A school of education faculty designed the Doctoral Portfolio as a device for assessing their doctoral students' competence in the tasks that professional academics routinely perform. Each student assembled a portfolio after the completion of a set of core courses and before the dissertation. The components assessed in the portfolio were: (1) a…

The Office of Education's system for determining institutional eligibility for access to Federal funds derives from a series of 13 specific statutory mandates. It uses HEGIS (Eigher Education General Information Survey form #2300-1), that provides basic institutional characteristics information, which together with catalogs and other materials,…

The manual, the fourth edition of the material used by the Commission on Independent Secondary Schools, is designed for use in elementary, secondary and ungraded schools and those with K-12 or other grade configurations. The manual is divided into three main parts: (1) a discussion of the evaluation process; (2) manual of instructions--general…

This instrument is intended to help schools at all levels of performance assess the strengths and limitations of their instructional practices and organizational conditions. It serves three primary functions: (1) as a blueprint to communicate the high expectations of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for all Arizona schools; (2) as an…

This book is a comprehensive step-by-step tool for school leader preparation candidates and school leaders alike in the development of standards-based digital school leader portfolios. Readers receive a rich array of activities, worksheets, and rubrics useful in the planning, development, and assessment of standards-based digital portfolios.…

In an attempt to include more students with disabilities in large-scale assessments, 12 states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia) allowed out-of-level testing during the 2000-2001 school year. This report discusses the context of state assessment…

The accuracy and fairness of standardized testing is taken very seriously in the education world. These issues are a major focus of both the testing experts who develop standardized tests and the researchers who endeavor to ensure a test's fairness, reliability, validity, and accuracy. But many issues remain both controversial and complex. The…

This external evaluation report provides formative evaluation data on several aspects of a project at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) to implement performance-based evaluation of student learning. The first section evaluates feedback from 12 senior mathematics and 4 senior chemistry majors regarding their understanding of the mathematics…

This document presents four research-based papers that were the catalyst for discussions at the first Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning diversity roundtable in 1998. The goals established for this roundtable included: building participants' capacity for working with diverse populations; providing a catalyst for participants to…

This book explains the range of assessment techniques that monitor learning effectively. It provides step-by-step procedures for a standards-based approach to classroom assessment and strategies for aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Examples show how to implement each form of assessment. The chapters are: (1) "An Overview of…

This study explores the possibility of measuring a specific instructional strategy using statistical methods based on item response theory. It measures teachers' instructional practices using the same rigorous statistical techniques now applied to most large-scale assessments of student achievement. It specifically examines teachers' use of…

Assessment is more than simply ascribing an 'A' or a 'B' to a particular student achievement. In an era of state-mandated proficiencies and alternative assessment strategies, educators need practical ideas they can use to meaningfully assess their students' learning and their own practice. This issue of "ENC Focus" centers on the topic…

Due to the high stakes that my be attached to placement decisions, it is imperative that the placement process be as solid and defensible as possible. An integral part of the placement process is the identification and use of cut scores, the point(s) on the score scale that classify students into adjacent categories for placement decisions. This…

Discusses the academic, economic and social advantages and disadvantages of expansion of higher education. (IR)

A structured Delphi procedure was used to secure the informed judgments of three types of adult participants (n=170) on appropriate standards for the North Carolina High School Competency Tests in Reading and Mathematics. The feasibility of the method and the amount of agreement between groups are discussed. (Author/PN)