This document contains four symposium papers on assessing employee performance. In "Influence of Liking and Similarity on Multi-rater Proficiency Ratings of Managerial Competencies" (Reid A. Bates), the pattern of correlations identified between raters, independent variables, and different competencies suggests that raters may react…

This book presents performance-based projects to provide elementary school students both the structure and the freedom to become actively engaged in their own learning. The approach is based on the concept of authentic learning, which advocates a relevant, real world experience to personally engage students in learning. The book is divided into…

Hands-on science activities and first-hand experiences of kindergartners studying trees demonstrate the true meaning of authentic assessment. The activities and teacher interactions had several things in common: (1) they asked students to perform or create something; (2) they invoked real-world applications; (3) they showed that there is more than…

This study evaluated the reliability and validity of a battery of instruments based on Multiple Intelligences theory, including teacher checklists and performance-based assessment activities developed for the identification of talent in culturally diverse and/or low-income kindergarten and first-grade students. Acceptable reliability but…

Five articles offer suggestions for hands-on map making, creative writing instruction in productive environments, assessment of students' number sense, performance assessment for reading, and integrating science and art to celebrate the beauty of autumn leaves. (SM)

Asserts that two forgotten facts in educational reform are that the student is the primary client of all assessment and that testing should be designed to improve performance, not just monitor it. Includes sample portfolio performance tasks on a variety of social studies topics. (CFR)

Discusses the use of student assessment methods other than standardized tests. Topics addressed include the use of technology in assessment; performance-based assessment; the use of video; issues of technological equity; writing portfolios; and professional development to change educators' views of assessment. Five recent national studies on…

Researchers examined relationships between the SRI Gallup Pre-Professional Teacher Interview and performance-based student teaching evaluations and between SRI Interview and California Student Achievement Test (CAT) scores. A relationship between SRI Interview scores and performance-based student teaching evaluations surfaces. CAT scores did not…

Explores high school restructuring efforts under the Kentucky Education Reform Act. Issues of performance-based measures of learning and graduation requirements are discussed. Designing schools with the goal that all students succeed can overcome the friendly fire of cross-purposes in education. (SLD)

Background: Underachievement among boys and particular ethnic groups is a major challenge to the education system. Purpose: This paper reports on one local education authority's attempts to address this concern by investigating the characteristics of its schools demonstrating success with the groups causing most concern: black Caribbean, black…

New information and communications technologies and research in cognitive science have led to new ways to think about and implement learning environments. Among these new approaches to instruction and new methods to support learning and performance is an interest in and emphasis on complex subject matter (e.g., complex and dynamic systems…

Teacher candidates rated their self-perceptions of performance on the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium principles at the beginning and end of their 16-week student teaching semester to determine whether there was any significant difference between pre- and post-student-teaching self-ratings. Findings indicate that…

This report presents findings from the second year of a multi-year evaluation of the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program and background information about the design and implementation of the District Awards for Teacher Excellence (DATE) program. The TEEG and DATE programs operating in Texas make up the largest state-funded performance…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…