Lessons from the 18-year institutional experience of Alverno College in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) with assessment for the improvement and verification of student learning are summarized. Principles are described that should inform a national assessment system with the dual purposes of improvement and accountability by incorporating the following key…

Six cases are studied to give some idea of the range of performance assessments in use in the United States. Contrast and comparison are made possible through the study of the following: (1) the South Brunswick (New Jersey) Public Schools Observational Portfolio for kindergarten through grade 12; (2) the Arizona Student Assessment Program (not yet…

This report, part of a series of documents which describe assessment of student learning in various curriculum areas from prekindergarten through grade 12 focuses on assessment as practiced in early childhood education in South Carolina. An overview is provided of current practices used in the first few years of schooling that are now being…

Traditional standardized tests of basic skills are no longer considered meaningful by many leading authorities in educational measurement. Alternative approaches are not yet fully developed, although many efforts are being made. This paper explores the issues surrounding student assessment in the context of existing and evolving state practices,…

Shortcomings in the current student assessment program in Georgia are identified, proposed revisions are described, and additional changes are recommended. Georgia educators have complained that curricula place too much emphasis on basic skills, to the detriment of subjects like science and social studies. Reform legislation in Georgia has…

A study of assessment practices focused on vocational schools, especially those concerned with developing generic workplace skills, as well as comprehensive secondary schools that are developing closer relations with the workplace. The major reasons for educational testing in secondary schools are managing student learning, monitoring educational…

Student learning is the bottom line for nearly all efforts to establish a national test system. Major efforts in this area are summarized in this paper. The various efforts seem to move ahead independently, but some common ideas include: (1) creating a national assessment system rather than a single test; (2) developing more than multiple-choice…

This curriculum guide for an electricity/electronics course was developed for high schools in Connecticut to demonstrate that technical courses can be used as part of the science requirement for an integrated academic and vocational curriculum. The guide provides a course description, course goals, recommended text and additional materials, 33…

Questions about alternative forms of assessment were discussed by two elementary school and two high school teachers who are members of the National Education Association/International Business Machines (IBM) School Renewal Network. Their correspondence on that computer network was also analyzed. The following questions were considered: how have…

A new professional licensure system for teachers developed by the Minnesota Board of Teaching in conjunction with the Educational Testing Service is described. Initial work with the Rand Corporation in 1987 provided a plan for a new licensure system. The state's expectations for a performance assessment system to measure the skills of first-year…

The possibility of using portfolios as a placement tool for freshman English at the University of Nevada (Reno) was studied. Three university instructors who, among them, taught all 3 levels of freshman English, from remedial (English 001) to accelerated (English 102), read portfolios assembled for 58 students in 3 college-bound high school senior…

Since its introduction in 1988 the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), the main public examination for pupils at age 16 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, has become an obvious area in which to investigate gender-related differences in performance. As a complex attainment test, the GCSE is largely made up of a coursework…

Instruction based on learning styles has received little attention in the recent reform efforts in mathematics education. The purpose of this book is to address the improvement of mathematics instruction through sensitivity to learning styles. The introduction discusses the scope and rationale of the book. Chapter 2 documents the need for…

One potential approach to the authentic assessment of what students know and can do in science is concept mapping. A concept map is a graph consisting of nodes representing concepts and labeled lines denoting the relation between a pair of nodes (concepts). The external concept map constructed by the student is interpreted as representing…

The United States is moving toward a more national, performance-based view of curriculum policy. The federal government will play a modest role in nationalizing curriculum policy issues, largely by pressuring states and localities through national standards. The chief agents of nationalization will continue to be state and locally based…