The most recent attempt by educators to emulate the "sound principles" and methods of business and science is to become data-driven. The leaders in a data-driven school are able to demonstrate how some number, preferably scores on standardized tests, has moved upward as a result of some program they have initiated. Data-driven schools also possess…

It is readily apparent that testing raises academic standards at both the state and the federal levels. The three Rs currently touted as aims for school improvement--rigor, relevance, and relationships--can be applied to testing as well. The connection between standardized testing and rigor can be easily made, while the relevance of testing is…

This article presents the author's comments on ""Lake Woebegone," Twenty Years Later" by J. J. Cannell, MD. J. J. Cannell's article on the so-called "Lake Woebegone" effect for K-12 educational testing systems is mostly an historical account of technical issues and policy considerations that led in part to development…

Standardized tests can be a valuable part of a value-added assessment package which attempts to determine what students gain from the college experience in general, and from communications courses in particular. The critical issues concerning assessment center around who will evaluate what skills and values with which instruments. Within the…

Argues that we must become critical thinkers about critical thinking. Issues addressed include: (1) knowledge vs. information; (2) substance vs. form; (3) learning and meaning making; (4) affective and cognitive engagement; (5) cultural pluralism and a community of learners; and (6) accountability and assessment. (SR)

This article supports Edward Haertel's views on inappropriate use of student test scores in evaluating teachers. Tests scores may identify a few incompetent teachers, but may bring new ailments to schools. The article argues that even the system proposed by Haertal may become subject to abuse by mechanistic or autocratic administrative practices.…

Argues that IQ tests work only for some people some of the time. Offers a theory that emphasizes the roles in intelligence of information-processing, the environmental context, and coping with novelty and automatization of task performance, as a possibility for improving levels of prediction. (CMG)

Offers tips for preparing for and doing well on the SAT. (FL)

The writer comments on the issue of high-stakes testing and the pressures on teachers to "teach to the test." Although many view teaching to the test as an all or none issue, in practice it is actually a continuum. At one end, some teachers examine the achievement objectives as described in their curriculum and then design instructional activities…

It is argued that publishers of achievement tests, especially those who publish tests intended for use in many parts of the United States, are for the most part not in a position to obtain any decent evidence about the consequences of the uses that are made of their tests. What responsibilities and actions publishers can reasonably be expected to…

This paper provides a brief history of attempts to monitor testing in the United States. It describes proposals for monitoring from the first attempts in the 1920s to similar proposals in the 1990s. The discussion focuses on: (1) Giles Ruche's proposal for a consumer research bureau on tests; (2) Oscar K. Burros' reviews of tests and efforts to…

Prior to 1975, students in Chicago Public Schools were assigned grade level tests, a practice that in 1974 resulted in 42 percent of the students scoring at the equivalent of a "chance" level. In 1975, the schools switched to functioning level testing. The change caused lower average test scores, but the percentage of chance scores…

U.S. Department of Education (ED) activities relating to the utility of Title I evaluations are discussed within the context of an overview of the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System (TIERS) and a history of Title I evaluations. Implications for Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) of 1981 are considered. (LC)

The integration of testing and learning are discussed as urgent tasks for test developers, examiners, and guidance specialists. The implications of Edmonds' concept of educational equity (see TM 506 980) and Krumboltz's view of the role of testing in guidance (see TM 506 981) are analyzed. (CM)

The history of test development and the current controversy over standardized testing are reviewed. The consequences of testing, particularly for minority groups, are outlined, and criticism of some viewpoints of professors Robert Ebel and Melvin Tumin is made. (Author/AL)