Assessment & Evaluation on the Internet. ERIC/AE Digest

With tens of thousands of information providers and millions of users, Internet is an enormous and growing resource for measurement professionals, researchers, curriculum developers, evaluation personnel and others involved or interested in assessment issues. The task for busy professionals is to be able to rapidly identify Internet resources so they can be efficiently incorporated in their work.

In this digest, we identify Internet resources of particular interest to the assessment community. Gopher sites and web sites are identified and discussed.GOPHER AND WORLD WIDE WEB SITESGophers are menu-driven systems providing access to a wide range of information. Often you can access Gopher from a mainframe system prompt by typing GOPHER and the gopher address, e.g. GOPHER GOPHER.CUA.EDU. The World Wide Web (WWW) is an Internet service which presents information using hypertext and, with the appropriate software, fonts and images. Netscape, Lynx, and Mosaic are popular software packages for "browsing" the web. Where available, we also provide WWW addresses. They are in parens and begin with "http://".AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION (AERA)gopher to info.asu.edu/ASU Affiliate Organizations/AERA (http://www.asu.edu/aff/aera/home.html)

AERA is a professional organization comprised of scholars in all of the social sciences related to educational research. AERA offers its divisions and SIG's (Special Interest Groups), descriptions of its fourteen listservs, publications, and an enormously valuable file entitled, "Resources from Around the World for Educational Researchers." Division D is concerned with measurement and methodology and Division H addresses evaluation concerns.AMERICAN EVALUATION ASSOCIATION (AEA)(http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~eal/aea.html)

This home page contains information about AEA sponsored listservs and provides direct web access to the files available on the AEA file server. Of special interest are an evaluation job bank, the program evaluation standards, and the personnel evaluation standards.ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATIONgopher to info.asu.edu/ASU Campus-Wide information/College of Education/Other Education Gophers (http://info.asu.edu/asu-cwis/education/home.html)

Every professional in education should know this gopher site and have it in their bookmark file. Gene V Glass has created a comprehensive and well-organized set of directories covering all aspects of education. Some of the fifteen menu options cover: Best of the Internet for Educators; Centers, Laboratories and Clearinghouses for Education; Full text Electronic Journals; Resources for K-12 Education; as well as Scholarly Resources for Educational Research and Technology in Education.BUROS INSTITUTE OF MENTAL MEASUREMENTS(http://www.unl.edu/buros/home.html)

By providing professional assistance, expertise, and information to users of commercially published tests, the Institute promotes meaningful and appropriate test selection, utilization, and practice. Their web site features information about the Institute, articles to promote responsible test use, and the Buros Test Review Locator. The Locator is a joint project with ERIC/AE (below) which can help you identify which of the Institute's publications reference particular tests.ERIC CLEARINGHOUSE ON ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION (ERIC/AE)gopher to gopher.cua.edu/Special Resources/ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation (http://www.cua.edu/www/ericmae/)

At the ERIC/AE Web and Gopher sites, you will find measurement and evaluation news; full text resources including books, essays, and newsletters on assessment and evaluation; test schedules of major standardized tests; the Test Locator; places to search ERIC databases; descriptions of major testing projects; materials pertaining to Goals 2000 and world class standards; and pointers to other gopher sites containing assessment and evaluation information.

Of special interest is the Test Locator Service, a collaborative effort of ERIC, the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the Buros Institute, and Pro-Ed Publishers. The Test Locator contains descriptions (including publisher addresses) of over 10,000 instruments to measure a broad array of interests, aptitudes, skills, and academic achievement.

ERIC CLEARINGHOUSE ON INFORMATION & TECHNOLOGY (ERIC/IT)

gopher to ericir.syr.edu (http://ericir.syr.edu)

AskERIC maintains a large Gopher site providing access to a wide range of material. Of particular interest are the AskERIC Infoguides. Each Infoguide includes pertinent ERIC document citations and various Internet resources, such as appropriate listservs and pointers to gopher/ftp sites. Some relevant Infoguide titles are: Authentic Assessment, Outcome-Based Education, Technology-Plans, and Testing.EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE (ETS)gopher to gopher.ets.org

This gopher provides general information about ETS and its programs. We were most impressed by the set of files on computer-based testing (CBT). Users will find discussions of current security issues and their implications for the scheduling of computer-based tests; explanatory files on computer adaptive testing and computer mastery testing; and state-by-state lists of CBT sites. The ETS Presidential Files contain extensive information on "What Every School Should Know About Testing Students with Disabilities."THE EVALUATION CENTER AT WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITYgopher to gopher.wmich.edu/Western Michigan University/Evaluation Center/CREATE

The Center for Research on Educational Accountability and Teacher Evaluation conducts a wide range of projects for student, teacher, administrator, and school evaluation. Abstracts and texts of its research and technical papers will be posted here as this site develops.NATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON EVALUATION, STANDARDS,

AND STUDENT TESTING (CRESST)gopher to spinoza.cse.ucla.edu/Research on Evaluation and Testing/CSE-CRESST Alternative Assessment Database or Products Available (http://www.cse.ucla.edu/CRESSTHome.html)

CRESST offers searchable newsletters and technical reports, as well as descriptions of its videos and handbooks on alternative assessment. Its unique and large Alternative Assessment Database is maintained in concert with the NWREL (see entry below); at this gopher site, the database is called the CSE/CRESST Alternative Assessment Database. CRESST also provides access to the CRESST Line Newsletter, Evaluation Comment, and general interest papers.NATIONAL COUNCIL ON MEASUREMENT IN EDUCATION (NCME)Gopher to assessmnt.iupui.edu, NCME

This site plans to provide instructional materials on educational measurement, measurement software, job announcements, measurement related news and pointers to other measurement related information.NORTH CENTRAL REGIONAL EDUCATION LABORATORY (NCREL)gopher path: gopher.cic.net/Other CICnet Projects & Gopher Servers/NCREL/North Central Regional Education Laboratory (NCREL)/Education Resources by Subject/Assessment

Here one finds a long essay entitled, "What Does Research Say About Assessment," which includes a bibliography of reference resources for the topic. There is also a press insert entitled, "Authentic Assessment: Measuring Learning in a Way That's Real for Children," which may be used for educational newsletters and other publications. Other subjects of possible interest to measurement experts include Educational Policy and Goals and Standards.NORTHWEST REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL LABORATORY (NWREL)gopher to gopher.nwrel.org/NWREL Program and Content Areas/Evaluation and Assessment OR Science and Mathematics Education

Under Evaluation and Assessment, you will find bibliographies on alternative assessment as it pertains to portfolios, mathematics and science, and reading. Under Science and Mathematics Education, you will find the program for which the Center, in collaboration with the other nine federally funded Regional Educational Laboratories and CRESST, collects, reviews and offers instruments for alternative assessment in science and mathematics. At this gopher site, that program is named the Laboratory Network Program on Alternative Assessment (LNP-AA). Its database of alternative assessment instruments and procedures, as well as annotated bibliographies, are offered online.THE PRINCETON REVIEWgopher to bloggs.review.com (http://199.79.226.10:80/)

The Princeton Review is a full-service preparatory service for college, graduate school, and professional school admissions processes. It offers: information about testing companies including phone numbers; test taking problems; what's new in testing; information on college admissions, college rankings, financial aid; and career advice.QUESTION MARK COMPUTING(http://www.qmark.com)

This British site devoted to Computer Aided Assessment features QM Web, a system for delivering tests, exams, tutorials and surveys on the world wide web. The site also provides a variety of links to testing and assessment internet resources.U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONgopher to gopher.ed.gov/Search all USDE Menus using Jughead/<education* and (evaluation or assessment or measure*)>(http://www.ed.gov/index.html)

There is such a profusion of essays and descriptions of federal and state programs, including important information about and from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), that, in gopher, the user is advised to summon them by the truncated (i.e., abbreviated) indexing terms indicated above. (Hint: be sure to type in the terms and punctuation exactly as you see them above.). At both the gopher and www sites, you can find the National Education Goals, Researchers' Guide to the Department of Education, and various U.S. Department of Education publications in full-text.

NOTE: The latest version of this digest is available at http://www.cua.edu/www/ericmae/intass.htmlREFERENCESDoolittle, P., M. Halpern & L.M. Rudner. (1994). The ERIC/AE Test Locator Service. "Educational Researcher," 22(8) pp. 34-35.

Electronic Frontier Foundation (1993). "Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet," [Online]. Available Gopher: vega.lib.ncsu.ed/Directory: library/reference/guides, File: Guide.txt

Kehoe, B.P. (1992). "Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide to the Internet," (2nd Ed.), [Online]. Available FTP (Telnet): quake.think.com Directory: pub/etext/1992, File: Zen10.txt

Polly, J.A. (1992). "Surfing the Internet: an Introduction," (2nd Ed.), [Online]. Available Gopher: vega.lib.ncsu.edu, Directory: library/reference/guides, File: Surfing.txt