ACT requested assistance from the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment (Center for Assessment) to investigate declines of scores for states administering the ACT to its 11th grade students in 2018. This request emerged from conversations among state leaders, the Center for Assessment, and ACT in trying to understand the…

This article considers some of the reasons teachers usually regard literature as an appropriate tool of language classroom learning. These of literary texts can be a powerful pedagogic tool. This study describes some of the approaches to teaching literature and provides a rationale for integrating the teaching of literature as an approach to…

Can increasing student perception and engagement though alternative teaching methods, such as introducing math in an everyday context improve student test scores? Literature on this subject suggests improving student engagement and introduction of math in everyday applications can improve student comprehension. This study looks at a second grade…

Candidates who had taken examinations for certification required by the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) were surveyed to acquire feedback about the effectiveness of score interpretive information given to test takers. Those sampled included 488 passers and 389 failers of the Inventory Management (IM) examination and 457…

Normal Curve Equivalents (NCEs), a new score system for standardized tests, are used by school districts in reporting results to federal funding agencies. The author uses a quiz format to answer questions on the use of NCE scores. (EGS)

This report presents data on home schooling in the state of Arkansas that covers: students withdrawn from home school; home school student count by county, district, and grade level; and home school enrollments by grade and gender. The report contains the texts of the Arkansas Code Annotated Section 6-15-501 through Section 6-15-508 Home School…

A revision of the document of the same title published in 1971, this publication contains the description of each physical education test event designated by the California State Board of Education annually. Also included are directions for administering, conditioning, reporting, and using the results of the test events. The new norm tables…

The Maryland State Department of Education issued a request for proposals to develop a score reporting system for the Maryland Functional Testing Program. RMC Research Corporation conducted a literature review of extant literature and developed a national survey of non-norm-referenced test score reporting practices. This comprehensive analysis of…

In order to understand the roles of test scores and diversity characteristics (including race and ethnicity) in the admission process, National Board researchers interviewed admissions directors who worked at selective public and private institutions are well as admissions consultants in the summer and fall of 1999. This report presents an…

As part of a study of the inclusion of English language learners (ELLs) in large-scale assessments, this study investigated the potential role of student preference in the use of accommodations with large-scale assessments and the effects of two test accommodations, providing extra assessment time and reading test items aloud, on the standardized…

The effects of student coaching in preparation for the College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) on the predictive validity of this test for freshman year performance were studied using data on 1985 freshman year students from four colleges. After the validity of the SAT was estimated for each school, a given proportion of students was picked,…

The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) is used to assess the behavioral problems and social competencies of children. Its broad usage in both practitioner and research contexts has led to misapplications as compared to the CBCL's original intended purpose. In addition, the composition of the normative sample presents particular difficulties for…

The effect of collaborative testing on junior high school students' scores was investigated. Twenty-two students in grades 7, 8, and 9 were given curriculum-based tests in their pre-algebra classes. Some tests were taken individually in the traditional manner, and others were taken collaboratively by students in pairs over a 10-week period.…

This study examined the relationships between students' noncognitive characteristics and their performance on the ACT Assessment. Of particular interest were the contributions of these noncognitive variables to explaining ACT Assessment performance (over and above course work taken, grades earned, and high school attended). The sample for the…

There has been concern over the validity of the Algebra Diagnostic Test (ADT) used to determine the actual level of student preparation for the first quarter of calculus as taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It has been hypothesized that performance-based questions, along with the more traditional multiple choice questions,…