This booklet is geared towards persons with autism of all ages who would benefit from enhancing their communication systems through the use of aided communication. It recognizes the importance of an effective expressive communication system to aid them in expressing thoughts and maintaining some power and control over decisions in their lives.…

This guide, which was developed by a college career center, is designed to answer some common questions about the process of applying to graduate school. The following topics are covered: graduate schools versus professional schools; differences between graduate and undergraduate school; considerations in deciding whether/when to attend graduate…

Intended for both beginning and experienced teachers at the secondary and college levels as well as teacher educators and assessment teams, this book reviews strengths and weaknesses of the major types of writing assessment, both for large-scale evaluations and for the individual classroom. The book includes: practical examples, applications, and…

This book establishes a framework that can be used to evaluate software for tracking and analyzing student records. First, it examines the characteristics the user should look for in a student-records management software package. Users should be aware of the dangers and costs of replacing a system or integrating new software into an existing…

This report discusses the findings of a study that compared identified desirable characteristics of state accountability reports with 20 accountability reports generated by 7 states. Desirable characteristics included (1) clarity (the intended audience, statements of purpose, a description of the population being reported on and the states'…

This book is designed to help teachers, especially secondary school teachers, create and use performance assessments. The basic concept is that teachers must plan backwards from outcomes of education to shift the paradigm of curriculum-instruction-testing to a new and more fluid design. The book presents a wide variety of assessment approaches…

This Part-Time Instructor Handbook provides information and guidelines to assist part-time teachers in meeting their instructional assignment. The report is based on state board policies of the Colorado Community College and Occupational Education System, as well as policies and procedures of Pueblo Community College in Colorado (PCC). The…

Teachers' reactions to the administration and scoring of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program tests (MSPAP) were studied, focusing on their direct and indirect exposure to tasks and evaluative criteria through the experience of scoring the MSPAP. Since its inception in 1991, the MSPAP has been scored in-state by certified teachers…

The Massachusetts Workplace Literacy Consortium was funded through a 3-year National Workplace Literacy Program grant. During the second grant year, the consortium operated 25 program sites that were almost evenly divided between health care and manufacturing. The following were the primary reasons programs were started: reduce error and waste…

This resource guide, second in a series of three volumes, is a compilation of assessment instruments, tools, or checklists. These instruments were submitted by active professionals in the field of assistive technology and demonstrate the range of instrumentation in use today. Each item submitted is reviewed according to a standard format that…

This paper reports on a study designed to investigate how white college students' naive beliefs about affirmative action admission policies might negatively influence the likelihood of their interacting with their black student peers. It was noted that many institutions are not open about exactly how their affirmative action admissions policies…

This guide contains indexed lists of study opportunities in South African universities that relate to occupations that might be open to persons with various degrees, diplomas or certificates. In the first of two sections in the guide, opportunities for study and employment related to "first qualifications" are listed as follows: index of…

A Desegregation Commission's monitoring strategy is described. It addresses the goal of gathering and evaluating information in order to assure the constitutionally guaranteed educational equity in the Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools under that system's desegregation plan. The monitoring strategy would focus on the following five areas: (1)…

The Mississippi Teacher Assessment Instruments (MTAI) for the evaluation of beginning teachers has been adopted by the Mississippi State Board of Education. The MTAI assesses on-the-job performance and consists of 16 competencies measured by 3 separate instruments, which are to be administered twice during the beginning teacher's first year of…

This study was conducted to examine individual differences with respect to values underlying the assessment of teaching competence in order to enhance the effectiveness and fairness of assessment. Nine classroom teachers who were preparing to be mentors of beginning teachers and five teacher educators indicated the relative importance (expressed…