Five teams of teacher-researchers, 15 teachers in all, representing three Wyoming school districts and Casper College conducted classroom-based investigations and wrote about their inquiries. These teachers of prekindergarten through college collaborated to examine performance based assessment questions with an overall theme of improving science…

There is increasing pressure on teachers in higher education to provide assessment systems that are fair, valid, reliable, efficient, and effective. Funding bodies, students themselves, and public opinion have higher expectations, and there is a new emphasis on competence-based systems. Growing numbers of students and financial constraints make…

This digest illustrates the variety of basic and theoretical issues in evaluation with which aspiring evaluators should be conversant in order to claim that they know the knowledge base of their profession. Coverage of the issues includes: the four steps in the logic of evaluation; whether qualitative evaluations are valid; whether it matters if…

The Hawaii Learning Project (HALP) has produced an Algebra I curriculum that stresses student learning through problem solving, communication, connections, development over time, and challenging tasks. The HALP curriculum is used by more than 16,000 students in 13 states. Scores on standardized algebra tests for HALP graduates have been about the…

This 42-item annotated bibliography provides information on some of the assessments currently available to assess communication competence. In addition to actual assessment instruments, the bibliography also includes related articles that discuss the oral communication skills that should be assessed, while other articles provide research results…

The goal of this revised edition is to describe and illustrate the process of implementing ecological assessment in classrooms. The focus is on the process of change. Teachers who assess ecologically create classroom environments that are small ecosystems representative of the larger literacy system outside the classroom. New developments in…

This study was conducted to determine whether the educational degree of mathematics instructors at New York City Technical College was a significant factor in students' perceptions of teacher effectiveness. A 10-item student opinion survey was distributed to 738 students enrolled in 44 mathematics classes. Instructors with doctoral degrees taught…

This study investigated three factors that may contribute to the large variation in student performance across open-ended measures. These factors are content domain, format (whether the task required only pencil and paper or involved a hands-on manipulation of equipment), and level of inquiry (whether the task guided the student toward the…

This study investigated how obtaining predicted and actual scores on aptitude tests can provide crucial information regarding personal beliefs about ability. The ACID profile of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Revised) (WAIS-R) was used to collect the subjective and objective scores of 92 college students with severe scholastic deficits…

This handbook provides teachers and administrators with strategies to construct, adapt, and use rubrics. A rubric is defined as a tool for assessing instruction and performance according to predetermined expectations and criteria. The chapters in this text contain guidance on formulating, applying, and reviewing the pros and cons of this form of…

The Texas Education Agency has been developing materials to address issues related to the Professional Development Appraisal System (PDAS). The PDAS was developed under a legislative mandate to establish a fair and practical appraisal process that acknowledges and reinforces good teaching practices and quality professional development. An…

This study involves action research to explore the effectiveness of the Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) technique in diagnosing students' understanding of science and identifying their levels of achievement. A multidimensional interpretive framework is used to interpret students' understanding of science. The research methodology incorporated…

During the Workplace Training Project, workplace trainers from Oregon's Lane Community College (LCC) provided workplace math classes to employees of an area business, PW Pipe. The math training was designed to help employees increase their proficiency in math and thereby reduce production error rates. During the training, PW Pipe's employees…

This document describes an evaluation of the competencies of faculty who deliver contracted workforce training at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC). A self-assessment questionnaire was administered to FVTC's 150 full-time and adjunct faculty who conduct workforce training; in addition, 157 employers who were clients of the college in the…

Arguing that technological change often affects the organizational structure of library workplaces, this paper presents two alternative approaches to the implementation of change in organizational structures, provides several examples of each approach, and suggests related reading materials. It is noted that the configurational approach…