Standards and Assessments

Research and Best Practices

Reports and Documents

The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education       The New York Technical Assistance Center and The George Washington University Region III Comprehensive Center		An Analysis of State Policies for the Inclusion and Accommodation of English Language Learners in State Assessment Programs during 1998-1999 This comprehensive report provides a nationwide description of inclusion and accommodation policies affecting English language learners during the 1998-1999 school year. April 2002 A Practical Discussion of Inclusion Issues in Statewide Assessments Emerging from Standards-Based Education Reform and Title I.   Vincent, C. & Schenk, E.A.  September 2001.   Achieving Standards-based Curriculum Alignment Through Mindful Teaching, Cheryl Rappaport Liebling, November 1997. In this paper, standards-based curriculum alignment is represented as an inquiry strategy for creating a coherent district K-12 curriculum. Highlights of the paper include: a historical review of traditional approaches to curriculum alignment; new "how-to" approaches to designing standards-based curriculum; new reflective approaches to designing standards-based curriculum; and an inquiry strategy for achieving standards-based curriculum alignment through mindful teaching.
American Educational Research Association, Annual Meeting   Education Policy Analysis Archives		The Effects of Linguistic Simplification of Science Test Items on Performance of Limited English Proficient and Monolingual English-Speaking Students Rivera, C. & Stansfield, C. April 2001. Consequences of Assessment: What is the Evidence? W. A. Mehrens, July 14, 1998, Vol. 6, No. 13. This report examines the purposes of large-scale assessment programs at the state level; enumerates potential dangers and benefits of such assessments; investigates what the research evidence says about assessment consequences; discusses how to evaluate whether the consequences are good or bad; presents ideas about what variables may influence the probabilities for good or bad consequences; and gives tentative conclusions about the whole issue of the consequences of assessment and the amount of evidence available and needed.

Harvard Educational Review     Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory

Is it Real for All Kids? A Framework for Equitable Assessment Policies for English Language Learners, Mark W. La Celle-Peterson and Charlene Rivera, Harvard Educational Review, 64:1 (Spring 1994), pp. 55-75. Reprinted with permission from Harvard Educational Review. A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education, A compilation of content standards for K-12 curriculum in both searchable and browsable formats

National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing

CRESST Guidebooks are written to help teachers and administrators implement assessment reform practices. The following guidebooks are available in Acrobat PDF format. Los Angeles Learning Center Assessment Guidebook Los Angeles Learning Center Standards Guidebook Writing What You Read Guidebook CRESST Performance Assessment Models Assessing the Whole Child Guidebook Portfolios and High Technology Guidebook CRESST Technical Reports This page provides links to full-text technical reports on a variety of topics including program and student evaluation, accountability, research methodology, and standards.

The U.S. Department of Education: Educational Research and Practice­Reports and Studies

Standards: Making Them Useful and Workable for the Education Enterprise May 1997. This document examines how standards, most specifically how skill standards, are being used within the educational systems and the ways they could be used more efficiently and effectively. Assessment of Student Performance April 1997. Conducted by Pelavin Research, this study combines the insights of organizational change theory with current information about the implementation of new performance assessments. The study evaluates the effects of new performance assessments and provides guidelines for those wishing to implement such changes. After documenting performance assessments according to type, level, academic discipline, and purpose, the study identified the reasons for moving to performance assessments, including an analysis of the political, social, and economic forces driving the change. Both practitioners and researchers were commissioned to write papers on political and practical issues. A national invitational conference was held to consider the issues raised in the papers and listen to concerns from the field about performance assessments and their implementation. In addition, case studies were conducted at selected sites.