One of the biggest problems students face in team projects is social loafing, a situation in which students may view team projects as a free ride. Social loafers let others do the work, knowing that the professor will only grade the completed project. This research examined the performance of students grading other student team members on a group…

To measure the extent of student opportunities to learn relative to educational reform goals, the Colorado Educational Policy Consortium at the University of Colorado-Denver designed and administered teacher and student surveys about instructional and assessment-related processes statewide. This study uses data from the 1997 teacher survey to…

This study took an in-depth, global look at the entirety of the teaching practices of six elementary school teachers in Canada who are known to be highly motivating instructors. The study investigated the interaction between teaching practices and the change in elementary-school student motivation. Three teachers were chosen for their reputation…

Using data from the 1996 National Household Education Survey (NHES:96), this issue brief looks at the involvement of nonresident fathers in terms of how such involvement affects student performance in grades K-12. In the NHES, resident parents reported on whether nonresident parents who had had contact with their children in the past year had…

This book offers a philosophy about classroom assessment that places students at the center of the assessment equation. Classroom assessments must define for students what is expected of them, and they must provide the basis for decision making by students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the community. Part I of this volume, the first five…

This document contains five papers from a symposium on the purpose and place of human resource development (HRD). "An Introduction to a Debate on the Foundations of the Field: The Purpose and Place of HRD" (Robert W. Rowden) introduces issues related to workplace learning, which both adult education and HRD claim as an area of practice. "The…

This handbook discusses performance-based licensure for North Carolina's public school teachers. New teachers are responsible for demonstrating that they have the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes to achieve licensure. They must demonstrate essential teaching competence using standards developed by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment…

The New Standards Project is a partnership of 17 states and 6 major school districts that have joined to develop alternative approaches to setting educational standards and assessing student achievement. In the New Standards Project plan, formal standard setting occurs through a process of public examination of student work products on pilot…

The development and validation of the General Management In-Basket (GMIB) is described. The GMIB is a theory-based generic in-basket simulation, designed to assess supervisory and management skills independent of any job classification. Three of the 15 in-basket items in the GMIB are critical and are scored on a 0-5 scale. The remaining 12 items…

To determine if individuals other than first-line supervisors could be used as expert judges in making estimates of job performance worth when conducting a utility analysis, this study compared the estimates of experienced job incumbents with those of supervisors. The job class investigated was that of eligibility technician, who performs varied…

Although many sources have discounted the likelihood of grade inflation resulting from instructors trying to "buy" better student ratings of instruction, many faculty members still believe that there is widespread manipulation of grades. This study involving 28,629 undergraduates over a 6-year period found no relationship between…

This report explores educational accountability in the United States, specifically accountability in vocational education. Section 1 provides a brief overview of the history of evaluation activity in federal educational programs and sets the major accountability, evaluation, and performance provisions of the 1990 Perkins legislation in that…

A Performance Analysis for Training (PAT) Model was developed and validated for use in analyzing an organization's performance needs that can be solved with training. The PAT Model incorporated the perspectives of both theorists and practitioners on training needs assessment. Three training needs assessment experts evaluated its content and face…

Researchers of performance assessment in social studies have contrasted authentic assessment, which is characterized by contextualized, complex intellectual challenges, with multiple choice tests of achievement, which are characterized as fragmented and static. In calling for the need for authentic assessment, this paper outlines a plan for the…

This volume presents 27 conference papers: (1) "1985 Killing Waters Revisited: Physical Plant Emergency Preparedness" by Al Ingle; (2) "We Were Prepared: UC (University of California) Santa Cruz Experience in a 7.1 Earthquake" by F. Louis Fackler; (3) "Indoor Air Quality of Buildings and Schools" by Marilyn S. Black;…