In 1990, the state of Kentucky created a new school system through the Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA). While KERA mandates wide-ranging progressive reform, testing through the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS) makes sure teachers get the job done. Though all Kentucky teachers are involved in writing, those at the…

This book documents classroom practices and considers the implementation and consequences of the Kentucky Education Reform (KERA) Act through case studies, comparisons to other models, and responses from national experts. The chapters are: (1) "Kentucky Lesson: How High Stakes School Accountability Undermines a Performance-Based Curriculum…

This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on new forms of assessment by examining the impact of teacher involvement in the scoring of standards-based performance assessments. Researchers studied 250 of 500 teachers who participated in a New York state project to pilot new state assessment prototypes. The National Center for Restructuring…

Teachers' reactions to the administration and scoring of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program tests (MSPAP) were studied, focusing on their direct and indirect exposure to tasks and evaluative criteria through the experience of scoring the MSPAP. Since its inception in 1991, the MSPAP has been scored in-state by certified teachers…

The extent to which classroom instruction and assessment activities in mathematics are aligned to the State of Maryland's Learning Objectives and the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) was studied by examining the underlying structure of the mathematics teacher questionnaire developed and administered to teachers in the 1996-97…

The extent to which the instruction, assessment, and Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) test preparation activities of language arts teachers aligned with the Maryland Learning Outcomes (MLOs) and the reading and writing tasks on the MSPAP was studied in the 1996-97 school year. The reading and writing activities of 280…

In 1994, as part of an ongoing study of the quality and effects of large-scale educational assessments, RAND began a series of studies of Kentucky's assessment, the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS). KIRIS is a cornerstone of Kentucky's education reform program. It exemplifies several key themes of current assessment-based…

This paper places Kentucky's accountability program in the national context, and then describes how educators in four rural Kentucky school districts reacted to the program in the initial years of its implementation. The information is drawn from a qualitative study of the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) in these four…

This study examines the underlying structure of the teacher language arts and science questionnaires from a project studying the impact of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP). The dimensions of the questionnaire concerning practices and attitudes related to the MSPAP were studied, as well as the extent to which the on-grade…

Maryland, the first state to mandate performance assessments for its elementary school students, administers the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program as a week-long series of activities measuring reading, writing, language in use, science, and social studies for students in grades 3, 5, and 8. Open-ended questions are built around…

Since 1988 the Vermont Department of Education has been developing an innovative statewide performance assessment program. In 1990, the RAND Corporation began evaluating the Vermont assessment program, focusing specifically on the portfolio component of its assessment system. This report presents results from the evaluation in the 1992-93 school…

In 1991-92 Vermont initiated a statewide portfolio assessment program in mathematics and writing in grades 4 and 8. An evaluation of the program found mixed results--although the portfolio scores were unreliable for individual or school-level reporting and teachers had concerns about implementation, the assessment had marked positive effects on…

For the past five years, Vermont has been developing an innovative statewide assessment system in which portfolios of student work in mathematics and writing are a key element. The use of mathematics portfolios, particularly in elementary school, is a novel aspect of the assessment system. This study examines the elementary school mathematics…

This paper documents student, teacher, and administrator attitudes toward the initiation of performance-based tests on a statewide level in Mississippi. The initial study surveyed approximately 620 test participants in grades 1 through 10 during the period between the fall test administration and the receipt of the test results in January. The…