Describes Kentucky's inclusion of all students in its educational assessment and accountability system. Describes how this system operates at three elementary schools to drive high expectations for all students and include students with disabilities in the general education curriculum. Students participate in either the standard assessment or…

Subgroup differences are expected on traditional knowledge, skill, ability, and achievement tests. Considers actions to reduce differences and fairly assess individual attributes. Suggests that selection materials assess the full range of relevant attributes using a format that minimizes verbal content as much as is appropriate. Recommends using…

Discusses (from the point of view of the coordinator of Vermont's statewide, portfolio-based writing assessment) the dangers of assessment, and how it can freeze or frustrate students or teachers. Uses examples from Vermont to argue that vigilance is necessary to ensure the survival of personal voice and style in this era of standards. (SR)

This excerpt from "Measuring Up: Standards, Assessment, and School Reform" points out the limits of norm-referenced tests and discusses the pitfalls of making testing a high-stakes enterprise. Points out that the emphasis on standardized testing, and the push for school districts to score well, often has an inordinate and detrimental effect on…

Discusses experiences of team teaching a sixth grade collaborative mathematics class that included special needs students. Discusses class assignments and the use of portfolio grading, and the success of special needs students in completing homework and working collaboratively. (JPB)

This article provides guidelines and strategies that can be employed to examine the experiences and perceptions of cooperative teaching teams, to validate successful collaborative practices, and to identify practices in need of revision. It discusses interviews and surveys, use of best practices checklists, conducting teaching observations, and…

This article discusses important principles for assessing language arts instruction for gifted learners. It stresses the importance of multiple measures and approaches being employed at formative and summative stages of the instructional process. Examples of rubrics, portfolios, and performance-based models are provided, along with ideas for…

Describes the collaborative process and the lessons learned when the staff of a family-literacy program and an evaluator worked together to design and implement a portfolio assessment that was used to collect program-evaluation information for the Even Start program over two years. Discusses opportunities to collaborate in the development of this…

Discusses the benefits and drawbacks of teaching portfolios and student portfolios. Suggests that students can best gain from their years of study when the systemic reflection that is characteristic of portfolios engages them (through learning portfolios) and their teachers (through teaching portfolios); embedding such thinking in practice is…

Looks at the notion of the democratic public sphere as a useful construct for collaborative practices in portfolio classrooms. Describes the author's efforts to foster democratic participation by situating portfolio talk and assessment within the public space of one developmental writing classroom. Describes conflicts unseen until the end of the…

Focuses on the way norming sessions can function as sites of professional development that generate both individual classroom-based inquiry and group inquiry among teachers. Explores the effect of a site-based and rhetorically based model of assessment that attempts to engage teachers in continuous collaborative inquiry directly related to their…

A study examined assessments by 127 preservice teachers, formulated from portfolios of three hypothetical fifth-grade children. Most participants followed a fairly logical set of procedures, formulating criteria to evaluate the assignments and then applying them. A few made decisions not supported by the evidence, commenting on children's quality…

This study utilises survey questionnaires to compare 107 Canadian, English and Dutch students' opinions and experiences of portfolio preparation for final assessment in the terminal year of secondary school. The aim is to reveal what students value about portfolio assessment and if they see portfolio assessment as a valid preparation for their…

Portfolios, a term derived from the carrying case of paintings or drawings that artists present as proof of their talents, are collections of student work. With the nationwide efforts to raise graduation standards and the increasing use of standardized testing, the idea of basing promotion and graduation decisions on portfolios of students' work…

From more rigorous courses during the twelfth grade to individual projects and internships, school districts across the country are taking a variety of steps for the purpose of keeping seniors engaged in learning during their senior year of high school. At the same time, they are also warning students about the possibility that students who have…