A coordinated system of assessment of principals, schools, and teachers can provide a broad base of informative data that can be used to enhance the instructional leadership provided by principals. Under its Education Improvement Act of 1984, South Carolina is incorporating eight elements into its coordinated assessment system: (1) assessment of…

This paper describes efforts to design an evaluation system that has as its primary objective helping schools effect positive change through the Accelerated Schools Project. Three characteristics were deemed essential: (1) that the evaluation be useful and meaningful; (2) that it be sensitive to local conditions; and (3) that evaluations of…

Providing information on assessment and institutional effectiveness programs in South Carolina, this two-part document describes the use of performance indicators (PI's) and presents state guidelines for institutional effectiveness. The first part discusses assessment in South Carolina, indicating that institutions are required to develop measure…

The educational reform movement of the 1980s forced superintendents and school boards to critically reexamine the rationale used for principal evaluation. The 1985 South Carolina Educational Improvement Act forced all administrators to objectively define and evaluate educational goals for both students and personnel. Consequently, the Abbeville…

School psychologists have traditionally experienced difficulty in assessing children referred for special services. In order to determine if the diagnosis of emotional disturbance in South Carolina schools follows the guidelines provided by the South Carolina Department of Education publication "Procedures for the Survey, Screening,…

This document, part of a series of papers which describe the assessment of student learning in areas of the curriculum from prekindergarten through grade 12, focuses on assessment in the language arts. Current practices are reviewed. Subsequent sections describe guidelines for appropriate curriculum goals and content in language arts programs. A…

South Carolina's School Incentive Reward Program Program (SIRP) based on year-to-year gains in reading and mathematics achievement, which seemed to have face validity, was evaluated, particularly its use of the relative gains of students in only the highest grade in the school as the basis for the awards. When this requirement was relaxed so that…

This document, part of a series of papers which describe the assessment of student learning in various school curriculum areas from prekindergarten through grade 12, focuses on the assessment of student learning in fine arts education. After an overview of current curriculum goals in fine arts education, subsequent sections describe…

This report, part of a series of documents which describe assessment of student learning in various curriculum areas, focuses on assessment of student learning in the mathematics classroom, beginning with an overview of current curriculum goals in mathematics. The rationale for reforming the content, instructional practices, and assessment methods…

As part of a series of documents on assessment of student learning in various school curriculum areas, this report describes assessment of student learning in the foreign language classroom in South Carolina. The report begins with an overview of current curriculum goals in foreign language education and the status of assessment practices in this…

In 1979, Act 187, known now as the Educator Improvement Act, was mandated by the legislature of the State of South Carolina. One tenet of Act 187 was the establishment of an Educator Improvement Task Force to develop an instrument which could effectively measure minimal teaching competencies. To help in the content and design of the instrument,…

Three criteria for an effective school incentive program that enhances motivation and improves student learning are as follows: perception of program fairness; worthwhileness of rewards; and communicability of program components. Factors that contribute to these criteria are discussed in this paper based upon the South Carolina experience. Five…

The purpose of this study is to expand the definition of adequacy by adding soft skills as a measure of school productivity. The singular focus on academic standards inherent in education policy has prevented scholars from seeing the concept of adequacy through myriad perspectives and has contributed to a resegregation of schools. Education policy…

This report, part of a series of documents which describe assessment of student learning in various curriculum areas from prekindergarten through grade 12 focuses on assessment as practiced in early childhood education in South Carolina. An overview is provided of current practices used in the first few years of schooling that are now being…

This study was conducted to evaluate the tests developed by elementary foreign language teachers of French, Japanese, and Spanish in a school district in South Carolina. The tests were designed to determine the level of end-of-year student learning and to provide a basis for evaluating the curriculum of each of the three languages. The French and…