This report provides information on the Educational Quality Indicators (EQI) initiative, a 3-year collaboration between Alberta Education and 12 school jurisdictions to develop indicator systems that measure the success of the educational enterprise. Ten collaborative action-research projects were begun in 1989 and ended in 1992. Each project…

Responding to the increasing demand for the assessment of authentic language use, this book emphasizes that portfolios must first be useful and successful as part of instruction before they can be used effectively for assessment. Portfolios are presented in the book as working (not "show" portfolios) to promote the student's involvement…

This document reports on Utah's progress toward achieving the six National Education Goals. The goals are discussed under the following headings: (1) Readiness for School; (2) High School Completion; (3) Student Achievement and Citizenship; (4) Science and Mathematics; (5) Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning; and (6) Safe, Disciplined, and…

Previous studies have shown that, when administered a self-adapted test, a few examinees will choose item difficulty levels that are not well-matched to their proficiencies, resulting in high standard errors of proficiency estimation. This study investigated whether the previously observed effects of a self-adapted test--lower anxiety and higher…

This paper describes what teachers need to know about performance assessment to do it well. First, they should know what performance assessment is and why anyone should care. One thing that has to be emphasized is that there are two parts to a performance assessment: the tasks and the criteria. Teachers tend to be better at developing rich and…

This paper reviews issues in student satisfaction and evaluation of faculty as factors in determining instructional quality. It is based on a recent controversy at the University of Calgary (Alberta) which centered around the proposed publication of the results of student evaluations of faculty (SEFs) and was intended to help students, as…

This study examined instructional practices previously found to have improved student academic performance, the extent to which undergraduate students preferred these practices, how often they occurred in the classroom, and the relationship of these practices to grade point averages, motivation, educational preparation, and retention. A survey was…

Student ratings of teaching effectiveness and course quality are widely used to evaluate most university courses. This study investigated the relationship of medical students' ratings of basic science course characteristics to their overall evaluation of these courses. Whether the relationship was similar across basic science courses, and whether…

The aim of this study was to explore a method of improving the objectivity, reliability, and efficiency of scoring performance assessments that involve constructed written responses. Millman (1997) has suggested an alternative to using model responses at each score category. The proposed strategy, hypothesized to increase scorer reliability and…

This study explored the sensitivity of a multilevel approach in detecting outcomes of a hands-on science program, exploring whether the instruction of a hands-on unit had any impact on students' performance and whether the estimated magnitude of the impact was different according to the proximity of the assessments to the unit taught. Also studied…

This book on African American males presents the first step in an ongoing exploration of the relationship between parenting and academic achievement among African American children. Subjects of the study were high-achieving members of the Meyerhoff Scholars, young African Americans distinguished for their achievement. The Meyerhoff Scholar program…

The essays in this collection consider the meaning of authentic assessment and the implications of its use. "Section 1: Assessing Assessment" includes the following essays: (1) "The Nation's Report Card Goes Home: Good News and Bad about Trends in Achievement" (Robert L. Linn and Stephen B. Dunbar); (2) "Budgets, Politics, and Testing" (Chris…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a multisensory spelling intervention under two conditions using high-frequency words written in isolation and in context. The population for the study was 15 fourth and fifth grade students with learning disabilities. A randomized, pretest-posttest control group design was used. The…

This article examines evidence supporting the validity of peer evaluations of teaching, focusing on relationships between peer evaluations and student evaluations of teaching. The article discusses conditions in which peer and student ratings are comparable, beginning with studies that K. A. Feldman included in his 1989 meta-analysis and…

In 1995, Project Adventure began a 12-bed, 10-month residential program called Legacy, which uses adventure-based counseling and treatment with juvenile sex offenders in Georgia. Clients must pass through a four-level system for successful completion of the program. Passing to a higher level is contingent on following the behavioral norms in the…