Addresses common concerns that early childhood teachers have about portfolio assessment, ways to find time to use portfolio assessment, and suggestions for involving young children and their families in the process of assessment and evaluation. (MDM)

Answers parents' most common questions about alternative assessment. Discusses: why there is a need for change in the way students are evaluated; what alternative assessment is; how parents can recognize the components of an alternative assessment; when alternative assessment occurs; and how alternative assessment contributes to children's…

Intended to help middle grade teachers and school leaders explore conferences as a communication strategy for school family partnerships, this booklet provides guidelines for designing or refining a conference format to meet the needs of teachers, students, parents, and families. Following an introduction, the first section examines scenarios that…

Findings of the Clinical Teacher Education-Preservice Study were examined to determine the extent to which student teachers possessed planning and decision-making skills related to pupil evaluation. The study focused on findings from cooperating teacher-student teacher conferences and journal data regarding planning and evaluation practices of 20…

This is the fourth in a series of six monographs developed to help local educators use and report Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test results. Sharing MEAP test reports with parents gives them information on their child's basic skills and generates parent involvement and support for the school. This sharing should be addressed on…

The focus of the teaching module described here is on methods of evaluating the pupil's progress in a team teaching situation and use of the parent-teacher conference as an evaluation technique. Emphasis is placed on understanding the need and purposes of continuous progress reporting (on the pupil and the program itself) and the means by which it…

The National Education Association (NEA) opposes the use of standardized, norm-referenced tests of intelligence, achievement, and aptitude, citing problems with their substance, structure, administration, and use. NEA suggests five alternatives: (1) performance contracts; (2) teacher-student and teacher-parent-student interviews; (3)…

Three conference papers concern education of trainable mentally retarded (TMR) children. A presentation originally accompanied by slides describes a behavioral objectives curriculum (Meridian Program) for TMR students, 5 through 18 years of age, which includes a checklist of behavioral goals (to evaluate entering students, identify behaviors,…

THIS REPORT SUMMARIZES SOME OF THE COUNSELING PRACTICES EMPLOYED IN VARIOUS DEMONSTRATION CENTERS. STUDENTS WERE ASSISTED THROUGH INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP COUNSELING. IN ONE CENTER, SUCCESSFUL TEST INTERPRETATION INTERVIEWS RESULTED FROM A COMPARISON OF STUDENTS' ESTIMATED TEST RESULTS AND ACTUAL TEST RESULTS. STUDENTS LEARNED OF OCCUPATIONS THROUGH…

Describes an experiment with student-led evaluative conferences that found that students learned the importance of learning, their own responsibility toward learning, the importance of assignments, and the importance of understanding and expressing ideas and concepts. Describes the implementation of these student-led conferences, including making…

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…

Reporting practices used by school systems serving elementary age, educable mentally retarded children were determined and reporting techniques evaluated. All the Minneapolis-St. Paul school systems submitted specimen report cards, and 91 of a possible 124 teachers in 23 school systems completed a questionnaire appraising common reporting…

An attempt to improve procedures for reporting the progress of mentally handicapped children in special classes, the guidelines state considerations related to the intent and design of report cards and describe a survey of 188 report cards used in special classes. Four sample report cards are included, which are designed to cover identification…

This book offers an alternative to the traditional teacher-parent conference by giving the responsibility for assessment to the students. As students reflect on their own learning, seek out the views of others, and prepare their own portfolios, they come to know themselves as learners. The process combines assessment, teacher research, parent…

This manual uses charts and outlines to present a kindergarten program based on the theory that learning is developmental and continuous. The program's integrated subject approach is aimed at enabling children to develop communication skills, intellectual abilities, a positive self-image, and academically appropriate psychomotor skills. These four…