Uses data from the Louisiana System for Teaching and Learning Assessment and Review (STAR) to study educator change and organizational learning in the context of systemic innovation in personnel-performance evaluation. Presents a descriptive matrix of interactive role metaphors and discusses implications of results for facilitating teacher change.…

Explains the phrase "What is Assessment?". Lists the principles of assessment and includes standards and goals, trust, total campus commitment, constant and continuing assessment, and incorporation of assessment research into practice and policy as the ideal components of assessment practice. Recommends the use of scoring rubrics for student…

Business students planned a fund-raising event for two clients, incorporating management principles. Authentic assessment methods were used to evaluate the project. Students' critical thinking skills were enhanced and they were highly motivated by having input from multiple evaluators, including clients. (SK)

A digital portfolio is a purposeful collection of work, captured by electronic means, that serves as an exhibit of individual efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas. The CD-ROM format provides an ideal medium for storing and displaying electronic portfolios. Items included document what an individual knows, how knowledge was…

Addresses two issues in the ethics of grading and testing. The first is the charge that the practice of grading students is intrinsically coercive. The second is the national debate about authentic assessment, educational standards, and standardized measures of educational outcomes. The paper suggests there is an acceptable middle ground. (SM)

Based on ethnic group differences in Massachusetts Educator Certification Test (MECT) scores, argues that performance-based assessments should be as important as a paper-and-pencil test of cognitive and content skills. Asserts that rather than screening out minorities from the teaching force, the state should be looking for ways to ensure that…

Explores secondary school staffs' use of value added data, summarizing evidence emerging from other studies on how value added data are used by schools and questions this raises. The paper discusses findings and issues that emerged from a recent National Foundation for Educational Research-funded project that explored the potential role of value…

Describes development and testing of the Literacy Orientation Survey (LOS)--an instrument for assessing teachers' beliefs about literacy learning and classroom practices as related to constructivism. Finds while LOS has robust internal validity and reliability, questions remain about external validity of teachers' self-reports of their…

Northwest Evaluation Association in Portland, Oregon, consults with state and local educators on assessment issues. Describes several approaches in place at school districts that are using some combination of computer-based tests to measure student growth. The computerized adaptive test adjusts items based on a student's answer in "real…

Compares rationale, strengths, and weaknesses of four assessment methods used in English-as-a-Second-Language: standardized, student centered, curriculum based, and performance based. Provides a framework for developing alternative assessments that respond to audience needs, allow learner participation, and capture the richness of literacy…

Examined the effects of providing students with background information about the structure and scoring of mathematics performance assessments (PA). Results for 187 elementary school students who had PA orientation and 182 who did not show the effects of test wiseness training for average and above-average students, but not for below-average…

Describes the problems inherent in scoring performance assessment on a large scale, focusing on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and scoring for Israeli students. In spite of the weaknesses in the scoring approach, the effort seems to have empowered teachers. (SLD)

Examines literature and research since the creation of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education and Program (CACREP) in 1981. Suggests future research that may help additional counselor programs consider the accreditation process, including study of the relevancy of CACREP standards and the accreditation process, and how…

Defines "measurement" and "evaluation" and applies the definitions to the concepts of performance and performance improvement. Discusses challenges in using measurement in evaluation and performance improvement. Proposes a research agenda for measuring performance and its improvement. (AEF)

Examined outcomes on multiple-choice tests and performance-based assessments for 102 field-independent and field-dependent college students. Finds a substantial interaction between cognitive style and assessment approach. Results suggest that performance-based assessment tends to favor field-independent subjects. (SLD)