Discusses how the use of prior learning assessment, especially with portfolios, can enable workers to take greater responsibility for their career development and shift emphasis from employment to employability. (Contains 31 references.) (SK)

Studied how students used feedback information provided them in distinctly framed portfolios of dossier, reflective, and learning-oriented types. Results with 137 college students support a view of portfolio construction in which the individual benefits from feedback were closely linked to the intentions present during collection of the portfolio…

Outlines seven shortcomings of portfolios for purposes of teacher evaluation and discusses the advantages of teacher dossiers, which are easier to judge, demonstrably reliable, and cost effective. Dossiers are more compact, processed, and usable for judges of teacher quality. (SLD)

Reviews the purposes of student teacher assessment, professional association standards, and assessment problems. Describes a process used at Central Missouri State University, which includes observations by supervisors and cooperating teachers, assessment of portfolios, videotaped lessons, and four on-campus seminars. (SK)

Analyzed the assessments of 53 portfolios used to evaluate participants in a development course for higher education teachers at the United Kingdom's Open University. Findings included a high reliability in assessment at the level of course outcomes, and that cumulation of component assessments is very likely to reduce the reliability of overall…

Reports the reliability in assessment of a series of portfolios assembled by a cohort of participants attending a course for prospective general practice trainers. Compares initial individual assessment with open discussion between random pairs of assessors to produce paired composite scores, and analyzes using kappa statistics. Includes 22…

Interviews with staff of institutions that received an award for meeting quality standards in adult guidance identified the impact on practice and on organizations. Results raised questions about the nature of guidance covered by the standards, the adequacy of assessment procedures, and the need for ownership of standards and related processes by…

Presents three fictional scenarios each based on very different kinds of facts: the very clear data of test scores, the ambiguous data of behaviors, and the concrete but infinitely interpretable data of portfolios. Notes that the data represented by the portfolio is much more appropriate to assessing language competencies than is data represented…

Traditionally, portfolios have been used as a visual arts tool showcasing an artist's accomplishments and personally favored works. Today, maintaining a portfolio in the classroom has been found to have many uses both to the teacher and the student. And the contents are just as diverse as the students who create them. A folder--paper or…

Simple checklists, one-shot interviews, brief site visits and narrative evaluations remain widespread as the tools of assessment. In many school districts, the evaluation includes little or no face-to-face contact, and the principal simply gets his or her evaluation in the mail, leading one researcher to describe them as "infrequent, late,…

The first in a series of long-awaited studies indicates that nationally certified teachers are more effective at raising their students' reading and math scores than are teachers who apply for the credential but do not receive it. Although critics have questioned the expenditure of state and district money on National Board for Professional…

Minnesota Adult Basic Education (ABE) providers are mandated to use CASAS (Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System) Reading or Math or TABE (Tests for Adult Basic Education) Reading or Math. This issue of "NetNews" introduces the Test Bank: a variety of informal reading, spelling, and writing assessments available for Minnesota ABE…

Background/Context: In the early 1990s, the Spencer Foundation instituted an Institutional Research Training Grant (RTG) program to improve the preparation of the next generation of education researchers. UCLA received an RTG in the first round of competition. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: UCLA's Spencer RTG program sought to…

Some time ago, the author collected data for a study on students' experiences of preparation for assessment of their art portfolios at the high school level in Canada, England, and The Netherlands. Participants with whom the author had conversations in Canada described varied by mostly rewarding experiences. However, one student's description of…

Using Conceptual Change Theory, this qualitative study of literacy teacher education investigated how eight beginning teachers developed knowledge about multicultural literacy pedagogy. Teachers' written and spoken language was analyzed from data sources collected during and outside of a preparation course, part of a nighttime alternative…