Why has large-scale standardised testing attracted such a bad press? Why has pedagogic benefit to be derived from test results been downplayed? The paper investigates this question by first surveying the pros and cons of testing in the literature, and goes on to examine educators' responses to standardised, large-scale tests in a sample of low…

State testing programs today are more extensive than ever, and their results are required to serve more purposes and high-stakes decisions than one might have imagined. Assessment results are used to hold schools, districts, and states accountable for student performance and to help guide a multitude of important decisions. This report describes…

The accuracy of achievement test score inferences largely depends on the sensitivity of scores to instruction focused on tested objectives. Sensitivity requirements are particularly challenging for standards-based assessments because a variety of plausible instructional differences across classrooms must be detected. For this study, we developed a…

In recent years, governments worldwide have increased their use of standardized tests and other forms of external tests to measure and report on student achievement in selected academic subjects. That trend, responding to public pressure on decision-makers to make school systems more transparent and accountable, is often colored by criticisms of…

The single most important output of any school is probably the magnitude of its students' growth in academic achievement. A variety of standardized tests has been developed to measure aspects of this achievement; however, only recently have administrators attempted to use such tests to help review and make decisions about educational programs.…

This is a condensed report of a study commissioned by the Minister's Advisory Committee on Student Achievement (MACOSA). The study was designed to provide information about current levels of achievement in mathematics among students in Alberta schools and to provide a data base for future assessments. The test was given to third-, sixth-, ninth-,…

The practice of analyzing all available project children in as large a group as possible is considered not to be justifiable when distinct subgroups of pupils are represented. Instead, the approach suggested here determines the test score gain a pupil achieves from the beginning to the end of the year, with all of the pupil gain scores of a single…

This 20-minute videotape features 2 schools that have maintained a school culture based on using myriad data sources and processes to fuel their school-improvement activities. In the video the voices of teachers and administrators in each school articulate the ways they have used data to improve student achievement. They highlight numerous data…

This publication on the New South Wales' Basic Skills Testing Program (BSTP) describes the development of the program's tests, the analysis of students' results, and the communication of results to parents, teachers, and schools. In BSTP tests, basic skills are defined not as low-level, rudimentary survival skills, but as major areas of learning…

This report represents an integration of analysis results in an interim report with those from additional analyses performed since. It is divided into (1) description of the experiment in which the goal is outlined; (2) description of the technology company programs, an overview of personnel, curriculum and materials, and incentive systems; (3)…

This report summarizes the principal findings for the O.E.O. experiment in performance contracting. The report emphasizes major results and conclusions to date. It is divided into (1) description of the experiment, in which the goal is outlined; (2) description of the technology company programs, curriculum and materials, and overviews of…

This booklet reports on the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in geography for 4th, 8th, and 12th grade students, a test given for the first time to establish baseline data for measuring student progress in geography well into the future. The booklet contains the following sections: (1) Why We Assess Geography; (2) The 1994…

This booklet reports on the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in U.S. History for 4th, 8th, and 12th grade students. The booklet contains the following sections: (1) Why We Assess History; (2) Preparing the 1994 NAEP U.S. History Assessment; (3) What is NAEP? (4) Creating a Framework for the U.S. History Assessment, with What…