In a previous paper the authors presented a model of assessing portfolios, the Cognitive Model for Assessing Portfolios (CMAP), as a lens to view, think about, and make decisions about portfolio projects. Two projects in which the CMAP has been used are described. One is an authentic assessment project in mathematics and science by the Educational…

This report describes educators' collaborative self-directed experiences in learning about and producing alternative forms of assessment for use in elementary-level classrooms. The report analyzes the Virginia Standards of Learning and local curricula in English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science/Health in grades 2-4, to…

This study examines the systemic reform process that was initiated in Maryland in 1991. The Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) consists of learning outcomes, a framework for performance assessment, guidelines for school decision making, and suggestions for staff development. One year following the initiation of the MSPAP, a…

An analysis was made of the methods being used to assess the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990. Although no single assessment plan has been developed, various activities are aimed at studying both the implementation and the impact of the law. Four assessment efforts are described as conducted by the following groups: (1) the Office of…

It is important to develop instructional sequences that build on students' current understandings and support shifts in their current ways of thinking. As part of the pilot work for a project on mathematics teaching, classroom performance assessments were conducted to obtain baseline data on students' current statistical understandings. The…

This study examined the effects of self-evaluation on student performance in mathematics. Grade 5 and 6 students (N=300) were randomly assigned in intact classes to treatment and control groups. In both conditions a 2-week cooperative learning unit on probability was implemented. In the treatment condition, students received training in…

This guide is designed to help teachers create test items that measure a variety of higher level thinking abilities. Part One, "Foundations for Item Writing," provides a context for item writing. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the book and defines basic concepts, principles, and terminology. Chapter 2 integrates research literature to…

This book explores ways to design courses and units to emphasize understanding and uncoverage rather than coverage, offering practical solutions for teacher-designers. It focuses on a different use for performance assessment, concluding that performance is the key to assessing understanding. The book analyzes the logic of backward design as an…

To measure the extent of student opportunities to learn relative to educational reform goals, the Colorado Educational Policy Consortium at the University of Colorado-Denver designed and administered teacher and student surveys about instructional and assessment-related processes statewide. This study uses data from the 1997 teacher survey to…

This book offers a philosophy about classroom assessment that places students at the center of the assessment equation. Classroom assessments must define for students what is expected of them, and they must provide the basis for decision making by students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the community. Part I of this volume, the first five…

The first part of this study replicates an earlier study (D. Waechter, I. Newman, and L. Rosenkoetter, 1998) that used a procedure for authentic assessment of students in a master's level research class, a class that is often feared and avoided by students, by means of a study on humor, since that content would be somewhat incompatible with…

This handbook discusses performance-based licensure for North Carolina's public school teachers. New teachers are responsible for demonstrating that they have the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes to achieve licensure. They must demonstrate essential teaching competence using standards developed by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment…

The New Standards Project is a partnership of 17 states and 6 major school districts that have joined to develop alternative approaches to setting educational standards and assessing student achievement. In the New Standards Project plan, formal standard setting occurs through a process of public examination of student work products on pilot…

Researchers of performance assessment in social studies have contrasted authentic assessment, which is characterized by contextualized, complex intellectual challenges, with multiple choice tests of achievement, which are characterized as fragmented and static. In calling for the need for authentic assessment, this paper outlines a plan for the…

Many of those working to improve science and mathematics education have a vision where all students are successful and the celebration of success constantly presents the challenge to push the edge of the vision outward. The National Council of the Teachers of Mathematics established standards that some science educators are attempting to emulate.…