Standardized tests have been selected as a key assessment factor in expanding the academic achievement of the national student population. However, these tests position immigrant students at the risk of academic failure, leading education experts to search for new strategies and teaching models. The "Handbook of Research on Assessment…

This article describes errors resulting from use of standardized language tests using a "normal" sample as the normative comparison group. Resulting errors include, among others, identifying normal children as language impaired, providing misleading profiles of verbal and nonverbal performance, and inability to determine impairment severity.…

This article identifies sources of information about syntactic ability of school-age children and adolescents from language samples (spoken and written) and standardized language tests. Language samples yield information on sentence length, clause density, and use of higher level discourse-motivated structures. Syntactic subtests from three…

Commercially available tests and measurement instruments for use with English-speaking subjects are described and reviewed. Only tests that are new, have been revised since last reviewed in the Mental Measurements Yearbook series, or are considered established and highly used are included. The contents are as follows: (1) a bibliography of…

The effectiveness of direct measurement techniques and standardized achievement tests for assessing within-individual change over a 10-week period was examined. The Reading Comprehension and Language subtests from the Stanford Achievement Tests and direct measures of reading and written language were administered twice to 83 low-achieving students…

Oral language abilities in 20 boys (ages 9-13) with chronic behavior disorder were investigated, using 20 standardized language measures. Findings indicated generally poor or inconsistent language skills, with abstract concepts and linguistically complex structures particularly difficult. (Author/DB)

This study compared 4 methods (2 case history and 2 performance-based) used to classify the status of adult subjects in familial studies of developmental language disorders, involving 24 parents of children with developmental language disorders and 24 unrelated adult controls. Classification by case history found fewer affected adults than…

Reviews research literature on the effectiveness of bilingual education programs. Argues that scientifically valid evaluation studies offer no consistent support for transitional bilingual education as a superior practice for improving the English-language achievement of limited English proficient (LEP) children and, in fact, suggest evidence of…

The public schools reform movement has led to a proliferation of minimum competency testing programs by states. At the 11th/12th grade level, the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS), mandated by Texas House Bill 72, is an exit exam, divided into two sections which measure minimum competencies in math and language skills.…