Achieving a fair and objective evaluation of teacher performance is not easy. Student test results have been used to assess teacher performance, but this approach has many weaknesses, especially because students differ from school to school and standardized tests are open to questions about their fairness. Criterion-referenced tests have been…

Teachers and principals need to understand and be able to talk intelligently about statistics. They need to be able to clarify concepts and generalizations used in tests that measure student progress. Among the terms educators need to be able to explain are "mean,""average,""median,""validity,""reliability,""pilot studies," and "item analysis."…

There is presently much disagreement about how students should be evaluated effectively to determine their progress. Some common methods are reviewed, including standardized tests and performance-based evaluation such as portfolios. Continuous experimentation is necessary in the effort to develop better measurement approaches. (SLD)