This annual report of public library services is part of "The Upgrade Process," a tool for Utah's public librarians and library trustees to use as they work to improve the quality and effectiveness of public library service. The process has three major components: public library service standards; a flexible planning process for public…

This document contains 88 authentic task development records that were selected from those developed by teams of secondary and postsecondary teachers at a conference to familiarize educators with Wisconsin's new performance-based assessment system. Presented first is an annotated list of the 17 Wisconsin Learner Outcomes that served as the…

This document contains two keynote papers presented at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD). "Partnering for Research: The Ford Design Institute/UGA (University of Georgia) Research Project" (Karen E. Watkins, Lewis J. Bellinger) describes the Ford Design Institute's Manager as Instructor project and…

Standardized testing for large-scale assessment in Mississippi has changed to include both selected-response and performance-based formats for the past 3 academic years. The purpose of this followup study was to examine the perceptions of practicing teachers who belonged to a professional reading organization in the state with regard to this new…

Emphasizing that language arts and reading are "binding agents" for all kinds of learning and should be integrated throughout the elementary curriculum, the guiding philosophy of this book is that the best teachers are those who continue to learn along with their students. Each chapter in the book ends with a "Teacher as…

This document describes six different approaches to outcomes assessments, approaches that are named in the titles of chapters 2 through 7. The chapters and authors are as follows: "Perspectives on Assessment Policy and Practice" (Bragg, Harmon); "Total Quality Management" (Bragg); "Assessing Student Success" (Harmon);…

Given the restructuring of curriculum and instruction and the changing state of assessment in Virginia and nationally, a study group of 22 Virginia teachers from elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools throughout the state chose to examine and revise their assessment practices. They wanted to reflect changes in thinking and practice…

The National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) has been laying the groundwork to explore fundamental questions of the implementation of alternative assessment. The CRESST has been working collaboratively with school practitioners to help them implement performance assessment strategies so that the CRESST…

This curriculum framework provides a model for developing appropriate and meaningful language arts curricula for high ability learners in kindergarten through grade 8. It is intended as a guide to making decisions about traditional curricular emphases within the language arts areas of reading, writing, speaking, and listening, as well as…

At Mozart Elementary School, a predominantly Latino pre-kindergarten through grade 8 Professional Development School in Chicago that is linked with Northeastern Illinois University, the upper grades have been transformed in a way that has proven beneficial to the students and the university's teacher candidates. Frustrated with their inability to…

The first of four issues in this volume consists of four review articles. "Tech Prep Quality" reviews a guide to total quality management and tech prep. "Specific, Ocean to Ocean" reviews a publication that identifies 10 preliminary plans for implementing tech prep. "...No Single Option" is about a monograph that evaluates tech prep and other…

This paper describes the development of a criterion-referenced, performance-based measure of third grade reading comprehension. The primary purpose of the assessment is to contribute unique and valid information for use in the formative evaluation of a whole literacy program. A secondary purpose is to supplement other program efforts to…

The validity of assumptions that portfolios complement other assessment methods and yield more reliable and valid data than do traditional methods was studied. More specifically, focus was on examining whether: achievement level (characterized by scores, ranks, and group membership) varies significantly with differing definitions and usage of…

An outline of remarks made at a National Seminar on Equity and Educational Testing and Assessment in March of 1993 is provided. Issues of equity in education and educational assessment are discussed in the context of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP is a national test in the sense that it monitors what is happening…

At the root of the performance assessment movement is fairly widespread dissatisfaction with high-stakes multiple-choice tests. Many critics of multiple-choice tests argue that to improve instruction, tests themselves will have to improve. Hundreds of schools around the country are already experimenting with performance assessments, and many…