As a means of assisting school districts in their appraisal of kindergarten through grade twelve writing programs, a brief list of questions concerning the major areas that form the nucleus of a balanced program is presented in the form of a rating scale. The questions cover the following areas: (1) background for a writing program, (2) overall…

The article presents a rationale for naturalistic assessment of young handicapped and nonhandicapped children in the classroom. Observation of such areas as cognitive activity, materials use, sustained activity, activity variation, adaptive environment, and classroom structure are encouraged. Four alternative assessment procedures are presented,…

Discusses the growing use by educational psychologists and teachers of developmental and academic behavior checklists. Identifies the minimum criteria necessary for checklists and criticizes their use as many fail to meet these standards. Describes the limitations, misuse, and narrow focus of behavior checklists. (GEA)

Current spelling assessment practices are reviewed. Six individually administered standardized tests presently available to special educators and diagnosticians are examined. Informal procedures (inventories, criterion-referenced tests, and error analysis) are analyzed in terms of advantages and disadvantages. Finally, two particularly promising…

This guidebook describes for managers how and when to give effective feedback. It emphasizes the need for frequent feedback so that employees may feel confident about what they are doing right and can work on areas in which they are less proficient. Feedback should also be used as a tool for development, which means that feedback, which should not…

Argues that show-and-tell is an important school learning activity that gives students an opportunity to practice and improve their oral language abilities. Offers a technique for the informal assessment of show-and-tell activities. (FL)

Presents annotations from the ERIC database of eight journal articles, books, and conference papers (published between 1991 and 1995) on the issue of informal and classroom assessment. Notes that the annotations offer a wide variety of ideas and suggestions to help teachers carry out informal assessment in their classrooms. (RS)

Alternative approaches to the assessment of language minority students are considered. A comprehensive assessment of the limited English proficient (LEP) student is said to cover the following components: cognitive development, learning proficiency or rate of learning techniques, social adaptation, language assessment (expression, reception,…

A portfolio approach to classroom literacy assessment offers a different way to evaluate and document students' growth and progress in literacy. Portfolios place a high premium on using a variety of real literacy activities over a period of time which involves the interaction of teachers and students in the development and maintenance of the…

Holistic evaluation is a reliable, valid, and cost-effective alternative to the usual mechanical assessment of writing. Writing samples are scored on a five-point scale against an overall impression of development, organization, and coherentness. The method was applied to the Communication Activities Skills Project (CASP) for grades 3-12. Writing…

Gathering, interpreting and conveying diagnostic information to parents of multiply handicapped children is an essential first step in the child's development. Assessment should investigate response to materials, teaching methods and reinforcers. Communication with parents can be enhanced through enlisting their participation in the evaluation…

New procedures for assessing the behavior of children in an environmental context are available to the school psychologist. The procedures, which are sometimes called psychosituational or informal assessments, examine the influence of the external environment as setting the occasion for emotional and behavioral problems. (Author)

Discussed are the relative merits of two currently popular models of assessing children--the ability assessment and task analysis models. (CL)

Bipolar adjective scales and bipolar graphic scales for visual ratings were validated. The study suggests a stable structure of graphic ratings of art unaffected by race or artist or viewer and art style that should prove useful in cross-cultural studies and in studies among children and the verbally impaired. (Author/RM)

Outlines for the beginning group counselor a method for organizing and evaluating the ongoing group experience. Defines the specific categories and describes the method by which the outline can be used. (RC)