This guide discusses the participation of students with disabilities in the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), the state's student testing program that is being implemented in response to the Education Reform Law of 1993. The statewide assessment program is designed to strengthen public education in Massachusetts and ensure that…

This paper examines the integration of technology into teaching and learning, focusing on Idaho State University College of Education's experiences with developing and administering a statewide assessment for certifying teacher technology competency and documenting the effects of technology integration on P-12 student learning. The paper examines…

This paper first examines how the graduate institute of teacher education at Bank Street College of Education, New York, has worked to foster reflective practice over time and across program components. It examines the mission and structures that have been enacted to this end and identifies ongoing challenges encountered. The paper first discusses…

This report examines the writing portfolio evaluations (administered between 1993-1998) of former Columbia Basin College (CBC) students who transferred to Washington State University (WSU). The WSU writing portfolio acts as a diagnostic aid to assure that all students can be successful college writers. The evaluation is required of all WSU…

This report provides an overview of Triton College's (Illinois) New Faculty Orientation Plan, which was developed in light of the large number of retirements and new hires expected by the year 2000. The purpose of the plan is to assist newly hired instructors to move productively into their professional roles and to become actively involved in the…

This handbook was developed to give tutors of adult education information and ideas about assessing adult learning. It can be used as a reference for information about assessment and as a practical tool for tutors. Section 1, Introduction to Assessment in Adult Learning, includes information on these topics: what assessment is, how to assess, why…

This practicum reports on a project designed to improve middle school students' science scores. The project used three general strategies to improve science learning: (1) the inclusion of multiple hands-on activities and techniques in the science classroom; (2) the implementation of portfolio assessment; and (3) the inclusion of a Multiple…

This paper describes a qualitative research study concerning the use of the World Wide Web to create electronic teaching portfolios in a preservice teacher education pilot course at the University of Virginia. The goal of the pilot course was to learn about the participants' purpose in creating an electronic teaching portfolio, the process they…

This study examined the use of self-assessment in teacher education. Students in a graduate educational psychology course (all of whom were teachers or counselors) documented and presented a self-assessment portfolio of their learning experiences. They were instructed to be as creative as possible. The presentations of their self-assessment…

The biggest barrier to fully implementing a program like the Big Six has been traditional attitudes toward student assessment. This article defines assessment terminology and provides an annotated bibliography of World Wide Web resources for alternative assessment, authentic assessment and portfolios, rubrics, specific course content and ages and…

Describes how a teacher who taught the same group of students for fourth and fifth grades taught her students to set reading goals, work to achieve them, reflect on them, use self-evaluation to set new goals, and use portfolios to assess their results. Notes that her students used these tools to learn to be critical thinkers as well. (SR)

The seven chapters of this theme issue on second-language instruction illustrate the pedagogical shift from measuring language achievement to emphasizing language proficiency. The issue explores empirical and theoretical investigations into second-language acquisition research in both affective and cognitive domains. (SLD)

Describes how laboratory schools can act as a link between schools of education and their elementary preservice teachers, focusing on the use of portfolios in the campus laboratory school. The paper recommends introducing elementary preservice teachers gradually to the portfolio approach, noting that teachers and classroom students can reap a…

Describes writing portfolios, a teaching method that enhances students' taking responsibility for their learning, facilitates developmentally appropriate assessment, and allows evaluation of writing development. Includes six student forms: "Self-Evaluation of Writing,""Self-Evaluation of the Writing Portfolio,""Identification of Topics,""Writing…

Outlines the limitations of letter grades and the problems with giving percentage points. Discusses authentic evaluation and the author's daily process of evaluation with her low-reading students as they engage daily in reflecting, rethinking, selecting, and deciding. (SR)