This paper discusses approaches to raising student test scores. At present, 49 of 50 states mandate tests for students in selected grades, and each school district is under pressure to have students score at a higher level than they did before. Teaching students to do better on tests is a frequent approach. It has some advantages, but also has the…

In situations where there are enormous pressures to produce "good" test results, standardized testing can be a very painful experience, but there are ways of using test data to help in the educational process. California assessment data are disseminated widely to school districts in meaningful diagnostic displays. (Author/CM)

This paper makes the case that the high-stakes testing and accountability program currently in place in Massachusetts misuses scores from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) to select particular schools as exemplary. School awards and recognition programs in Massachusetts imply that score gains are equivalent to school…

This document consists of 14 articles which appeared in the electronic news bulletin, "EducationNews.org," and which were part of a series on "Test Bashing," a discussion of the use of standardized tests that focuses on controversies surrounding the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills and test score improvements in Texas. The…

Five years of state test results for Pennsylvania are examined, focusing on differences among elementary schools in which a majority of students do not master basic learning skills. Data are provided for 1,505 elementary schools in about 500 districts. The largest learning problems occur in about 10% of the schools; these schools have been…

This paper contends that, apparently, the patterns of above-norm performance that J. Cannell (1987) reported exist, although the extremity of his "Lake Wobegon" effect is perhaps overstated. The use of outdated test norms and other practices has been identified as a partial explanation for the reporting of "above-average"…

In 1987, a survey report by J. Cannell was published criticizing state reports based on national standardized testing of elementary school students that indicated that all 50 states were above the national average. This phenomenon--known as the "Lake Wobegon Effect"--is analyzed. Technical problems with the study are considered. (TJH)

Inferences that spending money (high average per pupil expenditure) does not improve education are questioned because of obvious differences in cost of living; in-state differences; differences in costs and demographic differences; and comparing average measures with measures from a nonrandom sample (Scholastic Aptitude Test scores). (SLD)

Most of the arguments lodged against minimum competency testing are really observations about the abuses of testing. Blacks and other minority groups are understandably mistrustful of recent developments in minimum competency testing--possible grounds for legal challenges include the adequacy of the phase-in periods; the match between tests and…