Paper describes two assessment projects that provide examples of how preservice physical educators design, implement, and understand assessment, focusing on formative assessment. A volleyball project occurred in a middle school where students had physical education twice weekly. A gymnastics project occurred in an elementary school where teachers…

Constructs a model that explains a large fraction of the variance in political science departmental rankings. Divides the objective predictors into two sets: one reflecting faculty quality ratings of department members, the other the effects of circumstances beyond a department's control. This model works well with most social science disciplines.…

Examples are provided that show readability in action in diverse settings. The first shows how readability analysis resulted in a new fluency monitoring protocol in three school districts in Northern California. The others present hypothetical school, clinic, and research situations that a speech language pathologist might encounter. (Author/CR)

Describes the development of a Web-based virtual tour of the University of Otago (New Zealand) science library. Highlights include information literacy learning outcomes; information architecture, including information organization and navigation; integrating the tour into course work; and evaluation results. (LRW)

Presents a thematic unit for middle schools on editorial writing, or persuasive writing, based on the Pathways Model for information skills lessons. Includes assessing other editorials; student research process journals; information literacy and process skills; and two lesson plans that involve library media specialists as well as teachers. (LRW)

Assembles in print form a World Wide Web-based presentation on 12 Internet resources that stimulate inquiry and help develop elementary and secondary school students' critical thinking skills. Other highlights include sources for evaluating Web-based resources, using the Internet with students, listservs, creating Web-based resource guides, and a…

Reviews Michigan Kinship Project, a case management approach that is competency based and designed to assist child welfare staff members in working effectively with relatives as foster parents. Focuses on attention to culture, family participation and empowerment, systematic assessment, and individualized and comprehensive services. Provides case…

If universities were serious about enhancing student learning, they would explore other ways of organizing work, including reorganization of the curriculum into learning communities that enable learning to span the disciplines, creating classrooms that promote collaborative learning experiences, and using forms of assessment that encourage shared…

Describes the development of two sets of materials designed to help group day carers and family day carers assess, monitor, and enhance the quality of their own provision. Describes the piloting of the materials (including development of an inclusionary paradigm of quality and consultation of educational and learning theories), and their testing…

Describes a student teacher portfolio designed for use as an interviewing tool. Researchers examined hiring practices to determine what prospective employers wanted to know about teacher competencies, then created appropriate portfolio categories (self-assessment, philosophy of classroom management, special projects and activities, and planning,…

Researchers examined procedures for collecting data on students' competency in two fundamental motor skills, criteria for assessing skill proficiency, and results across several grades. They task-analyzed videotapes of students' performance and determined that most students did not meet criterion expectations associated with an advanced form for…

This article reports on a team effort by faculty from a public school district and an urban university to create an observation tool to be used to evaluate and mentor preservice and inservice teachers' abilities to address issues of classroom diversity. The observation tool is provided, along with implementation suggestions. (Contains references.)…

Drawing from a current study, this article identifies critical issues and challenges for alternative educators and administrators. It contains a list of questions that can be used to identify and address key issues in alternative settings in order to promote successful school experiences for students with and without disabilities. (Contains…

Discusses which kinds of data educators should respect and which they should reject. Asserts that most state accountability tests fail to produce the kinds of data that will improve teaching and learning. Teachers can get the data they need from their own instructionally useful classroom assessments. (WFA)

The article presents a framework for understanding the pragmatic, semantic, syntactic, text, and phonological aspects of language that underlie both oral and written communication. It gives suggestions for ways speech-language pathologists can assess children's language skills that are essential for success in a whole language program. (Author/JDD)