An Evaluation Approach to Program Accountability: A Melding of Qualitative and Quantitative Traditions.

The usefulness of authentic assessments as formative tools for teachers is well documented and supported. However, when educational institutions use these assessments as summative tools for evaluating programs and meeting accountability needs, several problems emerge. One set of problems relates to the difficulty of fitting authentic assessments into conventional measurement frameworks. Other problems pertain to the tendency for the tasks used for accountability to preempt other measures used by teachers to inform instruction. It is proposed that by using review teams composed of the major educational stakeholders to address accountability requirements, while at the same time assessing individual student achievement with formative measures, can meet both of these measurement needs while minimizing the impact of technical problems associated with performance assessment. (Contains six references.) (Author/SLD)