Representatives of the Riverside Publishing Company discuss the "Lake Wobegon Phenomenon," the reported "above average" achievement of most elementary schools nationwide that was discussed by J. J. Cannell (1988) of the Friends for Education. More appropriate use of normative comparisons and more complete reporting of test…

The time-bound nature of test norms is discussed in light of the report of J. J. Cannell (1988) that a large majority of elementary schools report above average achievement on national achievement tests. Generally increasing levels of achievement are deemed to be responsible for this phenomenon. (SLD)

Despite the skepticism of J. J. Cannell (1988) that commercial test scores reveal much about the real achievement level of students, there is ample evidence that at least some of the gains observed on standardized tests are legitimate. Standardized scores should be greeted with healthy skepticism when high, but taken very seriously when low. (SLD)

Discussed are results of a test which measured elementary educators' map reading skills. Results indicate that elementary educators must improve their skills if they are to provide fundamental map skills to students. (Author/DB)

In 1988, Congress mandated a national longitudinal evaluation of the effects of the Title I program on students' academic achievement and classroom behavior. This paper presents an overview of the study design, analysis methods, and impact results for student achievement. The analysis used four types of designs to assess the impact of Title I: (1)…

In August 1998, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), North Carolina, adopted a goal statement that specified that by 2003, 95% of students tested would be at or above grade level as measured by the North Carolina End-of-Grade (EOG) tests at grades 3 and 8. This report defines that goal operationally and defines the terms used to describe…

Neuropsychological tests taping intellectual, language, perceptual, and motor processing of a learning disabled child are described. The use of the test results to formulate remedial strategies is outlined. The application of ideas presented by other authors in the Summer 1981 issue of "School Psychology Review" is demonstrated. (Author/AL)

Presents a study that compared teachers' predictions of their students' reading achievement to the 6-8 year old students' reading accuracy and comprehension scores. Reports that predictions were moderately correlated with accuracy and comprehension, but most of the judgments were incorrect. (CMK)

Disabled and nondisabled fifth graders completed a standardized achievement test under timed and untimed conditions to examine the effect of speededness on test performance. Results indicated no difference in test speededness for the two groups nor showed that the groups were differentially affected when the amount of speededness was reduced. (SM)

Cites excerpts from three peer-reviewed studies on the Milwaukee voucher program that contradict John Witte's arguments in a September 1999 "Kappan" article. Results (incorporation of low-income families, parents' satisfaction with private/parochial schools, and student improvement on math achievement measures) justify the program's…

President Clinton, like President Bush before him, has challenged the nation's schools to participate in a rigorous national test of each student's reading skills at grade 4 and mathematics skills at grade 8. Tests would be voluntary and administered by private testing companies. They would allow parents to judge the adequacy of their child's…

This report presents the 1983-84 summary achievement profiles of the 82 Portland, Oregon, elementary schools for use by school staffs, administrators, and the community for planning, goal setting, and evaluation. The profiles contain Portland Achievement Level Tests results plus data on the physical facility, school personnel, student enrollment,…

Spanish and English versions of a 38-item grammar test were administered to 40 Spanish-surnamed pupils equally divided by sex at grade levels K, 1, 3, and 5 (10 subjects per grade) in a bilingual education program. The test was a revision of part of an earlier test for oral proficiency in Spanish and English. The reliability of the new test was…

In a study designed to assess effects of administering the Metropolitan Reading Test (MRT) in Spanish versus English, 100 Puerto Rican kindergarten pupils were randomly split into two groups. The MRT was administered in English to one group and in a Spanish translation to the other group. The group who took the Spanish version significantly…

When interpreting the results of a norm-referenced testing program, the availability of several expectations of test scores is desirable. Toward this objective, academic aptitude test data (the Short Form Test of Academic Aptitude) and school socioeconomic data were collected from the participants in the 1970 standardization of the California…