A project was conducted to develop and implement a comprehensive assessment system in existing adult education programs. Weekly site visits were made to four programs as follows: a segment of a large adult program offering literacy, General Educational Development (GED), and specialized technical courses; a small community-based program with…

The California Assessment Collaborative (CAC) was designed as a three-year effort to identify, validate, and disseminate alternatives to standardized testing throughout the state. This report highlights the results from the first year and comments on the work of 22 diverse pilot projects that serve as examples of site-based development of…

As a precursor to making recommendations for more effective assessment methods for teacher certification, an examination is made of the professions of law and medicine. Specifically, the examination covers the relationship between training programs and the methods employed for evaluating prospective lawyers and doctors to ensure that they have the…

Following a critique of so-called educational testing, this article examines three "educationally noteworthy school testing programs"--those of Portland, Oregon; Orange County, Florida; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and one noteworthy school with no standardized testing: the Prospect School in Bennington, Vermont. Derives some broad…

Many students with disabilities need to use accommodations to meaningfully access instruction and to be appropriately assessed. During the past decade, the use of assessment accommodations has dramatically increased the participation rates of students with disabilities in statewide testing. Assessment accommodations can be defined as "changes…

The annual "U.S. News and World Report" "America's Best Colleges" issue has become the nation's de facto higher education accountability system, evaluating colleges and universities on a common scale and creating strong incentives for institutions to do things that raise their ratings. But, says the author, the "U.S. News" ranking system is deeply…

Now in its fourth edition, this highly respected, bestselling textbook gives undergraduate and graduate students up-to-the-minute research and strategies for educating children with severe and multiple disabilities. This popular core text--for 15 years, a staple of teacher training programs in special education and related fields--thoroughly…

Since its introduction in 1983, Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences has attracted widespread interest among educators. The chapters in this book describe alternative assessments that capture the range of intelligences, allow the intelligences to be given more equal weight, use intelligence-fair formats, and focus on student…

This paper discusses the new Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1997 amendments that require states to develop alternate assessments and reviews state practices in Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, and Tennessee. These states were selected because they had either been implementing, were…

This article questions the appropriateness of having self appointed specialists (the plaintiffs dictate to others (the school system) how to conduct their responsibilities, particularly with respect to providing children with the option of choosing to enroll in special educable mentally retarded programs. (CTM)

Based on the "Educational Software Preview Guide," this article discusses trends; lists selected software titles related to the Internet, arts, multilingualism and multiculturalism, multimedia and edutainment, and authentic experience, cross curricular and alternative assessment; and describes how to conduct a software evaluation…

Highlights specific questions, concerns, and challenges faced by educators, parents, and students concerning assessment, accountability, accommodations, and alternate assessment. Examples of state assessment-accommodation policies are provided and reasons for providing test accommodations, requirements of Individualized Education Programs,…

Describes research on the development of a measure of student metacognition. The brief, domain-independent measure serves as a collateral measure in construct validation, supporting exploration of the self-regulatory demands of performance assessment. Results show that metacognition can be directly and explicitly measured in the context of…

This paper demonstrates how to guide the responsible construction of individual student teacher portfolios, including examples of how students integrate their understandings of learning, teaching, and schools as they are coached through the portfolio creation process. The need for student control of content is emphasized. (Author/SM)

An action research group for Israeli English-language teachers helped them learn from and support one another while introducing portfolio assessment as an integral part of their teaching. Using portfolios for foreign language teaching, learning, and assessment increased learners' responsibility and improved classroom work. The action-research…