This guide compiles information essential to a working knowledge of assistive technology for children with disabilities. It addresses the definition of assistive technology and provides information on laws which direct the provision of assistive technology. The manual provides a framework to guide the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team as…

An instructional module designed to help prepare college-level teaching assistants (TAs) for their duties in second language instruction is presented. The module focuses on the use of alternative methods for assessing student learning. Introductory sections discuss the rationale for and definition of alternative assessment. Four specific types of…

This paper presents and evaluates different types of student assessment measures--including discussion-generating questions, multiple choice questions, essay questions, and authentic projects--for on-line courses. The paper asserts that assessment should mimic how students will be evaluated on the job site in the real world, meaning that they…

Multicultural perspectives on assessment challenge traditional perspectives by advancing an additional source of variation in test responses that is presumed to escape test developers and test users. Increasing and convergent evidence from multiple sources indicates the following types of ethnocentric errors in test development, administration,…

This book is designed to assist evaluators of nonformal education (NFE) and adult education programs in their continuing professional education and in the task of improving their capacities for genuinely formative, informative, and participatory assessment of educational practice. Fourteen chapters are organized into five sections. Section 1…

This issue contains eight articles that represent information on a variety of highly specialized topics involving communicative sciences. Articles include: (1) "The Reliability of the Kay Elemetrics Multidimensional Voice Program (MDVP) for Acoustic Analysis of the Normal Voice" (Ann Marie Cimino and Christine M. Sapienza), which focuses on the…

This paper shows how a mid-sized teacher education institution proactively developed a performance assessment method, Teacher Work Samples (TWSs), addressing the school's efforts to use TWSs to obtain evidence of the impact of teacher performance on student learning. The paper examines challenges faced in developing and implementing TWS…

The purpose of the Web Retargetable Course Generation System, or "ReCourse," developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts) is to facilitate both distance and on-campus learning via the World Wide Web. ReCourse's features include the ability to retarget a Web course for different levels of students, multi-user chat rooms, a…

This pilot study explores the perceptions of distance education students of their classroom environment using the College/University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI), a traditional classroom assessment tool. The CUCEI has seven scales that cover the areas of personalization, involvement, student cohesiveness, satisfaction, task orientation,…

This book is designed to help clinicians assess and treat children or adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder who also present other disabilities. Major comorbidities are described in depth and empirically grounded guidelines are presented for evaluation and treatment. Part 1 provides an overview of issues in comorbidity,…

This study examined the reliability and validity of a group-assessment interview procedure designed to evaluate the verbal, interpersonal, and leadership qualities of students applying to a teacher education program. The group assessment procedure involved a 90-minute session with eight students in which three dimensions of teacher behavior were…

Learning academic English is probably one of the surest, most reliable ways of attaining socioeconomic success in the United States today. Learners cannot function in school settings effectively without it. This variety of English entails the multiple, complex features of English required for success in public schooling and career advancement. It…

Summarizes the evaluation of a 4-5 week science program for twelve- to thirteen-year old lower ability students. Includes a description of the program, techniques used in the evaluation, and a model for observing student activity during science instruction. (JN)

Describes methods used in the nursing curriculum at the University of Iowa College of Nursing to evaluate inclusion of physical assessment skills and to test students' use of cognitive, perceptual, and psychomotor assessment skills in nursing diagnosis. Includes an example of motor and perceptual skill objectives for examining thorax and lungs.…

Presents an overview of issues in the educational assessment of children with learning and behavior disorders. The issues discussed relate to the: focus of assessment, types of abilities evaluated, methods used, technical adequacy of available measures, personnel involved in assessment, assessment of culturally different children, and involvement…