9360303 Cappo This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to fulfill the critical need in education for the development of innovative assessment techniques that support the emergence of new teaching strategies, reflect what is known about the process of learning, and measure higher levels of reasoning. Studies by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, as well as state reform movements, have identified the importance of a variety of assessments. These formats include oral discussion, group work, portfolios, self-assessment, peer grading, observation, and performance-based tests, as well as standard written and multiple choice tests. To incorporate these new ideas so that teachers can move from the use of traditional to current alternative assessment methods of students, teachers will require tracking and recording devices that are unobtrusive and adaptable. Also needed is a bank of assessment tasks and scoring techniques which focuses on higher levels of thinking. The firm Learning in Motion proposes to test the feasibility of designing assessment tasks and software systems, which may include new pen-based technology, to improve the quality of education and meet the educational needs identified by OTA, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and state reform movements. Recognizing that curriculum reform and assessment reform must go hand-in-hand, Learning in Motion seeks to make an important contribution to the realization of curriculum reform via assessment reform. ***
