THIS REPORT OF AN INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH ALLIANCE OF TWELVE COUNTRIES EXPLAINS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PROCEDURES OF RESEARCH AND QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT FOR THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EDUCATION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. RESEARCH INSTITUTES FROM TWELVE COUNTRIES ORGANIZED THE COUNCIL OF THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT FOR THE EVALUATION OF EDUCATIONAL…

Calls for education improvement are often predicated on a decline in U.S. education. Past U.S. high school students' knowledge is examined through U.S. history test data from 1915 to 1925 and national achievement test data for 1932 to 1965. Evidence does not support a decline in student knowledge. (SLD)

This newsletter introduces the 1994 NAEP U.S. history assessment, which tested a representative sample of 22,000 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade students across the United States. This issue presents a context for understanding the U.S. history assessment. The newsletter is divided into the following sections: (1) "The NAEP U.S. History…

This report is a first look at the results of the 1994 NAEP U.S. History Assessment. It presents national findings of 4th-, 8th-, and 12-grade students' overall performance and summary data for the major demographic subpopulations in the United States. Results are reported on a 500-point scale, used to show comparisons and trends over time, and…

The Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) has been given to all students as an entry requirement into teacher education programs at Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville) since 1983. All students at the University are also required to take the American College Test (ACT). One of the questions in this study related to whether the same or…

To compare achievement standards of 1977 with those of 1956, three tests were administered in their original form to all third graders in a large school district. Approximately 3500 students in 1956 and 4500 in 1977 were administered the California Achievement Tests, the California Short Form Tests of Mental Maturity, and the Gates Advanced…

This study assessed whether or not classroom-based micro-computer applications can help improve students' performance on standardized tests, and which subject areas such programs are most effective in for fourth graders in two Mississippi schools. The Teaching and Learning with Computers (TLC) program placed a local area network in the school with…

Detailed evidence is presented about the extent of generalization from high-stakes tests to other tests and about the instructional effects of high-stakes testing. Data are from grade 3 of a large, high-poverty urban district with large numbers of Black and Hispanic American students. The district's results in 1990 for two tests, designated Test B…

Beliefs about the causes of success and failure in academic achievement were compared for students in the United States and Israel. The following 11 attributions were placed randomly in a questionnaire format: (1) mood; (2) skill; (3) knowledge; (4) chance; (5) effort; (6) competence; (7) help; (8) ability; (9) task; (10) bias; and (11) luck. Each…

THE RESULTS OF AN EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT USING THREE SERIES OF ENRICHMENT UNITS ARE SUMMARIZED IN THIS REPORT. EACH PROJECT CONSISTED OF 12 HALF-HOUR VIDEOTAPE PRESENTATIONS IN ASTRONOMY, MATHEMATICS, AND GEOGRAPHY. THE LESSONS WERE PRESENTED TO 570 GIFTED (AVERAGE IQ OF 124) FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADE STUDENTS WHO REPRESENTED THE UPPER 25 PERCENT OF THE…

Information provided by typical and improved conventional classroom achievement tests was compared with information provided by an adaptive test covering the same subject matter. Both tests were administered to over 700 college students in a general biology course. Using the same scoring method, adaptive testing was found to yield substantially…

Compares grades awarded by 5 examination boards for 11 subjects at A levels. Uses data from the A Level Information System (ALIS) project for 1989. Finds discrepancies among boards not statistically significant. Fails to identify grading as consistently severe or lenient. (NL)

The relationship between instructional treatment manifested as mastery learning and non-mastery learning strategies and various measures of Spanish proficiency was studied with 41 freshmen at an all-female high school in the New Orleans (Louisiana) area. Subjects were grouped homogeneously into 2 classes of 22 and 19 students, representing the…

The performance of 2,000 academically talented seventh-grade students on the American College Testing Program (ACT) Assessment was investigated in comparison with 2,000 college-bound 12th-grade examinees. Data from the February 1988 and February 1989 administrations of the ACT were used. Differential test performance and item performance were…

The Edmonton Grade III Achievement: 1956-1977 study is a comparison of achievement in reading, arithmetic, and language involving all of the third grade students in a large school system. Six basic skills tests which were administered to all of the Edmonton third grade students in 1956 were reprinted and administered to all of the third grade…