In this article, the author discusses how to stop running out of time for writing across the curriculum and features the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory that helps low-performing schools improve writing by incorporating writing instruction across the curriculum. The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's systemic work to…

"Differentiating Instruction With Menus Grades 3-5" offers teachers everything they need to create a student-centered learning environment based on choice. Addressing the four main subject areas (language arts, math, science, and social studies) and the major concepts taught within these areas, these books provide a number of different types of…

A teacher describes how he changed the way his high school students learned mathematics, using cooperative learning methodology and focusing on oral, as opposed to written, examinations and on group effort as opposed to individual effort. As the students' learning changed, the teacher was faced with the new problem of assessing the new type of…

Although few question the positive impacts alternative forms of assessment can have on instruction, concerns about the psychometric quality of data obtained from such assessments are taking their toll. Scoring issues are at the heart of many of these concerns. This paper addresses the causes of these concerns: misinformation about psychometric…

A set of prototype measures has been developed to measure students' understanding of content areas. Although the starting point has been history, the project has explored the use of a common model for assessment in geography and science as well. These prototypes are intended to provide models for users with assessment requirements who do not have…

This book is a guide to the development and use of performance tasks and rubrics in the high school mathematics classroom. It contains a rationale for, and a discussion of strengths and limitations of, performance tasks to assess student achievement and progress in mathematics. A field-tested process is offered for developing performance tasks and…

This paper addresses some real assessment challenges that teachers have identified: (1) Figuring out what really is important for students to know and be able to do in history; (2) Teaching the skills of "doing history" in a world of testing that often seems to value only factual knowledge; (3) Identifying and using assessments that provide…

The development of an assessment tool to measure the quality of instruction is necessary to provide an informative accountability system in education. Such a tool should be capable of characterizing the quality of teaching and learning that occurs in actual classrooms, schools, or districts. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development…

An approach to assessment is described that allows students to understand and help decide the criteria for good work. It is called "negotiable contracting." Negotiable contracting makes assessment a highly individualized process that recognizes the subtly different ways in which students master skills. Students and teachers jointly create a…

A model of educational policy development is reported that is democratic without being egalitarian. It provides a process for gathering information from all interested groups in a school district to construct a policy that is uniquely suited to that district. It was designed to help a small committee construct a teacher evaluation policy for a…

This curriculum unit addresses myths in Western cultures and in other cultures around the world. The three lessons in the unit gives students the opportunity to think critically about how and why myths were first created, and to create their own myths. Specifically, in the unit students read, discuss, and respond in writing to myths from Greek,…

Children can learn to express themselves through the performing arts in constructive ways. Theater, specifically, employs the use of all dimensions of learning. In this lesson, students will engage in basic theater techniques for creating a character through movement and voice. The lesson, lasting 5 class periods, introduces them to guidelines for…

This paper traces the development of guidelines to help education instructors effectively evaluate and provide guided practice for student teachers as they reflect on their professional work. The University of Wisconsin River Falls requires student teachers to videotape their teaching experiences, then reflect on how, why, and where they meet…

Citing developmental characteristics of each grade level, "A Complete Guide to Rubrics" presents examples and adaptations of assessment rubrics on a variety of subjects. It features examples of teacher-created rubrics, Internet resources, and additional chapters devoted to assessing technological topics, including blogging. This book will be of…

Authentic assessment is a process involving multiple forms of performance measurement reflecting student learning, achievement, motivation, and attitudes. This article examines types of authentic assessment (interviews, story or text retelling, writing samples, projects and exhibitions, experiments and demonstrations, constructed response items,…