The purpose of this study is to investigate whether students are more successful on abstract or illustrated test questions. To this end, the questions on an abstract test were changed into a visual format, and these tests were administered every three days to a total of 240 students at six middle schools located in the Erzurum city center and…

In recent years, there has been heightened awareness of the importance of early childhood education and high school as intervention points in the educational lives of America's children. Less attention has been paid to the importance of the upper elementary grades and middle school and the role they must play in the preparation of students for…

With his 10th book, Improving Test Scores: A Practical Approach for Teachers and Administrators, Scott Mandel outlines steps educators can take to boost achievement on standardized exams while maintaining the integrity of their day-to-day teaching. Mandel, who holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from USC, teaches history and English at…

This document examines whether early targeted academic intervention can improve college admission test scores and pre- college planning for students identified through the Duke Talent Search and the school system Challenge Program. Students selected for the Early Awareness Test Preparation Pilot Program were invited to participate during their…

This booklet prepares a student to take New Jersey's Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA), a test that measures the knowledge and skills that will be tested later in the state's High School Proficiency Assessment. The GEPA has three test sections (content areas): Language Arts Literacy, Mathematics, and Science. The booklet tells students…

Instruction in one eighth-grade history teacher's classes varied between use and nonuse of vocabulary recognition materials for difficult words to study the possible effect of such materials on test scores. The vocabulary recognition materials were used to augment four chapters of the history textbook that the students studied, while four chapters…

This document concerns what teachers learned from students responses to the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) tests in 1995. Teacher responses and comments are presented in the following categories: (1) "Look How Far We've Come!" (identifies areas of improvement in student performance); (2) "Perceptions"…

Describes summer school sessions developed by Houston schools to improve performance of academically at-risk eighth graders on the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS). Highlights include content area lessons in language arts and mathematics; study and test-taking skills; multimedia instructional materials; and student and…

This publication is a distillation of the most salient, most often repeated observations and recommendations of Maryland teacher-test scorers on their experiences scoring student responses to the Maryland School Performance Assessment (MSPAP) test in 1994. Feedback is organized into perceptions about what would be pertinent to share with other…