A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

APPENDIX

Research Questions

The major research questions include the following:

Key Characteristics of Performance Assessments

• What are the key characteristics of these new assessment strategies? How do these new approaches differ from traditional practices and from prior practice in particular sites?
• What key characteristics cut across successful approaches? What characteristics are missing from less successful programs in this area? Why are particular aspects of the model approach especially important?
• What are the purposes of these new assessment approaches? Are those aims different from traditional practice and from prior practice in particular sites?
• What role was played by research, research-based knowledge, and other information in the design of these new assessment approaches? What evidence documents that role?
• What are the content and skills coverages of the assessment? What are the cognitive demands of the assessments?
• What methods are available to measure students' sustained performance? What types of material (and how much) should be kept in portfolios at what age or grade levels? What types of assessment measures can be developed from them? For example, what types of material are needed to reflect: (1) depth and breadth of understanding in various subject matter areas; (2) ability to use resources; (3) ability to work productively with peers; (4) individual productivity; and (5) ability to respond appropriately to constructive review and criticism? What are the best arrangements for keeping portfolios or for deciding what they are to contain or when and if they should be cleaned out?

Facilitators and Barriers in Assessment Reform

• What are the circumstances that permitted or encouraged the development and implementation of new assessment strategies? To what degree, and how, can these or similar conditions be reproduced in other settings? How must different approaches be adapted to particular settings?
• What were the principal incentives for reform? What have been the major barriers to the initiation, development, implementation, and sustenance of the reforms, and how have those been overcome? What Federal, state, district, or school policies or practices facilitate or inhibit these reforms?
• How have curriculum and instruction been affected by performance assessments? Did a drive for curricular and instructional reform give impetus to the development and adoption of performance assessments?
• Who should be involved in the development of assessments such as performance assessments or portfolios? Where is this developmental work best undertaken? School site? District? State? For example, what types of cooperation and support from the State level are most important for a district interested in developing a new assessment of student performance?
• What strategies are required to get schools organized logistically to develop and implement new forms of student assessment in the schools? What are successful strategies for involving and informing students and parents and other members of the community?
• What types of training are needed for the various individuals involved in these new assessments? What are the components of training and what training approaches are most effective? What are the advantages and disadvantages of alternative types and sources of this training? What training and resource support are needed for change in instructional strategies and curriculum?
• What technical factors need to be considered? How have these been dealt with most successfully?
• What information sources are available for those interested in either developing their own new forms of assessment or adapting existing assessments that have been developed by others as part of their school or curriculum reform? What technical support is available? What was most helpful and what seemed to be missing?
• What resources were required to design, develop, implement or sustain these reforms, including staff time, staff training and support, space, materials and supplies? If extra funds were required, how much extra was needed, what was the source of those funds, and how were they obtained? How are total costs and extra costs related to the number of pupils served?
• What role was played by research, research-based knowledge, and other information in the implementation of these reforms? What evidence documents that role?

Impact of Performance Assessments on Teaching and Learning

• What strategies and approaches have been developed to assess the impact of these reforms? How do these approaches separate the impact of the reforms from the impact of other factors that might affect outcomes? How can these assessments be used to refine reforms?
• What has been the impact of these new assessments, particularly the impact on students, and especially the impact on student performance?
• What impact does the form of a test have on what students learn? What impact does the form of a test have on the quality, quantity, timeliness, and continuity of feedback to students, to their teachers, and to their parents? What information do students, teachers, and parents receive from these assessments about how students can improve their performance?
• What impact does the form of a test have on curriculum and instruction? Do tests that emphasize the mere recall of facts lead to a curriculum that emphasizes routine memorization? Do tests that require students to develop their own solutions and strategies lead to a curriculum emphasizing problem solving and higher-order thinking skills?
• What are the anticipated and unanticipated benefits and difficulties associated with this reform? How can those benefits be reproduced and those difficulties be avoided in other jurisdictions wishing to implement similar reforms?

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