Discriminant analysis (DA) is a multivariate technique concerned with either prediction/classification (predictive discriminant analysis) or distinguishing among groups (descriptive discriminant analysis). DA has many potential applications in gifted education research, including investigation of identification procedures in order to obtain…

This book provides practitioners with an introduction to alternative assessment that is comprehensive, practical, and to the degree allowed by the printed page, interactive. Theoretical and practical aspects of assessment are discussed in a way that suggests the process-oriented nature of alternative assessment rather than a fixed end point.…

This book is intended for teachers who currently use (or are planning to use) a hands-on science curriculum. In addition, it would be useful to pre-service teachers, graduate students in education, and other educators interested in alternative forms of assessment. It offers teachers and other educators an opportunity to learn about performance…

The development of a scoring tool to be used with alternative and authentic assessment strategies is discussed, describing the parts of such a tool and the development process. The design is based on the Innovation Configuration (IC) process of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model. To begin, components of the test task are identified. Variations that…

A significant aspect of recent reform efforts is a strong move to change assessment techniques. When the focus of the reform is on changing teachers' practices of assessment and evaluation of students, the issue of how they incorporate the mechanisms of assigning grades into their teaching becomes important. The purpose of this study was to…

This book attempts to portray the reality that teachers face when trying to use portfolios. It uses anecdotes and examples that help carry important messages about portfolio use and contains model conversations and interactions. The conversations between teachers and students demonstrate strategies for involving children in the assessment process…

A study examined the linguistic forms in the discourse of speakers during a language test to indicate why they use certain specific forms over others. Ten children were given the Grammatical Analysis of Elicited Language--Simple Sentence Level Test (GAEL), a language proficiency test for hearing-impaired children in the age group of 4 to 8 years.…

A study examined the concerns of five third-grade teachers over the first year of implementation of a district mandate to evaluate narrative writing using holistic scoring. Each teacher collected writing samples from six representative students. Teachers reported their responses throughout the year on two self-report instruments, and they were…

This report contains the results of a survey designed to gather information on issues and concerns in portfolio assessment and on the use of such types of assessment to determine student performance and program or teaching effectiveness. The survey, which contained nine questions, was conducted in three phases. First, the testing directors of each…

As part of a state-mandated assessment process, faculty and students need innovative approaches which can empower them to learn, grow, and change in the classroom. The University of Missouri-Kansas City Department of Communication Studies uses three types of student portfolios: (1) a university-wide portfolio of the student's work in all courses…

In contrast to multiple choice, alternative modes of assessment afford varying degrees of openness in the allowable responses. Prominent among the alternatives is the assessment of performance, sometimes in its own right where the issue is the quality of the particular performance per se, but more often as a vehicle for the assessment of…

Since assessment is intimately linked with instruction, it too is changing under the wave of numerous efforts at reforming mathematics and science education. From this new perspective, the learner actively constructs personal meaning from information and experiences by linking new information with his or her pre-existing knowledge and…

A high school English teacher found that one easy way to keep the idea of positive reinforcement foremost in her mind when she works with students was to use writing portfolios. A Portfolio Assessment project was designed in which portfolios were used in two sophomore and two junior regular English classes. A flexible plan was developed for using…

Educators are expressing the pros and cons of portfolio programs and their assessment. Teachers should be among the policy makers, and teacher-training institutions should bear their share of preparing teachers in all aspects of portfolio programs, including testing. Decade after decade, in both elementary and secondary education, students'…

Predicated on a belief that assessment and evaluation should be vital, planned aspects of the curriculum, this booklet describes classroom-based assessment that serves to inform teachers, students, and parents of the learner's growth as well as to suggest next-step instructional goals. Procedures developed by classroom teachers which integrate…