This document contains four papers from a symposium on the performance evaluation process and human resource development (HRD). "Assessing the Effectiveness of OJT (On the Job Training): A Case Study Approach" (Julie Furst-Bowe, Debra Gates) is a case study of the effectiveness of OJT in one of a high-tech manufacturing company's product…

Assessments should improve performance by providing usable feedback, and should not merely audit it. Problems with educational accountability policies stem from a flawed view of student assessment. Intellectual excellence cannot be obtained via one-time mandated tests composed of proxies for real challenges. Common standards should be developed…

The California Assessment Program (CAP) administers tests to all public school students at certain grade levels, compiles the results, and provides information that allows educators to judge the effectiveness of their programs and make improvements. This sampler describes the types of assessment that CAP proposes to respond to the needed changes…

The differential effects of language proficiency on standardized test performance of elementary school students (grades 4 through 6 are examined for the San Diego (California) Unified School District. Ethnicity is examined as a mediating variable circumscribing the relationship between language proficiency and test performance. Test performance is…

This report presents a summary of activities, findings, and recommendations from Phase I of a project to improve the effectiveness of academic health science libraries and their provision of information services. The objectives for Phase I of the project are given: (1) to identify academic health science library requirements in the areas of…

A series of eight videoconferences was designed to help educational professionals improve schools by applying knowledge gained from research. During the videoconference programs, which are transmitted by satellite to facilities with receiving capacity, viewers can interact by telephone with the program presenters. Each program covers a specific…

The Maryland School Performance Program released six sample tasks to illustrate the types of assessment tasks that would appear on the 1992 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP). Students' responses to these tasks are open-ended; that is, students generate their own responses. A wide range of responses to each task is acceptable.…

The relationship between general cognitive ability and both training and job performance is reviewed. Existing scientific data show that there are large differences in training achievement and in job performance. Consequently, any good predictor of achievement or performance can yield a large gain in workforce productivity. General cognitive…

Work on the development of history performance assessments is described. So far, six complete sets of assessments in United States history have been developed as part of this project. Students are first assessed on their historical knowledge of the period through a short-answer test. They are then asked to write an essay explaining the positions…

The combination of increasing demands for accountability and the desire to measure a variety of complex educational outcomes makes the use of performance assessment an essential addition to the tools used to profile student achievement. Performance assessment in education is valuable for student assessment and for the assessment of teacher and…

Contract learning is an alternative way of structuring a learning experience. Instead of specifying how a body of content will be transmitted (content plan), it specifies how a body of content will be acquired by the learner (process plan). Students identify problems or issues that are real for them and relevant to the course at hand, state…

In support of the National Education Goals of 1990, the Goals Panel convened a Technical Planning Group to offer background guidance for the National Council on Education and Standards in its task of establishing world-class academic standards for the United States. Recommendations of the Planning Group consider two types of content standards:…

A review of the recent literature has yielded a number of concerns about the validity, reliability, cost, efficiency, generalizability, utility, and cultural sensitivity of performance based assessments. The resulting conclusion was that continuing the performance based assessment initiative should be rethought. Suggested alternatives included…

This study used a triangulated methodology involving ethnographic interviews, opinionnaires, and rank ordering of student concerns to discover variables that impacted student teachers as they passed through developmental stages. Data collected from interviews with five elementary student teachers were used to discover a developmental theory of…

This manual was produced during the 1992-93 Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario school year to be used as a reference guide and a training tool for library support staff assigned to work at the library's information desks. Its purpose is to help ensure a uniform standard of service and to provide practical procedures for information and basic…