This demonstration booklet illustrates the kinds of exercises or test questions and tasks used in the assessment of student achievement in reading and writing by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Each student will be asked to complete the background section and the cognitive sections for one subject, and the assessment will…

This paper provides the basis for understanding score equating through item response theory (IRT). Theoretical justifications and practical advantages of IRT true-score test procedures are discussed. Three steps in the equating process are specified, and a self-test is included. (SLD)

The Tesseract Schools in Baltimore City are nine public schools operated by The Alliance for Schools That Work, an association of for-profit businesses. This document contains findings of a program evaluation of grades 1-5 conducted by the University of Maryland at Baltimore City. The study compared seven Tesseract elementary schools with a…

In spring 1996, Arizona's Glendale Community College (GCC) undertook an evaluation of an introductory macroeconomics course using the national Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE III). Specifically, the study sought to determine how GCC student outcomes compared to national results on the TUCE III and if the college's macroeconomics…

In spring 1996, Arizona's Glendale Community College (GCC) undertook an evaluation of a microeconomics course using the national Test of Understanding in College Economics (TUCE III). Specifically, the study sought to determine how GCC student outcomes compared to national results on the TUCE III and if the microeconomics course made a statistical…

The report describes one segment of the Federal Language Testing Board's Unified Language Testing Plan (ULTP), the validation of the speaking proficiency test in Russian. The ULTP is a project to increase standardization of foreign language proficiency measurement and promote sharing of resources among testing programs in the federal government.…

This study compared math and reading achievement in the fifth grades of two suburban elementary schools, one which utilized a traditional approach of pull-out special education classrooms and the other which utilized an inclusion program for special education services. The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) was used to measure the math…

Schools and districts have functioned for too long on the premise that they have a clear understanding of the quality of their graduates. Traditional methods for measuring the effectiveness of education relied too heavily on standardized test scores. The production of annual school and district profiles is an ongoing commitment in the Grande…

This content assessment project is designed to determine what social studies content should be tested on national standardized tests and how that content should be defined. Sixteen historians, political scientists, and social studies educators were interviewed to identify key concepts. In a second phase, the cultural literacy rationale for content…

In 1982, a survey of California community colleges was conducted to determine the formal and informal devices used to identify and assess learning disabled average (LDA) students; the characteristics, skills, and behaviors measured; the personnel who administered the assessment instruments; and the intake process and identification and assessment…

A study compared performance on a silent informal reading inventory and achievement on a standardized reading test, focusing on students' individual skill needs and how effective tests were in identifying specific strengths and weaknesses in these skill areas. Subjects, 25 students entering fourth grade in a primarily middle class suburban…

This study investigated participants' reactions to computerized testing and assessed the practicability of this testing method in the classroom. A sample of 315 secondary-level students took a computerized and a printed version of a standardized aptitude test battery and a survey assessing their reactions to the computerized testing. Overall…

This handbook is designed to serve as a resource for Alaskan district-level administrators in charge of planning, implementing and monitoring districtwide student assessment programs. The information is divided into 10 chapters, including: (1) aligning assessment with curriculum and instruction; (2) planning an assessment program; (3)…

This preliminary investigation explored a means of maximizing the use of standardized test results. In addition to the usual package of alpha and ranked norm-referenced test reports, a special series of reports by the California Test Bureau/McGraw-Hill was generated for remedial reading and mathematics teachers. These reports displayed primarily…

On April 5, 2002, the Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) entered into a compliance agreement with the U.S. Department of Education to bring the state into compliance with the provisions of the following federal laws: Title 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1994, P.L. 103-382 and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)…