This paper presents findings of a study that examined the impact of year-round education on academic achievement in a large Utah school district. Student-achievement data for years 1990-95 were compared by type of school schedule. A case-study component examined the impact of school schedules used by two elementary schools--one adhered to a…

The General Accounting Office examined six employment training programs that had previously been identified as being successful in helping economically disadvantaged adults. The primary objective of the study was to determine whether the programs shared any common practices/strategies that could be credited for the programs' high performance…

This report describes what schools and educators across Kentucky are doing to implement school reform in performance assessment based on the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). It provides research-based suggestions about how implementation of programs can be enhanced and how the benefits of reform increased for the Kentucky youth.…

The skills and knowledge required for productive employment and citizenship are constantly expanding. To secure America's economic future, more students than ever before must be educated at much higher levels. States have responded to the challenge with energy, leadership, and resources. This report describes those efforts and analyzes their…

The Kentucky Education Reform Act established learning standards that were higher than those of previous educational systems. The main gauge for assessing how well students measure up to these standards is a statewide system that evaluates what students know and can do. In 1991, the Kentucky State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education…

The result of an investigation into the grading writing by the National Council of Teachers of English Committee on Alternatives to Grading Student Writing, this collection of essays offers the writing teacher several innovative and interesting options. Following an introduction by the editor (chair of the Committee), in which he delineates the…

The Performance Standards of the Oregon Certificate of Initial Mastery are described and discussed. Performance standards define how well students must perform on classroom and state assessments that lead to Oregon's Certificate of Initial Mastery. Students must complete classroom and state assessments that show what they know and can do in…

One of the major accomplishments of the New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers has been the development of a set of standards describing what beginning teachers should know, be like, and be able to do. These standards have been translated into content-specific standards for…

A study examined students' perceptions of an instructor's use of slang and verbal aggression in giving a presentation. The study used an experiment to investigate the relationship between these two variables and students' perceptions of credibility, affect, and immediacy. Participants, 167 undergraduate communication students at a large midwestern…

This paper reports on a study of the relationship between students' characteristics and students' ratings of faculty teaching, using the Faculty Course Evaluation Form (FCEF) at a major southeastern university. In particular, the study investigated: (1) how students rate faculty members on an item-by-item basis (item functioning); (2) what the…

Feedback has emerged in the literature as a means to facilitate both the learning proccess and teaching performance. The context of constructive, systematic feedback includes evaluation as an important element in the process of decision making for teaching. Teaching and learning function as a whole to achieve outcomes from which specific…

Allowing students to both learn about portfolios and experience them firsthand, this book describes teacher education courses where undergraduate and graduate students are evaluated using portfolio assessment techniques--the same methods they will one day use in their own classrooms. The book also explores how portfolio assessment can enable…

This paper presents an extensive review of the current literature related to the use of performance-based assessment in the preparation of teachers, and includes references to the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Curriculum (INTASC) and the Arkansas standards for licensure of beginning teachers. The paper also describes the use of…

This document contains the 1995 report card for Colorado education, which provides information about how Colorado public schools have performed and are moving toward meeting district, state, and national education goals. Section 1 contains a message from Bill Randall, Colorado Commissioner of Education. Section 2 presents Colorado's model for…

Despite institutional reluctance to move away from a traditional lecture format for content presentation and written exams and term papers for evaluation, a team-taught course entitled "Integration of Learning Theory and Teaching Methodology" has been taught at Marist College, a small liberal arts college in New York. Rather than…