In 1995, the American College Testing (ACT) Program conducted a study of the effects of using a calculator in its ACT Assessment and PLAN mathematics tests taken by approximately 38,000 students. Whether there would be changes in the PLAN and ACT score scales as a result of permitting calculator use on the mathematics tests was explored with…

This report was drawn from the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and describes the science performance of eighth grade students in North Carolina. It compares results for various groups of students within that population and examines the results for individual demographic groups as well as individual background questions. The…

This report is the beginning of a series that will examine the performance of the school children of New Jersey relative to the performance of other children in the United States and worldwide. The measure of performance used was the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics examinations and their linked versions of the…

Because many school funding studies are seriously flawed, valid conclusions cannot be reached concerning the effects of school funding in the United States. New evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress and two international achievement tests shows that differences among U.S. public school districts (and states) in funding and…

Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress mathematics assessment for within-state samples of eighth graders suggest that achievement is inversely related to school and district size indexes and to state-funding share. Higher achieving states have smaller schools and districts and smaller state shares of school expenditures. (SLD)

A procedure is presented for examining the influence of instruction on responses to test items by extending item response theory to incorporate variables illustrating different amounts of opportunity to learn. Data from the Second International Mathematics Study (grade 8 scores for about 7,000 students) illustrate the discussion. (SLD)

The New Standards Project, attempting to create an assessment system comprised of performance exams, portfolios and projects, may not have fulfilled its promise to create a national system of tests worth teaching to. However, NSP did deliver high- quality professional-development opportunities for hundreds of teachers across the nation. (Contains…

To determine students' areas of concern while moving from middle- to high-school level, two college deans surveyed all eighth- and ninth-graders in four northwest Georgia school systems. Comprehensive transitional programs targeted concerns about curriculum, facilities, safety, discipline, staff, and general routines. A Wisconsin transition…

In early May 2002, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released a study of U.S. history achievement among fourth, eight, and twelfth graders, finding that nearly 60 percent of high school senior test-takers failed to demonstrate basic knowledge of U.S. history. Although the hand-wringing has begun about what "must be done" to…

The framework and specifications for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science assessment were developed in 1991-92 and field tested in 1993. The assessment was postponed, however, and will be administered in 1996. The framework calls for performance-based tasks that probe students' abilities to use materials to make…

This report is a first look at the results of the 1994 NAEP geography assessment. It presents national findings of 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade students' overall performance on the NAEP geography scale, and summary data for the major demographic subpopulations in the United States. Results are reported on a 500-point NAEP scale, used to show…

A preliminary investigation has been made of some claims regarding alternative assessment. Using the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS)--Middle Grades Mathematics Performance Assessment as a platform, the study examined how alternative assessment operates in actual practice. Early findings are presented in the following areas: (1)…

Sample undercoverage issues in the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) are addressed. The main focus is the exclusion of certain categories of student in the base year, 1988, and in in-school follow-up rounds. A subsidiary focus is the question of how adequately transfer students were captured within the sampling procedures of…

The first statewide direct writing assessment was conducted for grade 8 by the California Assessment Program (CAP) in the spring of 1987. Each student wrote an essay in response to 1 of 15 prompts (writing tasks) representing: (1) an autobiographical incident; (2) a report of information; (3) a solution to a problem; and (4) an evaluation. In all,…

A report on the results of changes in the introductory core French program summarizes three reports evaluating the effects of increasing the total amount of instructional time in French in grades 7 and 8 on students' acquisition of French language skills, attitudes, and cultural awareness. Random samples of students in four academic year grade 8…