We describe some of Merl's more subtle contributions that extended beyond his own prodigious scholarly record, his high-quality teaching, and his mentoring of students. The context of our remarks on Programmatic R&D focuses on his contribution to the University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Education. Merl was the first director of…

Assessing whether students can both re-present a corpus of learned knowledge and also demonstrate that they can apply that knowledge to solve problems is key to assessing student understanding. This notion, in turn, impacts our thinking about what we assess, how we author such assessments, and how we interpret assessment results. The diffusion of…

This chapter discusses current methods of formative evaluation and suggests that these methods themselves need to be subjected to more critical research and evaluation in order to provide them with a more scientific base. Topics addressed include problems and methods associated with data gathering, evaluation designs, number of subjects available,…

To provide an accurate reading of students' and schools' rates of progress, and to provide cues for instruction, assessment at every level should be connected to explicit learning goals and standards. To show how this requirement can be fulfilled, and how research-based assessment can effectively support learning and instruction, this article…

Discusses values ascribed to performance assessment and recent criticisms of assessment and suggests model-based performance assessment for remedying and avoiding these criticisms. The paper explains the merits of a systematic approach to developing performance assessments and rubrics based on general models across ages and subject areas for…

This paper explores the ideas and the model underlying the evaluation of the Apple Classroom of Tomorrow project (ACOT), a 2-year-old research and development project incorporating at least seven different grade levels which is located in five different school sites in four states. The major features of ACOT are identified as the ideas of computer…

The renewed attention to assessments that attempt to capture complex aspects of educational attainments of students is explored. The definition and impetus for attention of the measurement community to higher order thinking skills are examined. Through a detailed description, a model assessment development process is presented. The process relies…

In this article we examine empirical evidence on the criterion, predictive, transfer, and fairness aspects of validity of a large-scale language arts performance assessment, referred to as the Performance Assignment (PA). We use multilevel models to avoid biased inferences that might result from the naturally nested data. Specifically, we examine…

This paper addresses accountability and the role emerging technologies can play in improving education. The connection between accountability and technology can be best summarized in one term: feedback. Technological supports provide ways of designing, collecting and sharing information in order to provide the basis for the improvement of systems…

Following up on an earlier issue of "The Curriculum Journal" (Vol. 16, No. 1), this article focuses on learning outcomes in the context of video games. Learning outcomes are viewed from two theoretical frameworks: Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation and the CRESST model of learning. These are used to analyse the outcomes claimed in journal articles…

This document summarizes the activities conducted under the National Institute of Education (NIE) planning grant for the new Center on Student Testing, Evaluation, and Standards and the conceptualizations that emerged from these activities. Chapter 1 presents a summary of the planning activities actually conducted under the award, including…

This is a final report of support received through the National Institute of Education (NIE) to assist in research on the writing ability of United States children. The study began under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in order to contribute to a cross national assessment of…