Providing a clear framework, this volume helps school leaders align assessment and reporting practices with standards-based education and develop more detailed reports of children's learning and progress.

In recent years, consumers, professional organizations, government officials, and third-party payers have become increasingly concerned about how to assess the quality of the services provided by organizations in both the private and the public sectors. One new approach is the organizational report card, which compares the performance of organizations such as public schools, colleges, hospitals, and HMOs. This book offers the first comprehensive study of such instruments. It discusses the circumstances under which they are desirable alternatives to other policy instruments, such as regulation; how they should be designed; who is likely to use them and for what purpose; and what role, if any, government should have in their creation. Informed by cases drawn from education, health, and other policy areas, this book develops a conceptual framework for analyzing these issues. It explores the tradeoffs in measuring performance, the methods of communicating results effectively to mass and elite audiences, and the ways in which organizations respond to the data gathered.

This book presents everything needed to design and implement daily behavior report cards (DRCs), a flexible and dynamic system for promoting positive student behaviors and overcoming barriers to learning. DRCs offer a way to reward K-12 students for achieving clearly defined goals while building school-home collaboration. Teachers can implement the authors' evidence-based approach in just minutes a day, and it is fully compatible with multi-tiered systems of support. In a large-size format with lay-flat binding for easy photocopying, the book includes helpful reproducible forms. Purchasers get access to a companion Web page featuring printable copies of the reproducible materials plus additional useful tools for charting student progress. This book is in The Guilford Practical Intervention in the Schools Series.

This third edition of our best-selling resource makes it easy to add a personal touch to each child's report card, and to establish positive and effective interaction between home and school. Revised with updated messages for a wide variety of classroom and playground situations, the messages are sorted by topic and are easy to adapt to other communications with parents. It features an easy 6 x 9" take-home size and includes 48 pages.

At last, here is a practical book that gathers time-saving tips from teachers on writing effective report card comments. Packed with advice, this resource will help you collect assessment information easily and describe your students' performances clearly and constructively. You'll find handy lists of phrases that encourage children, words to avoid, and concise advice on how to prompt parents to support learning at home. Book jacket.

Since the late 1960s, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--the nation's report card--has been the only continuing measure of student achievement in key subject areas. Increasingly, educators and policymakers have expected NAEP to serve as a lever for education reform and many other purposes beyond its original role. Grading the Nation's Report Card examines ways NAEP can be strengthened to provide more informative portrayals of student achievement and the school and system factors that influence it. The committee offers specific recommendations and strategies for improving NAEP's effectiveness and utility, including: Linking achievement data to other education indicators. Streamlining data collection and other aspects of its design. Including students with disabilities and English-language learners. Revamping the process by which achievement levels are set. The book explores how to improve NAEP framework documents--which identify knowledge and skills to be assessed--with a clearer eye toward the inferences that will be drawn from the results. What should the nation expect from NAEP? What should NAEP do to meet these expectations? This book provides a blueprint for a new paradigm, important to education policymakers, professors, and students, as well as school administrators and teachers, and education advocates.