"Data-driven school reform" emphasizes the idea that if teachers analyze the kinds of questions students miss on standardized reading comprehension tests, and then give students lots of practice with such items, they will end up with higher test scores. This approach is likely to be popular with the new Partnership for Assessment of…

This column explains three ways that teachers can improve reading test performance. Basically, the idea is that instead of teaching students to respond to particular question types as is typical of test preparation despite the ineffectiveness of this practice, it is better to teach students to read the test passages more effectively. Three…

Reports that neither residual nor crude gain methods were more effective in measuring reading improvement gain at the elementary level. (TO)

Concludes that the extra attention paid to children during the administration of reading tests does not have a significant effect on test performance and that the Hawthorne effect does not influence reading test results. (RB)

Shows that a score obtained on a retest using the reading reinforced technique gives a useful measure of reading capacity and apparently provides a successful method of screening students for reading programs. Tables, graphs, and bibliography. ( RW)

Discusses what the term "High-Stakes Testing" means; concerns about high-stakes testing; whether testing is an important part of good educational design; why using tests for high-stakes decisions causes problems; whether test scores improve when high-stakes assessment is mandated; and ways to help states monitor student success in the curriculum.…