The achievement gap between White and African American students on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) is an educational phenomenon that has been around for generations and yet to be fully understood or eliminated. This study investigated the difference in school climate perceptions between African American and Caucasian (sic) elementary school…

Background: This article builds on three years of qualitative research on Wisconsin's Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program, a class size reduction policy in Wisconsin. Objective: In this article, we take a practice-oriented perspective on assessment, examining how assessments in schools that participated in a class size…

Based on 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 10th grade student performance on selected, critical language arts objectives, this assessment provides information in terms of objectives achieved and not achieved. Approximately 25 objectives are assessed; each had three to five assessment items. Other objectives were tested with items requiring written responses.…

The Pennsylvania Department of Education suggests a scheme of what a school district might do in the way of preassessment publicity, concurrent publicity, and postassessment publicity regarding Educational Quality Assessment (EQA) reports. A case study is presented of a hypothetical school district with five elementary schools, two junior highs,…

Few states publish school report cards that contain school performance ratings. Comprehensive school report cards are strategically oriented, reflect front-end planning, report test scores within a broader context, have readable formats, use credible and multiple messengers, and explain how to use information. A sidebar explains the school board's…

Many states use a statewide assessment strategy to evaluate districts on common measures. Because districts in Nebraska are not measured on common instruments, comparisons of district performance are difficult. The accountability model described in this paper contains three components related to school district performance on academic content…

In 1982, Lansing (Michigan) Public Schools took the stance that their low Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) scores were not reflective of what their students really knew and that, with some short- and long-range planning, scores would improve dramatically. The districtwide effort is briefly described here. (BW)

This report presents Austin Independent School District 1984 test results on the Texas Assessment of Basics Skills (TABS). It was administered to all third, fifth and ninth grade students and to high school students not meeting ninth grade state-set mastery criteria, the minimum competency requirement for graduation. Results are presented as…

This report provides Albuquerque Public School Administrative personnel with 1982-83 test result summaries for gifted students in grades 1 through 12 on the Scott Foresman Achievement Series tests and the Developing Cognitive Abilities (D-CAT) test. These results are the first complete set of pre- and posttest data obtained on gifted students over…

Report cards (RCs) on schools have become common in several states. This study determined relationships among factors reported in RCs developed for local school districts within Tennessee in 1988-89. Every year the state board of education produces an RC for each school district containing student outcome data (test results and achievement data)…

This mid-1984 "snapshot" of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) focuses on three areas: (1) the state of learning in AISD schools as measured by achievement test results for college bound seniors, graduates, and high achieving, average, and low achieving students; (2) the changes needed in compensatory programs for low…

The Center for the Study of Evaluation's (CSE) Test Use Project (1979) has gathered information that is nationally representative and illustrative of the entire range of tests being administered. The primary intention of this phase of the ongoing study is to identify the direct and indirect costs of testing. The four papers included here offer…

Superintendents from 155 school districts in Pennsylvania were surveyed regarding their participation in Pennsylvania's 1976 Educational Quality Assessment (EQA). Ten state goals for quality public school education were assessed in grades 5, 8, and 11, as part of the EQA. Questionnaire responses were returned by superintendents from 128 school…

Part I of this report attempts to describe the system that was developed for local educational agencies by the Delaware State Department of Public Instruction to support classroom and curricular improvement in mathematics through the administration of an objective-referenced test in mathematics to grade four students. This system includes the…

This is the sixth in a series of six monographs developed to help local educators use and report Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test results. Because the media help shape public opinion, educators need to carefully plan a comprehensive reporting campaign which quickly and accurately gets information on MEAP test results to media…