Designed to provide mature adults in an urban setting with an alternative to the high school diploma, the External High School Diploma Program of the District of Columbia is a systematic assessment of an individual's demonstrated competencies in the four generalized life skills areas of health, social/political, consumer/producer, and career…

Designed as a resource for professionals involved in the identification of children with emotional disabilities, the document is a compilation of 10 papers presented at a workshop on the topic. "Identification of Emotionally Disabled Pupils--An Overview" by C. Smith provides a definition of emotionally disturbed students. "Setting Analysis Data in…

This guide was developed to assist Oregon school districts in meeting revised minimum state standards for planning and assessment. The teacher's role in objectively judging student performance with respect to satisfying graduation requirements is discussed. Guidelines are given for implementing an effective system of using teacher judgments in…

As part of the Ability Development Project to identify 4-year-old Mexican American children with learning disabilities and develop appropriate curricular materials for them, 99 children (3-5 years old) attending city day care centers were assigned to the Bilingual Early Childhood Program, Level II. Twenty-nine children (final results included data…

Describes an "Assessment Kit" to aid classroom teachers in mathematics. The two sections of the kit, Assessment Supplements and Lesson Supplements, present strategies for assessment as well as suggested classroom activities. (PK)

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…

Provides three samples of assessment strategies to be used in conjunction with the "National Standards for Music Education" from the recently published, "Performance for Standards, Grades Pre-K12: Strategies and Benchmarks for Assessing Progress Towards the National Standards." The samples include assessments for grades K-4,…

Discusses a new approach to mathematics education that moves away from methods that tell students what to do and toward methods that help students build mental representations of mathematical concepts. Contrasts the previous and emerging views and examines aspects of the new approach. (26 references) (MDH)

Performance assessment with young children evolves naturally from activity-oriented teaching. Presents several guidelines for putting performance assessment methods into practice. (PR)

Advocates using portfolio assessment in music education, more as a teaching tool than a final evaluative instrument. Explains those advantages and disadvantages of portfolio assessment that are peculiar to music education. Discusses materials for inclusion. (MJP)

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a screening instrument (the Swedish Communication Screening at 18 months of age; SCS18), derived from the Swedish MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, in identification of 18-month-old children who will be severely language disabled by 3 years of age, the authors (a) analyzed which SCS18's…

The research described in this paper investigates the use of portfolio assessment techniques in middle school science classrooms. It explores how alternative assessment frameworks, such as portfolios, can be used by the classroom teacher and the students as an indicator of students' conceptual understanding and to facilitate changes in science…

An instructor in a junior high school English program which involved teaching approximately 160 eighth graders on a daily basis found it almost impossible to assess students fairly by taking individual differences into account when grading. Her solution was to invite students to participate in the construction, performance, and evaluation of their…

This handbook gives the adult student information to complete portfolios that are designed to help adult students earn college credits for outside experience. Portfolio assessment is a flexible and efficient way to earn college credit. Nearly any area of learning can be converted into credits as long as it is taught at a regionally accredited…

An important objective of the History Academy for Ohio Teachers was to shift the participating teachers' beliefs and orientation to history. Through the examination of the portfolios and interviews, the study looked at the changes from the participants' perspective. A subset of 12 teachers were selected from the Academy's participants and were…