This booklet examines performance-based education accountability systems in the United States. It defines the four components of these accountability systems--standards and assessments, multiple indicators, rewards, and sanctions--and discusses which ones are found in each state and whether or not they appear in law or regulation. All four…

Reflecting some of the emerging issues sustaining debate in secondary school literature instruction and writing instruction, this newsletter presents articles that discuss the impact of E. D. Hirsch's book "Cultural Literacy,""authentic discourse," and collaborative classroom research. Articles in the newsletter are:…

This handbook addresses the complex and expanding vocabulary of performance assessment and measurement by providing a glossary of related terms and lists of resources for the student, practitioner, and policymaker. Performance assessment includes all forms of such assessment from multiple choice and paper-and-pencil tests to alternative…

The National Conference of Bar Examiners commissioned American College Testing, Inc., to help them in the development and evaluation of a performance test for use in bar admissions decisions. Because it was recognized that candidate perceptions would provide valuable information, a candidate-perception questionnaire was developed to be…

Concerns about using portfolios (collections of student work showing student effort, progress, or achievement in one or more areas) in large-scale assessments are addressed. The products in a portfolio allow the reviewer to make inferences about the process of student learning. Hence, a portfolio should include information about the activities…

There is a need to improve teachers' ability to process and communicate information about student learning. In Australia, literacy is an important area in which to assess educational effectiveness. The community will continue to demand evidence of the schools' success in this area. Educators need to define the literacy goals, standards, and levels…

Based on the FairTest perspective, this paper argues that the United States does not need a national test to measure progress toward the nation's educational goals and that such a test would have adverse impacts on low-income and minority students. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) should remain an indicator system but should…

The challenge facing the speech communication profession is finding appropriate assessment procedures that are acceptable to administrators of state testing programs. The first option is simply to do nothing. A second alternative is standardized assessment. Speech communication professionals prefer a third testing procedure, performance-based…

As part of the Speech Communication Association (SCA) 1990 Summer Conference on Communication Competency Assessment held in Denver, Colorado, one work group worked on the development of a speech performance evaluation form and/or process grounded in and driven by the competency paradigm. Prior to and during the conference, the group developed a…

If the ultimate aim of education is to shift to the individual the responsibility for pursuing his education, then self-assessment is a very valuable strategy. Self-assessment begins with identifying suitable criteria. During the Science Enrichment Programs, Eastwell describes how he used self-assessment with upper primary and lower high school…

Criticizes the California Assessment Program (CAP) prior to l987 for testing writing skills objectively. Describes the specific improvements in the new CAP Directed Writing Assessment which focuses on the most important characteristics necessary to a particular type of writing rather than those that are common to all types.(NH)

This book presents ideas to help middle and high school physical education (PE) teachers develop performance based assessments. The book: identifies problems in traditional PE and explains how using performance based assessment can improve student learning; notes that it is unnecessary to totally rewrite the PE program, offering guidelines for…

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate discussion of how to measure the educational progress of Students with Disabilities (SD) and English Language Learners (ELL) students who are deemed unable to sit for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment, even with accommodations. As NAEP has become more relevant as a state …

This research analyzed 12 Minnesota Technical Colleges' Program Assessments in terms of: (1) Did assessments of their Career and Technical education programs focus on results-related outcomes? (2) Were program assessment measures "related" to programs' goals? (3) Were targeted programs' goals attained? Conclusions: (1) Report findings…

In a project on the development of performance assessments in science, researchers have developed four types of assessment: comparative, component identification, classification, and observation. They have noted that assessments belonging to the same type of task can be scored for the same performance properties. This paper reports on the…