This study examined the hypothesis that academic achievement affects different components of self-concept. Also investigated was the possible influence of nationality in modifying the relationship between academic achievement and self-concept, by comparing Slovenian and French subjects. The findings of two-factor (academic achievement x…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has developed a new generation of assessment tasks for evaluating student achievement in music. Using paper-and-pencil and performance formats, these tasks draw on the musical traditions of many cultures and historical periods. This report summarizes results from the 1997 assessment of eighth…

This book is a guide to the development and use of performance tasks and rubrics in the high school mathematics classroom. It contains a rationale for, and a discussion of strengths and limitations of, performance tasks to assess student achievement and progress in mathematics. A field-tested process is offered for developing performance tasks and…

Any explanation of the absence of African Americans from the workforce in positions requiring mathematics usually begins with an acknowledgment of black underachievement in mathematics from the early grades and continuing throughout secondary schooling. Yet there are those among this group that are successful in studying mathematics. This paper…

This study investigated the effect of parent involvement on the academic achievement of middle school students and examined the role of parent and student gender in that relationship. The study also explored the effects of out-of-school activities on eighth-grade students' academic achievement. Data were derived from the National Educational…

This report describes an intervention to aid students in demonstrating their comprehension of reading material through an alternative instrument. The target population consisted of fifth grade students in a middle class community in central Illinois. Problems in comprehension were revealed through declining district test scores and teacher…

This paper describes the processes that one school district, the Visalia Unified School District (California), went through in establishing a standards-based assessment and accountability system using multiple methods. First the district's standards-based assessment and accountability system and the methods used to establish it are described, and…

Principals and teachers are becoming frustrated with conventional evaluation practices typically used to determine teacher effectiveness and, thus, tenure and promotion. This Digest explains that as new performance standards are being developed, there are reconfigured assessment designs requiring an array of reflective, analytic skills. Creation…

This paper discusses the central thesis that new research on estimation and mental computation will benefit from more focused attention on the situations in which they are used. In the first section of the paper, a brief discussion of cognitive theory, with special attention to the emerging notion of situated cognition is presented. Three sources…

The International Personnel Management Association Assessment Council (IPMAAC) is a non-profit organization of personnel assessment professionals involved in public personnel assessment. Author-generated summaries/outlines of papers are presented. The keynote address is "Ability Testing in the 1980's and Beyond: Some Major Trends" by A.…

The Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) is a relatively new, statewide performance assessment of students in grades 3, 5, and 8. When first administered in May of 1991, the MSPAP included a battery of performance assessment tasks designed to generate written or drawn responses to reading texts. This study evaluated selected…

This document contains information regarding the implementation of the Performance-Based Occupational Math Requirements Assessment (OMRA), which was designed to determine the math requirements for occupations that require training of less than a baccalaureate degree, and the research supporting the development of OMRA. The first section presents…

The assessment movement within higher education will not meet its broadest objectives unless it pays more attention to educational processes through process management. Process management holds that quality suffers when those who produce the goods or services are not directly accountable to the stakeholders in the production enterprise. Within…

Abstracts, titles, and sources are given for documents concerning the Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) and Inwald Survey 3 (IS3). The following titles are included: (1) "Five-Year Follow-Up Study of Departmental Terminations as Predicted by 16 Preemployment Psychological Indicators"; (2) "The Predictive Validity of Psychological…

The role of the language laboratory in current language teaching and learning is discussed. Four main aspects of audio technology and its relationship to language learning are covered: (1) the technological aspect: what a language lab is and what kinds of labs are available in Ireland; (2) the research aspect: what kind of research is being…