Examines the ways in which school-based performance award (SBPA) programs motivate teachers to modify or improve teaching practice. Qualitative and survey data from Kentucky, North Carolina, Colorado, and Maryland suggest that SBPA programs motivate teachers largely by creating conditions that increase intrinsic rewards and focus teacher efforts.…

Suggests that the doctoral dissertation in its present form does not serve as a training exercise nor as a contribution to knowledge. Proposes a range of alternatives to the traditional dissertation in the field of education, with specific attention to replacing the dissertation with a series of papers ready to be submitted to professional…

The articles in this special theme issue discuss the relevance and effectiveness of strategies for developing assessments with students and teachers of color as the focal point. They contribute to a critical discourse on the potential of culturally responsive performance-based assessments. (SLD)

Describes several instructional activities that allow students to express their own cultural heritage through the development of World Wide Web pages and video dramatizations of important historical events and people. These activities raise the possibility of innovative performance assessments suited to new forms of achievement. (SLD)

To meet recently promulgated standards, teachers are challenged to teach more rigorous, extensive subject-area content, develop varied instructional strategies, and reach a wider range of students. Teachers should be guided by a high-quality curriculum characterized by academic rigor, equity, and developmental responsiveness. (MLH)

Moving beyond question of whether on-line education is beneficial or harmful, explores conditions under which one or another of six instructional methods lecture, collaborative learning, experiential learning, learning contracts, televised courses, and Web-based learning work best. Finds specific methods more appropriate for some subject matters,…

Reviews the effect of class size, grades given, and college and national academic field rankings on student opinion of instruction. Finds no significant correlations between the three input variables and student opinion of instruction. These results leave teacher effectiveness as the most likely variable to explain student ratings. (Contains 13…

Compared behavioral, self-evaluative, and attributional responses of boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to those of typically-developing boys on a social success and failure laboratory task. Found that ADHD boys rated their own performance more favorably than controls, were more likely to attribute success to external…

Describes a system of undergraduate and graduate instructional evaluation that integrates student and peer evaluation techniques. The procedure has three steps: preliminary meeting between faculty member and peer facilitator; in-class assessment session in which the facilitator engages students in focused discussion of teaching, in the teacher's…

Reviews suggestions derived from the clinical and experimental literatures for interviewing child witnesses to abuse. Guidelines for questioning children are provided and phases of a forensic interview are outlined in a step-by-step fashion. The suggestions presented highlight a developmental perspective designed to facilitate children's memory…

A survey of 1,453 University of Alberta (Canada) graduates found their positive perceptions of the university's teaching had a strong impact on satisfaction, controlling for gender, age, discipline, grades, prior postsecondary experience, assessment of skill development, satisfaction with university learning-related resources, and several other…

Seeks to determine whether children's singing games are valid and reliable for use in authentic assessment of vocal pitch accuracy; reveals this to be true. Concludes that these games can be used in authentic classroom vocal pitch assessments and should be used as part of a larger, multiply-contexted assessment scheme. (DSK)

Reports on a laboratory experiment where students measured their heart rate, blood pressure, mood, alertness, and cognitive performance. Measures showed significant circadian heart rhythm variations. They were strongly correlated and peaked at different times. Discusses the implications of this and students' reactions to the experiment. (MJP)

Explores the relationship between measurement theory and practice, considering five broad categories of: (1) models, assumptions, and terminology; (2) reliability; (3) validity; (4) scaling; and (5) setting performance standards. It must be recognized that measurement is not an end in itself. (SLD)

Most states have expanded their statewide testing programs to include alternative educational assessments, and two (Kentucky and Maine) have completely abandoned the multiple-choice format. However, over half of states designing alternative assessments are encountering major difficulties related to the high cost of performance-based assessments,…