Cautions against using standardized tests to make simplistic judgments about students' reading comprehension. Suggests two approaches to testing that teachers might use to devise testing procedures that represent their own views of the important reading strategies and skills that students need to acquire. (AEA)

Two perspectives that frame the aspects of the debate on assessment issues are analyzed. The "count-everybody" perspective calls for national standards over which all students would be tested. The "everybody-counts" perspective favors assessments that are developed from multiple perspectives. (MDH)

Performance-based assessment, the umbrella term for various measures to test higher order thinking skills beyond the reach of multiple-choice tests, is the front runner in the race to provide testing alternatives. Problems concerning training, reliability, and cost remain unresolved. A sidebar summarizes testing developments in Arizona,…

A study to develop concordance tables between the new enhanced American College Testing Program (ACT) assessment and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), to establish new score relationships, is described. The scaling sample consisted of 40,051 students taking both tests and submitting them to 14 large universities. (Author/MSE)

Teachers concerned about excessive testing may be depriving themselves of useful information provided by standardized achievement tests and their own exams. Teachers tend to separate testing from teaching. This article explores the relationship among data collection, curriculum planning, and instruction and gauges the impacts of mandated…

Using logarithmic and statistical data, this study analyzes teacher quality as a determinant of student performance on standardized tests. The most startling finding: a 1 percent increase in teacher competency, as measured by standardiazed test scores, is accompanied by a 5 percent decline in student failure rate on high school competency…

Crownhill Elementary School in Bremerton, Washington, has succeeding in boosting reading and math scores of its students and building their self-esteem as it doubled in size. Teachers participate in budget and hiring decisions and share ideas. Some of the projects and programs are briefly described. (MT)

Describes a test-taking course designed to prepare seventh-grade students for the SAT.

Principals should urge teachers to teach students the five basic principles of test taking. This can improve student scores on standardized tests. (MD)

This document provides guidelines relative to the appropriate administration of and preparation for the State Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program norm-referenced tests in the San Diego City Schools. The STAR tests are norm-referenced tests, and this document is intended to assure that standardized conditions in testing mirror the…

Three major areas (response mode, methods of presentation, and content) in which standardized assessment instruments can be modified to obtain objective information about the present abilities and/or future potential of severely handicapped students are discussed. (Author/SB)

The purpose is to assist teachers in determining parallels between the content of mathematics instruction which they provide and the content tested by the four most widely used standardized tests of elementary mathematics. Striking differences in content covered by the tests are noted. (MP)

Major changes in the content and format, standard-setting procedures, and score reporting policies in the National Board of Medical Examiners' comprehensive Part I examination are described. The phase-in of the United States Medical Licensing Examination and implications for score use are also discussed. (Author/MSE)

The College Entrance Examination Board has not permitted calculator use on the Scholastic Aptitude Test because of unresolved concerns about equity, implications for test content, and logistical and security issues. Those issues no longer seem insurmountable, and significant changes are being introduced on many tests. (MSE)

Literature relating summarization skills to reading improvement and to test score gains is reviewed, and two new studies are reported. One study compared gain on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) of two groups of students, one (n=7 students) receiving instruction in summarizing skills and the other (n=14) receiving TOEFL…