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This paper critiques the performance statistics approach to holding schools accountable and explores the notion of "genuine accountability." The author calls for an examination of school practices along with student outcomes. An argument is made for improving schools by implementing reforms that are learner-centered and knowledge-based rather than procedure-oriented and rule-based. There are also discussions of equity and multiple assessments of students.
The authors raise questions about the appropriateness of standardized tests for assessing the progress of bilingual education students. Because a bilingual education program is built on objectives unique to the needs of its students, many of the items on a standardized test may not measure the objectives or content of that program. A standardized test may have low content validity for specific bilingual education programs. Some tests may not be sensitive to actual student progress. The authors explore alternative or "informal" assessment techniques, as contrasted with "formal" or standardized tests, and present some guidelines for ensuring adequate validity and reliability. There is a short discussion about portfolios and their use in the evaluation of bilingual education programs.
This book opens with an overview of shifts in conceptions about the role of assessment. Separate chapters provide guidance for determining assessment purposes, selecting assessment tasks, setting criteria, ensuring reliable scoring, and using alternative assessment for decision-making. Chapters present useful tools such as checklists and charts.
The authors point out that the education community needs to adopt a more critical attitude toward assessment and its effects on teaching and learning. They address four criticisms about testing: (1) Tests give false impressions about the status of learning in schools. (2) Tests are unfair to various groups. (3) Tests reduce teaching and learning to mere preparation for testing. (4) Tests focus time and energy away from higher-order skills and more creative endeavors. Alternatives to standardized testing are explored with the caveat that the unreliability and lengthiness of individual teacher and committee evaluations in the past led to standardized tests and multiple-choice items as solutions. The authors see some promise in the use of computer technology and the applications of findings from cognitive science for the creation of better means for assessing students' skills. The overall point, however, is that the education system should not be in search of any single instrument. Standardized tests are currently being used for too many purposes. Instead, the authors call for a more thoughtful selection of different kinds of assessments for different purposes.
This is a newsletter published quarterly by the Portfolio Assessment Clearinghouse. Each issue contains reports of individual projects and discussion of current concerns in portfolio assessment. It also provides periodically updated abstracts of portfolio projects in schools, districts, and organizations around the country.
This book explores the assessment of language and communication of young children between birth and age eight. The authors take an interactionist and developmental approach to language acquisition with particular attention to the sociolinguistic contexts in which it occurs. Communication is examined in a variety of settings: the home, day care, preschool, and the primary grades. There is also some discussion of the theories underlying the study of language acquisition.
This report summarizes a study of the feasibility of conducting large-scale assessments using school-based writing. The study explored procedures for collecting classroom writing samples from children around the country, developing methods for describing and classifying the variety of writing submitted, and creating general scoring guides that could be applied across papers written in response to a variety of prompts or activities. A nationally representative sample of fourth and eighth graders was asked to work with their teachers and submit a sample of their best writing efforts. The report summarizes lessons learned about portfolio assessment.
This volume presents papers by curriculum and assessment specialists, psychologists, researchers, and teachers. Articles describe why, what, and how new forms of assessment are in sync with science curriculum reforms. Chapters present examples of alternative assessments of science achievement, including features of science portfolios.
This is a panel report presenting a range of problems and recommendations for assessing elementary students' science achievement. Chapters include issues in assessment, what student outcomes to assess and how to assess them, and ways to evaluate program features. Each chapter includes many examples.
Presents assessment procedures that examine students' ability to use reading and writing for a variety of purposes. Assessment is characterized as continuous, multidimensional, collaborative, grounded in knowledge, and authentic. Authors provide a framework for analyzing assessments according to their focus (infrastructure/skills, reading and writing processes, and context), structure, mode, content, and intrusiveness. A number of assessment examples are analyzed, including story retelling, holistic and analytic guides for rating writing, and a checklist for component writing processes, functions of writing, quality of writing style, fluency, and mechanics.
This booklet describes Vermont Department of Education's first attempt to use portfolios to assess mathematics. The report resents a history of changes under way in mathematics education and an overview of the structure of the project. It describes how best pieces of student work are used to assess problem solving and mathematical communication skills. Criteria and levels of performance are described and samples of student work are presented. Also included are an overview of the pilot year, how student work was scored, the data collected, what was learned, and factors that will influence the success of the program.
This book contains chapters on the issues in the content, purposes, and use of writing portfolios throughout the grade levels. Many examples are provided of student work and teacher response to it.
