This paper addresses some real assessment challenges that teachers have identified: (1) Figuring out what really is important for students to know and be able to do in history; (2) Teaching the skills of "doing history" in a world of testing that often seems to value only factual knowledge; (3) Identifying and using assessments that provide…

Traditional, product-oriented testing must be abandoned if instructors in college reading and study skills programs are to effectively evaluate student educational outcomes. Such tests are hardly compatible with the way the brain functions, in that they require precise answers to precisely worded questions which are the product of the test-maker's…

This article presents a model of formative task-based language assessment implemented in the Chinese language program at the University of Iowa. The model was conceptualized from both empirical evidence, namely previous research done by other team members and me, and assessment theory, namely task-based learning and testing. Our formative…

A guide is presented to the various uses of Comprehensive Achievement Monitoring (CAM), a computer-based instructional management system which provides relevant data on course objectives to elementary and secondary teachers and students after students are tested. Among the uses discussed are: student coupons, which list objectives on which the…

This paper discusses the author's personal experiences in developing and implementing a problem-based college mathematics course for liberal arts majors. This project was initiated in response to the realization that most students are dependent on "patterning" learning algorithms and have no expectation that self-initiated thinking is a…