This book addresses the roles assessments play in education and provides detailed descriptions of the common assessment types, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests, and alternative assessments. Chapter 1 discusses the current arguments for and against the various methods of assessment, the quality requirements for test instruments, and…

Performance assessments in education and credentialing are becoming popular. At the same time, there do not exist any well established and validated methods for setting standards on performance assessments. This paper describes several of the new standard-setting methods that are emerging for use with performance assessments and considers their…

In 1991 Arizona embarked on a program to change schools and make them more accountable for educational achievement. The instrument of reform was an assessment program known as the Arizona Student Assessment Program (ASAP), the most notable feature of which was a performance assessment that was added to an already extensive battery of…

This study investigated patterns of procrastination in the domains of health, relationships, employment, and creative outlets in 19 former Westinghouse Science Talent Search winners, age 32 years. A model was synthesized from the available literature and an interview schedule of 14 open-ended items was developed to elicit self-assessments of…

This book presents 11 contributed papers which examine communication aspects of the department chair position in academia. It is noted that most academic department chairs are not trained in management skills, including communication strategies. After an introductory chapter by Christopher H. Spicer and Ann Q. Staton, the following papers are…

In 1990, the Kentucky legislature established the Education Professional Standards Board as part of a systemic program of educational improvement. This report was commissioned to facilitate discussions about how best to configure certification requirements and related professional development activities. The first three sections identify, review,…

This technical assistance paper presents information designed to assist school personnel in assessing the strengths and needs of children and planning developmentally appropriate curriculum strategies. The first topic addressed is assessment strategies, which include developmental screening, diagnostic instruments, teacher observation, parent…

This conference paper on assessment of the qualities of student teachers in middle schools discusses the concepts of authentic assessment, continuous evaluation, the roles of the cooperating teacher and the university coordinator, and assessment procedures used at the University of Northern Iowa. Eleven categories are presented for use in…

This article explores issues involved in using assessments as a means of defining standards and encouraging efforts to meet them. It compares the European examination system with the present American testing system. It also considers issues that must be faced in defining learning domains in ways that do not encourage narrowly focused training on…

Setting standards on performance measures is discussed in the context of the State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS) initiative supported by the Council of Chief State School Offices. The usual item-based methods for standard setting, the methods developed by Nedelsky (1954), Angoff (1971), and Ebel (1972), were developed…

In 1979, Gene Glass suggested that it might not be possible to evaluate schools nor to create widely applicable research findings, but that the complexity of education was such that merely "fire-fighting," establishing monitoring systems to alert about educational events, was the best approach. In the United Kingdom, monitoring systems…

A strategy is proposed for combining scores from multiple-choice achievement measures with performance assessments. The specific situation discussed involves the revision of a curriculum-based multiple-choice and performance assessment testing program for grades 1 through 6 for a large school district. Reading, language-arts, and mathematics…

An understanding of state accountability systems is critical in the discussion of educational reform. Clear and complete definitions of expectations for learners are needed before conducting educational assessments. This document describes findings of a study that examined six state accountability systems, with a focus on how they impacted…

In an effort to determine which factors most consistently identified incoming at-risk students, Prince George's Community College (PGCC), in Maryland, conducted a longitudinal study of fall 1990 entering freshmen without previous college experience. After dividing the cohort into at-risk categories (e.g., age, study load, racial background,…

In August of 1991, the Colchester (Vermont) Board of Education and the Colchester Education Association (CEA) jointly initiated a Teacher Evaluation Study Committee. The group assumed responsibility for producing a revised teacher evaluation model which would positively impact the district's teaching and learning process. During school year…