Differences in test performance on time-limited tests may be due in part to differential response-time rates between subgroups, rather than real differences in the knowledge, skills, or developed abilities of interest. With computer-administered tests, response times are available and may be used to address this issue. This study investigates…

What does it mean to be a "good" school district? What are the actions needed to establish a culture of continuous and long-term improvement? This document was written for school and district leaders interested in exploring how to frame and understand accountability for quality. It explores what it really means for a school district to hold itself…

During a period when the reform-minded are very critical of the degree to which testing is actually related to the conditions for which data are employed, authentic assessment offers the opportunity to evaluate learning in settings closely related to the real world. It also allows the evaluator to tailor assessment conditions for individual…

Although the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) has been administered to Chinese test takers in Taiwan and Hong Kong for more than 22 years and in China for the past decade, there is very little documentation on the history, test taker volumes, performance, or law school admission rates of these candidates. The current study addresses the following…

This training guide is intended to enhance the skills of Head Start education staff so they can accurately and objectively observe, record, and interpret young children's behavior and make thoughtful decisions about program planning for each child. Each of the modules in the guide details module outcomes, key concepts, and background information.…

The assessment problems in this guide offer K-2 teachers a beginning toward building a bank of math tasks that measure whether or not their students are becoming better problem solvers. The problems can be used as tools to use when teaching the strategies of effective problem solving and as informal assessments to help teachers see what their…

Determining how to monitor and enhance school effectiveness is one of the major concerns in current education reforms in different areas of the world. This paper describes the existing conceptual and practical possibilities and dilemmas in developing a framework for monitoring school effectiveness. The paper identifies the different types of…

In 1992 the Baltimore City Public School District (Maryland) entered into a 5-year contract with Education Alternatives, Incorporated (EAI), to manage 9 of its schools. Baltimore's private-management model differed significantly from that of Dade County, Florida, in that EAI was given overall management responsibility. Data were gathered through a…

As school districts increasingly encounter financial constraints and public demands for improved performance, some turn to private management. This paper summarizes the outcomes of private management in four school districts across the United States. Each case was unique. In Dade County (Florida), Education Alternatives, Inc. (EAI), was…

This study examined the effects of goals--such as denoting learning and performance outcomes--and self-evaluation on the acquisition of computer skills, efficacy in performing computer tasks, perception of competence for the use of self-regulatory strategies, and frequency of strategy use while learning computer skills. Subjects were 44 college…

A set of methods is proposed for the analysis of opportunity to learn (OTL) in relation to achievement in large-scale educational assessments. The focus is on how to assess the effect of OTL on performance while taking prior performance and other background factors into account. The methods are illustrated with mathematics data from the National…

This paper reviews the literature on factors affecting students' performance in undergraduate statistics courses for the social sciences. Statistics anxiety and attitude have been linked to one's performance in statistics classes. Math factors, such as anxiety and attitude, may have an impact on performance in statistics classes, but the…

This document summarizes the academic standards-related activities of 26 national organizations, business organizations, and professional organizations. Each summary includes contact information and describes the organization's mission and purpose, interest in standards, and activities for technical assistance, dissemination, assessment, and…

The reliability and validity of three short forms of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III (WISC-III) were compared. Each of the short forms was a tetrad composed of two verbal and two performance subtests. The first tetrad was selected based primarily on practical considerations, particularly its brevity to administer and score. The…

This paper reviews a year's work with third-grade teachers who introduced performance assessments in the hope of improving both instruction and assessment in mathematics. The 14 participating teachers in 3 schools tried many changes in their educational and assessment practices. Patterns of stability and change that resulted from their efforts…