Many Latinos come to higher education as adults. One degree completion strategy that is particularly suited to adult students in higher education is prior learning assessment (PLA). PLA provides opportunities to evaluate a student's learning from work or life experience for the purpose of awarding college credit. For students whose…

This paper describes a major initiative in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to develop a statewide, standards-based, student report card for reporting the learning progress of individual students at all grade levels (K-12). Led by a team of researchers with expertise in grading and reporting, 36 educators from three diverse school districts created…

The educational system perpetuates social injustice through structural inequities of assessment and evaluation. High-stakes standardized testing has a destructive effect on teaching and learning that affects all students, teachers, and schools; it is particularly damaging for disadvantaged students--minorities, students with disabilities, students…

Education leaders across the country confront a growing challenge: too many students are not college ready when they leave high school. Although indicators exist to identify students at risk of dropping out of high school, few indicators of students' college readiness are currently in place, and few districts have linked indicators to practices…

Portfolios have been employed for years as evidence of many abilities (e.g., one's best drawings, one's teaching ability). The portfolio allows the individual the opportunity to demonstrate not only his/her best work, but improvement in his/her work. The chair of the Psychology Department at Shenandoah College initiated a portfolio program as a…

Drawing from organizational communications and management information systems (MIS), the authors make a bridge to the field of vocational education and present both a representative information problem and solution. (Editor)

This document outlines the objectives and procedures of a program at a New Mexico school district whose purpose is to enable school personnel to systematically monitor students' academic and disciplinary progression. The objectives of the program are to diagnose academic or disciplinary problems and prescribe remedies, to establish an oncampus…

A competency-based small engines program model and its plan of operation are explained and a sample instructional unit for the cylinder rebuild competency is provided. Competency attainment on a job profile/placement printout being developed will be shown as "go" and "no go" rather than grades. (MF)

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…

A project was conducted to develop and pilot test a process for vertically articulating curriculum between the secondary and postsecondary levels of vocational-technical education in Minnesota. Subgoals were to develop and validate a procedure for developing statewide task lists and competency records and to develop a process for teacher and…

This concise, easily understood manual of information and resources concerning the migrant education program is intended to encourage more effective use of the Migrant Student Record Transfer System (MSRTS). The first section is written to familiarize non-migrant funded personnel with MSRTS health and education records. The section includes…

An operational model developed as a result of a systematic analysis of three distinctly different Antioch centers--Juarez Lincoln University, Philadelphia Graduate Center, and Antioch-New England (the Keene Center)--is presented. Juarez Lincoln offers a 15-month program leading to the Master of Education degree. Many of the students are Mexican…