The current controversy over standardized tests is not an effort to abandon assessment, rather it is an effort to develop assessment procedures that are more in keeping with a new set of educational and social assumptions. (Author/IRT)

Argues that measurement-driven instruction is the most cost-effective way to improve the quality of public education when high stakes tests are properly conceived and implemented. Discusses five criteria, analyzes critics' objections, and cites evidence of student improvement in seven states. Includes one table and three references. (MLH)

Contends that measurement-driven instruction (MDI) has numerous interrelated and pernicious effects on curriculum, instruction, and learning. Shows that MDI fragments, narrows, deflects, and trivializes the learning experience and furthers the teacher-dominated classroom. Successful response to a set of questions does not equal understanding.…

Counters Gerald Bracey's rejection of measurement-driven instruction (MDI), especially the latter's "cursed trinity": fragmentation, deflection, and trivialization. Points to eminently successful modes of MDI and urges educators to emulate them. (MLH)

Offers the final word on the measurement-driven instruction (MDI) debate in this "Kappan" issue. Claims that Popham's article is internally inconsistent and provides no examples of well-constructed, instructionally illuminative tests. Also lacking are teacher testimonials and evidence that MDI programs are cost-effective or oriented…

A study of elementary teachers' reliance on standardized test scores shows that teachers depend more heavily on observation in student assessment. (WD)

Describes the movement to make new assessments powerful levers for school improvement, restructuring, and accountability. Suggests the dangers posed by accountability-inspired external assessments. The primary condition for effective assessment is that teachers, principals, and the community be at the center of the assessment enterprise. Profiles…

Three very powerful drivers of curriculum policy are converging to shape what is taught in American schools: the increasing power of testing and standardized accountability models to determine curriculum, the pressure for cultural literacy, and the educational restructuring movement, which could subordinate curriculum to school organization…

Standarized, multiple-choice tests have become the major criterion for a wide range of school decisions affecting student placement, curriculum format, and teaching style. Improved assessment will not reform education. The more insightful and powerful the assessment tool, the more damage is caused by its misuse. Includes 70 references. (MLH)

Despite being unremittingly attacked over the past decade, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) continues to thrive. The growth in SAT use has been stimulated by its critics and by Educational Testing Service and College Board promotional campaigns. The SAT is still erroneously used to summarize the quality of incoming classes and colleges. Includes…

Describes an unconventional research method, simultaneous replication. In the Phi Delta Kappa Study of Students at Risk, researchers in 87 different sites used the same definitions, procedures, and instruments (standardized achievement tests), data collection, and data analysis techniques. The simultaneous replication process seems well-adapted to…

When test data from different sources conflict, the truth is often found somewhere in the middle. As this article shows, reports of achievement trends can be heavily influenced by the particular definition of achievement represented and by testing conditions. Recent progress in science and mathematics must be carefully nurtured in the nineties.…

A study finds that American students are engaged with lessons only 54 percent of the time, due to external preoccupations and uninspired instruction. The Heritage Foundation's "No Excuses" report makes misleading correlations between scores, phonics, and socioeconomic variables. Florida housing prices reflect letter grades assigned to…

Opponents of so-called high-stakes testing complain that such intense pressure causes teachers to devote virtually all classroom time and resources to preparing students for the standardized test. This phenomenon is called "teaching to the test." Proponents of high-stakes testing respond that that is exactly as it should be. They argue…

Concludes that these standardized tests of intelligence--the Peabody Picture Vocabulary, Raven's Progressive Matrices, Stanford-Binet, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Wonderlic Personnel Test, and most likely many other similar tests--show practically no evidence of differential culture bias for blacks and whites. (Author)