Although dropout rates in virtual school courses are typically quite high, some virtual programs have very low course dropout and failure rates and better passing rates on key criterion tests (e.g., AP tests) than do traditional school programs. Directors of five successful virtual schools agreed to share their "formulas for success" in…

Discusses advantages and disadvantages of norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests. (JF)

Normative data can help those who must interpret test results decide whether a given performance on a criterion-referenced test is satisfactory. (Author/IRT)

Measurement specialists and instructional personnel can join forces to create tests that are valid indicators of important skills and are instructionally attainable targets for teachers. Such tests can revolutionize education. (Author/IRT)

Michigan's superintendent of public instruction is convinced that a state testing program can provide the kind of information educators need to improve instructional planning. (Author)

The author began his education career committed to curriculum, not measurement. After years of using teacher-made and standardized tests as instructional afterthoughts, he recognized the superiority of criterion-referenced testing and the influence of high-stakes testing on instruction. He then became involved with developing such tests on a…

Rebuffs Leslie Maclean and Harvey Goldstein's claims that the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading Proficiency Scale is unidimensional. Critics' confusion may stem from failing to separate what a test measures from a score's usefulness. The Lexile Reading Scale should be integrated with the NAEP scale. Includes eight…

Argues that measurement issues are largely ignored by proponents of competency-based teacher education who focus on administrative and operational considerations. Discusses some of these measurement issues. (Author/JF)

Describes Nebraska's School-based Teacher-led Assessment and Reporting System (STARS), a criterion-referenced assessment system that measures school and district performance over time. (PP)

For 50 years, large-scale educational achievement testing in the United States was dominated by a (low-cost) multiple-choice assessment strategy. The problem is finding adequate financial resources to support constructed-response methods used in authentic or performance testing. Matrix sampling, featuring low-proportion sampling of both students…

An outcome of the excellence movement has been an increase in state control of education, especially through state-mandated testing, as testing has become the preferred means of trying to effect change in education following the popularity of accountability and minimum competency testing. Suggestions for using tests prudently are listed. (DCS)

In developing criterion-referenced reading tests, staff in a Skokie (Illinois) school district answered parents' concerns about accountability, participated in a valuable inservice learning experience, and achieved coordination between elementary and junior high programs. (Author/WD)

There is a great deal to think about in a minimum competency program: What competencies? How to measure? When to measure? One minimum or many? How high the minimum? Minimums for students or for schools? What to do with the incompetent? (Author/IRT)

The items of the Florida minimal competency test have never been validated as measures of "survival skills," and the pass/fail standards were set mindlessly and capriciously. (Author/IRT)