This paper provides a brief description of the development of the Diagnostic Assessments of Reading with Trial Teaching Strategies (DARTTS) program by F. G. Roswell and J. S. Chall. It also describes the editorial and statistical procedures that were used to validate the program for determining students' strengths and weaknesses in important areas…

Analyses of the cognitive activity displayed by students on existing innovative assessments in science were conducted. The project has worked with pilot alternative assessment programs in Connecticut and California to document the match or mismatch between the skills and processes that the assessment is designed to tap and those actually elicited.…

This book offers instructions for school principals, assistant principals, teachers, and district-level administrators for building a comprehensive accountability system that focuses on leadership skills. It presents recommendations for assessing and nurturing teacher performance, setting up balanced assessment and accountability policies, and…

These Illinois skill standards for the accounting services cluster are intended to serve as a guide to workforce preparation program providers as they define content for their programs and to employers as they establish the skills and standards necessary for job acquisition. They could also serve as a mechanism for communication among education,…

This document examines policy issues related to preparing educators to work with diverse learners, including students with disabilities. It begins by discussing the growing emphasis on accountability for all students and general education and special education as a unified system. Strategies that states are using for teacher recruitment and…

The earth sciences is an evolving set of disciplines encompassing more than 30 specialties; however, earth scientists continue to be trained within the traditional disciplinary structure. Earth science education should focus not only on student acquisition and retention of factual knowledge, but also on the development of higher-order skills…

C. June Maker, Professor at the University of Arizona, has developed a unique performance-based assessment in which children are observed by teams of teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals, administrators, specialists in education of the gifted and bilingual education, and local community members. The assessment, designed initially to …

This report describes efforts by Alverno College (Wisconsin) to reform the traditional liberal arts curriculum and redefine the relevance of women's colleges. Beginning in the early 1970s, the college began to refocus student learning by integrating ability development and performance-based knowledge. Faculty and staff redefined the curriculum,…

The Enterprise Florida Jobs and Education Partnership has taken actions to resolve issues raised in a previous report. The legislature has expanded the partnership's work force development (WFD) role; assigned it a role in implementing the state's welfare-to-work program; and established additional incentive funding for WFD program outcomes. The…

The Equipped for the Future (EFF) framework describes adult performance along these four dimensions: structure of the knowledge-base; fluency of performance; independence of performance; and range of conditions for performance. When completed it will include a developmental sequence of descriptions of learner performance for each EFF standard;…

This book presents a preschool framework that integrates literacy activities into content area lessons while embedding instruction within adult-child social interactions and realistic, playful activities tailored to each child's individual needs. Chapter 1 of the book delineates the theory and rationale behind the framework, and outlines essential…

This paper describes an initiative developed at Pittsburg State University, Kansas, that involved radically changing the program's performance-based standards and expanding the structure of the student teaching experiences to include multiple avenues of training and assessing teacher development. The paper: (1) identifies characteristics in each…

In 1998, the Board of Directors for the Washington State Institute for Public Policy directed staff to study teacher quality. The Institute examined three teacher preparation and development programs covering the early stages of teachers' careers: pre-service teacher preparation, beginning teacher assistance, and professional certification.…

Australia's new information technology training package emphasizes assessment occurring in the workplace or in a simulated work environment. The options available to Australia's technical and further education (TAFE) institutes in delivering institutionalized training to meet this requirement were explored. The following four options were…

This book is designed to inform school administrators regarding school law. As a resource, it provides suggested, easy-to-understand guidelines for the avoidance of litigation. Subjects include preventive law and risk management; constitutional and statutory foundations of staff selection, contracting, and evaluation; negligent hiring, defamation,…