Model‐based performance assessment

HERE IS CONCERN IN MANY QUARTERS about the type and level of knowledge our children are gaining in schools. On national (National Assessment of Educational Progress) and international (Second International Mathematics and Science Study; Third International Mathematics and Science Study) assessments, many students do poorly. Further, there is a growing concern in American business and industry that young people entering the workforce are not adequately prepared for the world of work (U.S. Department of Labor, 1991, 1992). These concerns are a major source of what is now almost a decade of effort to restructure what students are taught and how their learning is assessed. For example, government policymakers have attempted to address these issues, beginning with the 1989 National Governors' Conference in Charlottesville, Virginia, followed by the work of the National Education Goals Panel (1991) and the National Council on Education Standards and Test-