In 1982 the Dade County Public Schools (Florida) began developing test item banks for secondary subject areas, because other testing programs have limited utility for assessing the quality of curriculum, instruction, or learning in specific content areas. In May l984, the approximately 17,000 seventh graders enrolled in Life Science and the…

This summary report is intended to provide answers to questions that local school personnel may have concerning the 1980-81 South Carolina Statewide Testing Program. The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, Form S(CTBS/S), which measure reading, language, mathematics, science, social studies, and reference skills, were administered to 134,753…

During the 1982-83 school year, the California Achievement Test (CAT) was administered to students attending Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS) in grades 3,5,8 and 11. This report describes and displays the county-wide and school test results which are further broken down by racial/ethnic group and sex. An analysis of the data…

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 Florida Statewide Assessment Program annually tests students on their achievement of statewide objectives in the basic skills areas of mathematics, reading, and writing. The objective-referenced tests, which measure entry-level skills, are administered in the fall of each year. Results are provided for each student, school, district, and the…

The first segment of a long-term educational assessment plan, for which this three-part report was compiled, called for a study that would survey the status of English language arts programs in the province of British Columbia and serve as a pilot for future assessment programs. This portion of the study presents results from the third phase of…

In the 1973-74 North Carolina State Assessment approximately 2,500 third-graders took a health test and a physical education test. The students were randomly selected to represent the third-grade population in the state as a whole and in the three geographic regions: Mountains, Piedmont, and Costal Plains. Both sexes were about evenly represented.…

Many states have implemented high-stakes testing since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Yet the question remains whether high-stakes tests effectively measure student proficiency. This report describes a study that compared results on high-stakes tests with results on other standardized tests not used for accountability…

This paper is a report on a study of the effect of charter schools on both students attending them and students in neighboring public schools in Michigan. Using school-level data from Michigan's standardized testing program, the study compared changes in tests scores between charter and public school students. The data included annual math and…

As almost every state revises its mathematics frameworks or develops new ones, current testing practices remain almost unchanged. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), in its "Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics," argues for greater emphasis on application, reasoning, and conceptual understanding, but the…

Considerable evidence suggests that policy-makers, educators, the media, and the public do not understand national and state test results. The problems appear to be two-fold: the scales on which scores are reported seem confusing, and the report forms themselves are often too complex for the intended audiences. This paper addresses two topics. The…

Test misuse is neither isolated nor recent. It is a problem that cannot be easily solved. While test misuse may be reduced or managed, it cannot be eliminated. Test misuse has cut across America's social, economic, and political institutions, including schools. The most flagrant abuse of a test is what happens to the results of the Scholastic…

This document is a report to the Delaware State Legislature concerning the results of the Delaware Educational Assessment Program in 1989-90. The Stanford Achievement Test was administered statewide in grades 1 through 8 and grade 11. This administration allowed both national and state comparisons. The average Delaware student performed above the…

These comments provide further details which expand upon the recommendations of the subcommittee on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Writing. Three issues are discussed. The first concerns how objectives of assessment in writing ought to be stated. The 1984 objectives are stated in general terms without reference to what might…

This paper reviews literacy and literacy assessment in America, in relation to the various National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessments. Literacy can be defined and assessed only in relation to literacy demands. A current concept of literacy distinguishes between reading comprehension as an outcome of lexical access and…