This workbook is one of six professional development manuals prepared by experienced adult assessment staff to help new adult education (AE) instructors understand how to administer and interpret standardized tests and how such standardized tests can provide one basis for instructional placement and curriculum choices. It also provides information…

Standardized testing plays an increasingly important role in the lives of today's students and educators. The U.S. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires assessment in math and literacy in grades 3-8 and 10 and, as of 2007-08, in science once in grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12. Based on National Center for Education Statistics enrollment projections,…

Examines factors contributing to increasing acceptance of and dependence on state and local educational testing. Factors examined include the accountability movement, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, National Assessment of Educational Progress, growth in statewide and local assessment, and minimum competency testing. (SM)

The problem with standardized testing is that it is standardized. Different learners learn differently, different teachers teach differently, and different teacher-learner combinations work differently at different times and in different ways. Standardized tests must be abandoned in favor of methods of creative evaluation that address the needs of…

The Education Improvement Act instigated funding allocation reform, equalization and equity, system accountability, systemwide report cards, value-added assessment, and governance reform. The most dissatisfied educators are those in large, wealthier urban systems. Horizontal equity, accountability, and test results have improved throughout the…

Although criticized by many, the Boston Public (BP) television show raises important issues about the realities of high school life. At a time when educational policy makers see a need to improve student test scores, this show suggests that other issues are more important in the lives of modern high school students, teachers, and administrators.…

This study contributes to the field by identifying a broad range of traditional and newer middle grade policies and practices, and determining in California which of these differentiate higher- from lower-performing schools serving similar student populations, with performance measured by the state's standards-based tests. Based on a sample of 303…

In the 2008-09 school year researchers from EdSource and Stanford University conducted a large-scale study of 303 middle grades schools in California. The team surveyed 303 principals, 3,752 English Language Arts (ELA) and math teachers in grades 6-8, and 157 superintendents of the districts and charter management organizations that oversee the…

This research project surveyed 80% of the K-5 classroom teachers (over 5,500) and every principal at 257 elementary schools in California serving large percentages of low-income, minority, and English Learner students. Specifically, 98% percent of the schools in the sample qualified for Title I funding. The goal was to identify which specific…

Aspirations for the Chicago School Reform Act of 1988 and more recent accountability efforts for the central office indicate that the Chicago Public School (CPS) system needs a credible system for charting academic improvement. The annual systemwide reports of student test scores are crude and sometimes seriously biased indicators for making…

This paper describes the processes that one school district, the Visalia Unified School District (California), went through in establishing a standards-based assessment and accountability system using multiple methods. First the district's standards-based assessment and accountability system and the methods used to establish it are described, and…

Disproportionately large numbers of Mexican American children are labeled as mentally retarded by the public schools and placed in special education classes. Two explanatory hypotheses are discriminatory referral procedures and discriminatory clinical procedures. Findings from research conducted between 1963 and 1969 concerning these processes and…

As part of the Michigan State Board of Education's continuing activities in the planning and coordination of postsecondary education in the state, an attempt has been made to examine the question of the quality of the educational process. It was determined that a committee of the faculty of the institutions of higher education would be the best…

The topic of high-stakes testing (HST) is important because HST has direct and indirect effects on career-technical education (CTE) programs and timely because HST increasingly enters public discussion and has produced a large body of research and practice that generalizes to CTE. A review of HST has identified two persisting dilemmas: policy and…

This study used data from the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS) to evaluate the participation of students with disabilities in the state's comprehensive assessment system. Data on students in grades 4, 8, and 11 during the academic years 1994-1995 through 1996-1997 were collected and analyzed. Results are reported in terms…