This Digest addresses developing scoring rubrics, administering performance assessments, and scoring, interpreting, and using results. In developing scoring rubrics, the criteria within the scoring rubric should be clearly aligned with the requirements of the task and the state goals and objectives. They should also be expressed in terms of…

Rubrics, scoring guides, and performance criteria help define important outcomes for students. Well crafted rubrics help teachers define learning targets so that they can plan instruction more effectively, be more consistent in scoring student work, and be more systematic in reporting student progress. Rubrics can generally be divided into…

The use of portfolios and rubrics in assessment developed in part as a reaction to limitations of standardized tests for student evaluation. Portfolios relate directly to what students are learning, but there are many problems in evaluating their contents. These center on: (1) time involved in scoring; (2) lack of validity statistics; (3) relative…

Judgmental standard setting methods, such as the W. H. Angoff (1971) method, use item performance estimates as the basis for determining the minimum passing score (MPS). Therefore, the accuracy of these item performance estimates is crucial to the validity of the resulting MPS. Recent researchers, (L. A. Shephard 1994; J. Impara, 1997) have called…

This book provides educators with a flexible framework to guide decision making for effective and efficient use of portfolios in classrooms and schools. It targets major categories of decision making, as reflected in the first 10 chapters: (1) "Determining the Basics of Student Portfolios"; (2) "Selecting Categories for Entries"; (3) "Identifying…

This study investigated whether equating accuracy improves with an anchor test that is more representative of its corresponding total test and whether such content effect depends on the particular equating method used. Scoring outcomes of a professional examination for a medical specialty were used. A total of 1,092 examinees took one form, and…

The kernel of the Angoff method of standard setting (W. Angoff, 1971) would seem to be the judgment of whether a minimally competent person could answer an item on a test correctly or not. So it would seem that any procedure that requires independent judgment of the correctness or incorrectness of a response to items for a minimally acceptable…

This book is designed to help teachers: clarify the targets of instruction, especially for hard-to-define problem solving; provide valid and reliable assessment of student learning; and improve student motivation and achievement by helping students understand the nature of quality for performances and products. Each chapter is framed by an…

Judgmental standard setting approaches rely on the perceptions of experts about examinee performance on a test. Traditional standard setting methods ask panelists to estimate how well a randomly selected hypothetical examinee who is representative of a well-defined target group, usually a minimally competent candidate (MCC), will perform on each…

The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act and subsequent regulations have challenged state education agencies (SEAs) in many ways and ensuring the appropriate inclusion of students with disabilities has been a unique challenge. The recent publication of regulations on alternate assessments with alternate achievement standards (34 CFR Part 200)…

To obtain information on current high school grading policies, additional questions were included on the College Board's High School Profile in 1997. Results of the survey provide insight into the following grading policies across high schools: a large majority of schools (91 percent) use the traditional grading system A-F, or numeric grades; 92.2…

A method for reducing multivariate descriptions of college environments to a two-dimensional configuration is briefly described. (Author)

Purposes, construction, evidence of validity and reliability, and strengths and weaknesses of the measures are contrasted. All have strengths and limitations that might be remedied through further research and development. (Author)

SORTSCOR performs raw scoring of the Structured-Objective Rorschach Test (SORT) and REPORT subsequently writes a narrative report in easily readable, nonclinical language. Complete documentation is available, at cost, from the author at Quinnipiac College, Hamden, Conn. 06518. (Author/CB)

College admissions boards have accepted certain scoring criteria as good indicators of a student's potential success in college, and this study measures the validity of such scoring. (Author/RK)