A study was conducted to determine the prevalence of the use of portfolios in selected public elementary schools. Participants were asked for demographic information and information about the amount of training they had in portfolio use and the perceived strengths and benefits, weaknesses and barriers they find in portfolio use. A questionnaire…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is one part of a comprehensive assessment system that is evolving in the United States. In the view of the NAEP Technical Subgroup for the National Education Goals Panel, the NAEP should be an independent, statistically rigorous longitudinal measure of educational attainment in the essential…

The Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) has developed an Alternative Assessments in Practice Data Base to support technical assistance needs and to promote the exchange of new assessment ideas. The database is designed to provide easy access and retrieval of information about ongoing and newly developed…

The term "conative" is used to describe constructs that span both motivational and volitional aspects of human behavior, distinguished from constructs that emphasize cognition and affection. Among the conative constructs are achievement strivings, beliefs about self-esteem and self-efficacy, interests and attitudes about learning,…

This document contains a brief overview and introduction to the Urban District Assessment Consortium (UDAC), sample performance items with student responses, and sample open-ended items with student responses. The UDAC is a multiyear cooperative effort that is comprised of 11 major urban school districts across the United States and the Center for…

The work carried out in Edmonton School District Number 7 as part of the Educational Quality Indicators (EQI) project in the Alberta (Canada) schools resulted in development and validation of processes, criteria, and reporting methods related to student achievement in six "essential learning outcomes" keyed to the more traditional…

Performance-based assessments and the instructional programs from which they emerge and into which they fit demand intelligent caring teachers with experience and knowledge in assessments, instruction, student learning, and human development theory. Full implementation of performance-based assessments requires that teachers discuss performance and…

Three expert panels reviewed the 1991 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) reading test. This was the first year of an assessment program designed to measure school progress toward, among other content areas, three reading outcomes: reading for literary experience, reading to become informed, and reading to perform a task. The…

This digest discusses how well authentic mathematics assessment tests can be expected to meet the needs of mathematics instruction that focuses on conceptual insights and analytical skills. In the new mathematics curriculum, situational lessons or real-life problems attempt to include dimensions of thinking and reasoning, individual or small-group…

Six documents were reviewed and recommendations relevant to the work of the Advisory Committee on Testing in Chapter 1 were summarized. A brief description of a framework for discussing different uses of assessment is followed by specific recommendations from each of the following sources: (1) "Working Paper: Reauthorization of the…

This document reports on the work of a task force charged with formulating recommendations on the kind of preparation an incoming student should have to assure successful entry to and completion of the freshman year of study at the State University of New York (SUNY). In addition, the task force was asked to specify what program of study and forms…

Methods that might be used to establish standards of performance that will permit the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to classify candidate teachers as highly accomplished (worthy of National Board certification) or less than highly accomplished (not worthy of certification) are contrasted. Plans for research on these issues are…

Good performance criteria can and must help define educational goals and serve as an instructional tool in the classroom. The rationale for considering instructional usefulness when designing performance criteria begins with the proposition that clearly stated performance criteria are excellent instructional tools. It is also apparent that…

The current wave of school reform, with its emphasis on the learner, affords the opportunity to create environments that can foster excellence. The ability to support the development of excellence is threatened by commonly held beliefs that excellence depends on innate ability and that anyone who works hard enough will succeed, irrespective of the…

In 1987 the Toronto (Ontario, Canada) Board of Education launched the development of the Toronto Board Benchmark Program to establish benchmarks, which are samples of student performance on a wide range of language and mathematics tasks. These samples, in print and video, show what students in grades 3, 6, and 8 can do on learning tasks based on…