The framework and tools used for classroom assessment can have significant impacts on teacher practices and student achievement. Getting assessment right is an important component in creating positive learning experiences and academic success. Recent government reports (e.g., United States, Australia) call for the development of systems that use…

Trying to understand PISA is analogous to the parable of the blind men and the elephant. There are many facets of the PISA program, and thus many ways to both applaud and critique this ambitious international program of assessment that has gained enormous importance in the crafting of contemporary educational policy. One of the facets discussed in…

This handbook is designed as a quick reference for first-year teachers who find themselves in an assessment driven environment with little experience to help make sense of the language, underlying philosophy, or organizational structure of the assessment system. The handbook begins with advice on developing and evaluating effective learning…

The workbook is intended as an instructional guide for a course in behavioral assessment of developmentally disabled persons. Exercises in the five units test skill in such areas as sensory modalities assessment and disruptive behavior recording, and a unit assessment evaluates the participant's knowledge of unit objectives. Criterion for passing…

Presented is the instructor's manual for a course in assessing behavior of the developmentally disabled. Suggested are techniques for teaching the course, and provided are the correct answers and assessments for five workbook units dealing with such topics as use of formal and informal evaluation, and learning modalities assessment. Included is a…

Results of a 1987 report indicating that elementary students of all states were above the national average are assessed. Issues addressed include teaching for standardized tests, the effect of teaching on national norms, and alternatives available to protect the integrity of instruction and the validity of normed test scores. (TJH)

Argues that slide tests effectively evaluate students' understanding of geographic concepts. Discusses the purpose of using slides and outlines procedures for testing. Considers the qualitative results of three formal examinations and areas of visual confusion or misinterpretation; suggests improvements. Examines implications of computers for…

Describes way in which National Assessment of Educational Progress materials can be used by educators attempting to set instructional priorities and improve instructional programs. (JC)

Schemes for assessing reading achievement with specific tests have been in use since early in this century. The two driving forces behind the testing movement--scientific objectivity and compulsory education--blossomed in the 1920s and 1930s and continued substantially unchanged through most of the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the idea of mastery…