The Williamsburg/James City County (WJC), Virginia School System employs a wide variety of professional support personnel (PSP). Little has been done to properly evaluate and monitor PSP or programs with which they are involved as the focus is on classroom teacher evaluation. PSP are reluctant to be evaluated by persons who have little knowledge…

Expectations and roles of institutional researchers in higher education institutions are considered, as well as the question of what a research office should expect from its institution. A performance monitoring system for the assessment and continuous improvement of institutional research is also proposed. Ways that institutional research can be…

The University of Massachusetts system launched a legislative "Report Card" project in an effort to pre-empt accountability mandates and improve institutional performance. In the process, the University developed legislative survey and focus group tools, empowered a system-wide University Institutional Research Group; and developed peer…

Noting that assessment plays a prominent role in all levels of the American educational system, this report characterizes the realities of reading assessment and its historical evolution. The report then characterizes possible approaches to shaping the future of reading assessment--resistance, complacency, and reform. The report considers the…

Many educators believe that if the United States is serious about reforming the nation's educational system, schools must implement high standards for student achievement that stress performance. While there is some disagreement over what form standards should take, there is consensus that expectations for achievement should cut across subject…

A study examined the influence of agriscience and natural resources curricula on students' science achievement scores. The High School Subject Test--Biology, a standardized science test, was used to measure the science knowledge of all 156 seniors at 4 Michigan high schools that were randomly selected from those schools completing the state's…

This book provokes a re-examination of how expert knowledge, not practitioner know-how, has come to dominate how Americans judge and improve schools. It depicts the English tradition of school inspection to provoke the invention of better ways for judging and knowing schools in America. Data were gathered by observation of 39 local and national…

This paper examines insights offered by communication research that may be valuable to researchers looking for evidence of gender bias affecting student ratings of their college professors' teaching effectiveness. The paper offers an overview of the teaching evaluation processes, and conceptualizations of the validity of their measures. It then…

The nature of classroom assessment is changing. Teachers are being urged to rely less on traditional tests and more on innovative measurement methods, such as performance tests and portfolio assessments. This digest describes a strategy whereby student services personnel can play a leadership role in familiarizing classroom teachers and school…

The urgency to enhance the quality of science education for all of the nation's children and youth increases as we approach the next century. To address some of the issues and to obtain insight from a variety of sources regarding the problems facing educators in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education, a Summer Symposium was…

The function of Mantel-Haenszel (MH) and logistic regression (LR) statistics with real data in detecting gender-based differentially functioning items (DIF) was investigated when sample size and criterion variable varied. The data base consisted of the item responses of a population of 183,356 Caucasians to the Math test of the ACT Assessment…

Alcohol intoxication increases the risk of highway accidents, the relative risk of crash probability increasing as a function of blood alcohol content (BAC). Because alcohol use is more prevalent than use of other drugs, more is known about the relationship between alcohol use and driving. Most states presume a BAC of .10% to be evidence of drunk…

This book is designed to help adult educators become skillful in conducting an informal assessment of learning. Chapter 1 gives a background in the basic concepts of assessment and stresses the importance of assessing the design of activities and the behaviors as well as the achievements of learners. Chapter 2 introduces the use of the planning…

This document defines the requirements and program for the American Welding Society to certify expert welders through an evaluation process entailing performance qualification and practical knowledge tests requiring the use of advanced reading, computational, and manual skills. The following items are included: statement of the standard's scope;…

This study presents psychometric characteristics of the mathematics problem solving performance assessment used in the Minneapolis Public Schools, focusing on the interrater reliability, scoring reliability, and validity of the assessment. The Minneapolis Math Problem Solving Assessment (MPSA) was established in 1991. Students are asked to solve…