Suggests that, to better gauge children's learning progress, teachers and schools should put less emphasis on standardized tests and more emphasis on continuous classroom assessment of students. (MDM)

Discusses several problems associated with standardized testing. Proposes possible solutions to these problems, and calls for a new perspective on testing which utilizes informal tests and teacher observations of reading behavior. (MM)

A study involving 12 elementary age Hispanic children identified as gifted and placed in a creative arts program investigated the issue of identifying gifted minority group children. Ss were administered the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA) and the Cartoon Conservation Scales (CCS). Comparisons were made between teacher…

Teacher judgments of student need for compensatory education were found to agree moderately with student scores on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS). Accuracy of teacher judgments was not influenced by student racial, ethnic, or economic characteristics, extent of individualization of instruction, or teacher training and experience.…

The four sections of this guide provide information for use by educators who wish to find means other than standardized tests for assessing the reading performance of students. The first section of the guide deals with two methods of determining the readability of classroom materials, the Fry Readability Graph and the cloze procedure. The second…

Standardized tests are merely a place to begin evaluation. As an alternative, criterion-referenced measures offer more specific information. The end point of assessment must involve diagnostic teaching and continuous evaluation of real-life task and setting modifications. (Author/CP)

Researchers followed preservice elementary teachers from just before their assessment course through student teaching. Journals, assessments, and interviews indicated that they needed hands-on experience in grading, handling difficult parent conferences, handling the pressures of mandated standardized tests, and working with cooperating teachers…

This book is intended to help early childhood practitioners develop the essential understanding they require for appropriate use of assessment and evaluation information and to illuminate many of the issues involved in formal and informal assessment and evaluation. The chapters are: (1) "Assessment and Evaluation in the Early Childhood…