Through an examination of one institution's efforts to strengthen teaching and learning on campus, the author makes a strong case for the use of common examinations as a powerful form of assessment as well as a fruitful context for faculty deliberations. Providing a continuing occasion for faculty inquiry and discussion, insuring grade…

The writer examines a variety of reasons why test performance may not always be a valid measure of a person's competence or potential. Citing that a sizable percentage of students perform well in their schoolwork but poorly on standardized, multiple-choice tests, Bond defines and discusses four candidates as source factors for the phenomenon: (1)…

The writer calls attention to the many traps associated with one of the most frequent uses of assessment: the technical difficulties of measuring changes in learning over time. Noting that psychometricians don't like "change" or "difference" scores in statistical analyses because they tend to have lower reliability than the original measures…

The writer comments on the issue of high-stakes testing and the pressures on teachers to "teach to the test." Although many view teaching to the test as an all or none issue, in practice it is actually a continuum. At one end, some teachers examine the achievement objectives as described in their curriculum and then design instructional activities…

The writer reminds readers that the polemics of reform frequently portray the realm of teaching and learning in more extreme terms than is really necessary. Likening calls for educational reform to scientific revolutions sparked by Kuhn, Darwin and Copernicus, that jettison completely the assumptions and premises of the theories they replace, Bond…

The writer looks at the often contradictory ways in which tests are seen and used. We are told by its defenders that the SAT is a superb measure of academic promise, but its detractors insist that it is next to useless in helping colleges and universities select their entering class. Test-driven accountability systems have been criticized as…

Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) is a multi-site action-research project, focused on teaching and learning in pre-collegiate mathematics and English language arts courses at 11 California community colleges. In this report, the author discusses the data gathered over the course of the SPECC project and reflects…