The PULSE Vision & Change Rubrics, version 1.0, assess life sciences departments' progress toward implementation of the principles of the "Vision and Change report." This paper reports on the development of the rubrics, their validation, and their reliability in measuring departmental change aligned with the "Vision and…

Background: Youth programs often rely on self-reported data without clear evidence as to the accuracy of these reports. Although the validity of self-reporting has been confirmed among some high school and college age students, one area that is absent from extant literature is a serious investigation among younger children. Moreover, there is…

aimswebPlus® is an assessment, data management, and reporting system that provides national and local performance and growth norms for the screening and progress monitoring of math and reading skills for all students in kindergarten through 8th grade. aimswebPlus uses two types of measures: (1) "curriculum-based measures" (CBMs)--brief,…

This paper critically reviews the empirical research on the use of rubrics at the post-secondary level, identifies gaps in the literature and proposes areas in need of research. Studies of rubrics in higher education have been undertaken in a wide range of disciplines and for multiple purposes, including increasing student achievement, improving…

The study reported an assessment of a university-wide curriculum-based service learning program and, based on the assessment data, analyzed the impact of teachers' and supervisors' involvement on students' skill and affective learning outcomes. The study (n=750) showed that in general the students agreed that their participation in…

The purpose of this paper was to describe the process of development of assessment instruments for the Comparing Options in Secondary Mathematics: Investigating Curriculum (COSMIC) project. The COSMIC project was a three-year longitudinal comparative study focusing on evaluating high school students' mathematics learning from two distinct…

Background: Validity is a central concern in any assessment, though this has often not been made explicit in the UK assessment context. This article applies current validity theorising, largely derived from American formulations, to national curriculum assessments in England. Purpose: The aim is to consider validity arguments in relation to the…

Background: National curriculum tests have been administered in England for well over a decade. Although reliability evidence has been published, critics have argued that there is not enough evidence (of the right kind) and that test results may be insufficiently reliable. Purpose: This article collates and discusses evidence on the reliability of…

The authors explored the credibility of using informal reading inventories and writing samples for 138 students (K-4) to evaluate the effectiveness of a summer literacy program. Running Records (a measure of a child's reading level) and teacher experience during daily reading instruction were used to estimate the reliability of the more formal…

Critiques two central issues of measurement as applied to the evaluation of student progress in cooperative education: reliability and validity. Urges the synthesis of measurement and professional judgment in all phases of the evaluation process. (SK)

Advances in assessment technologies are affording teachers and students new ways to efficiently assess and track achievement while also better promoting learning. WriteToLearn is one such technology, a Web-based tool that integrates practice and assessment in reading comprehension with writing about what is learned. Based on the principle of…

This study describes validation data for qualitative and quantitative writing measures useful with a full range of students, including special education students, in grades three through five. The study looked for consistent administration and scoring, sensitivity in differentiating groups of students, relation to other accepted assessments, and…

In this paper we present initial information concerning a new direct observation system--the Observational System for Recording Physical Activity in Children-Preschool Version. The system will allow researchers to record young children's physical activity levels while also coding the topography of their physical activity, as well as detailed…

Addressing the implications of quality standards and performance measures for California's adult education system, this document focuses on skill assessment and testing systems as a core performance measure. Following an executive summary, the first chapter is an introduction that includes an overview of recommendation 7 of the l989 Strategic Plan…

Different meanings of portfolio assessment are reviewed, and potential applications to program evaluation are explored. At present, portfolio assessments are not recommended as the primary source of evidence about the attainment of program goals in evaluations that compare curricula or programs because of the lack of validity and reliability…