Accurate spelling is a complex act that requires cognitive and linguistic knowledge of the phonological, morphological, syntactical, and semantic principles of our language. Students with disabilities frequently exhibit spelling difficulties related to language learning disorders and inefficient cognitive processing. These difficulties often are…

Presents the purposes, strengths, and weaknesses of these assessment methods for adult basic education: standardized, criterion referenced, curriculum based, performance based, and informal. Discusses ways to establish a supportive assessment environment. (SK)

Outlines critical weaknesses of many assessment procedures. Argues that, to be meaningful, the act of assessment must in some way enhance the learning process. Discusses establishing purpose for assessment and selecting criteria. Outlines alternative assessment techniques. (SR)

Maintains that teacher-based assessment can be a powerful tool. Defines "informed" assessment, describes its features, and discusses conditions that must occur if teacher-based assessment is to reach its full potential. Discusses strategies that help teachers make day-to-day assessment more meaningful and credible. (SR)

Colleges and universities typically record student achievement through a system of number and grades. This system of documenting student learning is based on the assumption that students progressively carry with them and build on their learning as they advance through courses. However, learning is more than an aggregation of courses and credits.…

Discusses reorganizing classrooms for more active participation of students, to give children the freedom to work with mathematical materials in new ways and to allow teachers to monitor children's learning in new ways. Discusses the use of graphing activities to assess children's knowledge. (MKR)

Predicated on a belief that assessment and evaluation should be vital, planned aspects of the curriculum, this booklet describes classroom-based assessment that serves to inform teachers, students, and parents of the learner's growth as well as to suggest next-step instructional goals. Procedures developed by classroom teachers which integrate…

Presents anecdotal data from informal discussions with 12 secondary teachers about types of evidence of students' mathematics achievements that were used by the teachers. Discusses oral evidence, written work, observed actions, voluntary use of mathematics, knowledge of the child, teachers' views of mathematics, and behavior and body language.…

This document was created because of the need for new assessment strategies and practices to be developed to enable teachers and others to assess students' performance in a manner that reflects the NCTM's reform vision for school mathematics. Instead of assuming that the purpose of assessment is to rank students on a particular trait, the new…

Offers an annotated bibliography concerning practical and theoretical considerations for two types of alternative assessment in community colleges and higher education: portfolios and capstone courses. Portfolios provide representative samples of student work and capstone courses review core concepts in a field. Cites 10 sources. (AUTH/NB)

Maintains that continued over reliance on traditional skills-based assessment of reading abilities provides the whole-language teacher with little, if any, useful information for instructional planning. Suggests informal assessment procedures that focus on the language learner and provide a rich information source on which to base instructional…

This play continues a dramatization used in the NCTM videotape Mathematics Assessment: Alternative Approaches. Issues and methods of assessment are discussed from the points of view of the teacher, students, principal, and parents. Methods include portfolios, informal interviews, group projects, and open-ended questioning. (MKR)

The kinds of questions administrators, teachers, parents, the community, and children ask from under each of their hats makes educators and others aware of the information needs that people have for judging the success of schooling. Each audience, each role, asks slightly different questions, and the information needed to answer those questions is…

This annotated bibliography represents Test Center holdings to date in the area of assessment alternatives in mathematics and science. Alternative assessment, for the purpose of this bibliography, means assessment other than standardized, norm-referenced assessment. The list emphasizes examples of assessment, such as performance assessments,…

The teachers' stories in this book present ways of assessing children and curriculum that are embedded in everyday classroom life. Assessment here refers to teachers' informal ways of observing and documenting development and learning. Seven chapters include: (1) "Framing the Ways" (Celia Genishi), about the importance of story for conveying…