The goal of this revised edition is to describe and illustrate the process of implementing ecological assessment in classrooms. The focus is on the process of change. Teachers who assess ecologically create classroom environments that are small ecosystems representative of the larger literacy system outside the classroom. New developments in…

This study investigated three factors that may contribute to the large variation in student performance across open-ended measures. These factors are content domain, format (whether the task required only pencil and paper or involved a hands-on manipulation of equipment), and level of inquiry (whether the task guided the student toward the…

This handbook provides teachers and administrators with strategies to construct, adapt, and use rubrics. A rubric is defined as a tool for assessing instruction and performance according to predetermined expectations and criteria. The chapters in this text contain guidance on formulating, applying, and reviewing the pros and cons of this form of…

This study involves action research to explore the effectiveness of the Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) technique in diagnosing students' understanding of science and identifying their levels of achievement. A multidimensional interpretive framework is used to interpret students' understanding of science. The research methodology incorporated…

The logic and methodology applied in a management science approach to performance and staff utilization in the Client Benefits (CBA) and Community Service (CSA) divisions of the Suffolk County (New York) Department of Social Services (SCDSS) are described. Using a blend of classical organization theory and management science techniques, the CBA…

This document provides the following 13 conference papers: (1) "Introduction: Where Do We Go From Here?" (D. J. Bateson); (2) "The Context of Classroom Procedures in Evaluating Students" (R. J. Wilson); (3) "Student Evaluation in the Ungraded Primary School: The SCRP (Systematic Cumulative Record of Performance)…

Performance assessment of language minority students is a complex process that requires the application of theoretically defensible procedures that are carefully designed and systematically implemented. Due to the differences between language minority students in the schools and those English-as-a-Second-Language/English-as-a-foreign-language…

Increasing social awareness of the need for accurate and fair testing has combined with technological developments to produce dramatic advances in psychometric models, methods, and procedures. Three of the most important new directions within the measurement field concern the following areas: (1) item response theory; (2) item bias or differential…

Educators use the term "authentic assessment" to refer to the practice of realistic student involvement in the evaluation of student achievement. Authentic assessments are performance-based and instructionally appropriate. One method of authentic assessment is the assembly and review of a portfolio of a student's work. The portfolio is a…

This special double issue focuses on the issue of alternative assessment and its place in educational reform. "Alternative Assessment: A National Perspective" (T. Stefonek) emphasizes that the fundamental purposes of new assessment methods are grounded in educational goals, meaningful outcomes, and curricular and instructional programs…

The increased classroom application of the perspective that defines and applies a description of learning, thinking, and language use as "processes"--or even one inseparable process--has the potential to make the 1990s another exciting decade for education. Accruing theory that stresses process and integration recommends instruction…

This annotated bibliography represents Test Center holdings to date in the area of assessment alternatives in mathematics and science. Alternative assessment, for the purpose of this bibliography, means assessment other than standardized, norm-referenced assessment. The list emphasizes examples of assessment, such as performance assessments,…

The curriculum-embedded procedures used to construct, validate, and refine assessment tasks for mathematics are described and discussed. Curriculum-embedded assessment places assessment tasks in the day-to-day context of the classroom. The test of a curriculum-embedded task is whether it could be regarded as curriculum material per se. In…

Portfolios, with their associated exhibitions, will be the heart of the New Standards assessment system that is being developed. It will be necessary to combine the functions of portfolios as measurement tools and as tools for instruction and learning. As a beginning, the New Standards project has examined how teachers are already using portfolios…

A secondary mathematics curriculum of open-ended non-routine problems developed by a teacher of high school math over 10 years is described. An open-ended non-routine problem is one that requires problem recognition and orientation, effort, and persistence. It is open-ended in that it allows for various solutions, and requires the student to…