This commentary on the article titled "Examining the Internal Structure Evidence for the Performance Assessment for California Teachers: A Validation Study of the Elementary Literacy Teaching Event for Tier 1 Teacher Licensure" provides an overview of Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT), its relationship to edTPA and…

Purpose is an internal compass that integrates engagement in activities that affect others, self-awareness of one's reasons, and the intention to continue these activities. We argue that purpose represents giftedness in intrapersonal intelligence, which processes information related to self, identity, self-regulation, and one's place in the world.…

Presents a letter to the Governor of California from a teacher who questions the appropriateness of standardized testing and teaching to the test and who recommends that the Governor become a leader in protecting, empowering, and authentically educating today's students. Concludes by recommending several books on how to enhance students' health…

Guidelines are offered to serve as a practical, adaptable model for implementation of a search, screening, and identification process for students eligible for Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) in California. The guidelines cover: catgories of identification; appropriate grade levels for identification; general procedures for search and…

Educational researchers have paid little attention to "critique"--an activity young artists routinely use to assess and advance their creative projects. It is an activity from which they have a lot to learn, particularly in the context of community-based arts collaboratives. In school classrooms where teachers emphasize group projects…

Prepared to ensure that California's community college professionals are aware of present and emerging requirements and options for a statewide accountability system, this paper provides an overview of accountability systems in other states and proposes a model for a California accountability system and specific measures that could be used to meet…

It is crucial for students to believe that their home and community languages and cultures are acknowledged and valued (Faltis and Hudelson 1998). Furthermore, it is of equal importance that system-created contradictions between institutional literacy (school-based) and family-based literacy be blurred or eliminated (McCaleb 1997). It is this…

The State of California, as it seeks to revise the Master Plan for Higher Education, is grappling with circumstances similar to those underpinning the revision of the United States' original Articles of Confederation. The delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention had to identify the task before them; determine how the country would be…

Three articles discuss instructional design considerations in education for executives: (1) "The Use of the Measurement of Continuous Improvement Model for Training Program Evaluation" (Ferdinand Tesoro); (2) "The Systems Design Approach to Developing Computer Based Instruction" (Gerry Costello); and (3) "Training as a…

D. Freedman and others and W. Clark and P. Morrison misunderstand case law in the voting rights area and have unrealistic standards of precision that, if adopted, would make it virtually impossible for minority plaintiffs to succeed. Ecological regression, when used with care, is a reliable tool. (SLD)

Discussions at the National Consortium on Testing conference are summarized. Updates on recent and upcoming events are given by Jeff Schiller (National Institute of Education), Doug Whitney (American Council on Education), John Maxwell (National Council of Teachers of English), Dorianne Almann (National Science Teachers Association), Eric Gardner…

When the author became the principal of Citrus Middle School in 1998, it was the lowest performing school in the district. Students from Citrus were viewed as largely under-prepared, often read below grade level, had high drop-out rates, and were responsible for a significant amount of the gang activity on the school campus. She was also told that…

Reports the essential findings of one phase of the assessment studies conducted during the California New Teacher Project, suggesting some implications from that study for the impending reform efforts. The paper concludes that California lacks a coherent, rigorous system of assessments guided by a clearly defined set of performance expectations.…

The report summarizes findings and recommendations of a California Task Force which arose out of a California court decision (Larry P. versus Riles) which prohibits the use of intelligence tests for assessing black pupils to determine their placement in special education programs and requires alternative means of assessment. Seven major…

Assembly member Carol Liu, Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Adult Education, requested that the California Research Bureau prepare a report on adult education. The legislative request specified that the following topics be covered: (1) a definition of adult education; (2) recent information on student enrollment, funding sources and…