This article presents the author's response to the article "Taking Stock: Existing Resources for Assessing a New Vision of Science Learning" by Alonzo and Ke (this issue), which identifies numerous challenges that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) pose for large-scale assessment. Jill Werthem comments that among those…

This document answers the questions Kentuckians asked Governor Wallace G. Wilkinson (Kentucky) about his proposals for educational reform. Governor Wilkinson claims that the traditional school structure leaves the educational needs of many children unmet because it is not flexible enough to meet their different learning needs. The Governor…

While school reform has already dramatically altered the culture of education in Kentucky, the future holds daunting challenges. This chapter examines a few of the most difficult changes being implemented as a result of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), as well as conditions external to schools that markedly influence educational success.…

This article sketches the historical context for the development of alternate assessment for students with disabilities, describes alternate assessment, and identifies some of the potential benefits of including students with significant disabilities in large-scale assessment. The correlation between alternate assessment scores and the…