and special options. Information on producer, hardware requirements, and cost is…

Addresses teachers' frustration in reconciling appropriate education for young children with the practice of grading to assess and report progress, contending that research on unreliability in grading and the efforts of committed parents and professionals are necessary to change the practice. Summarizes research suggesting that grading is…

Provides guidelines to make grades a better assessment of learning. Argues that, for any assessment task to be fair, its content, context, and performance expectations should (1) reflect knowledge appropriate to all students; (2) tap knowledge that all students have had time to acquire in the class; and (3) and be as free as possible of cultural,…