The increase in large-scale standardized testing in the nation's schools is one major result of demands for accountability. Such testing also impacts many aspects of school and family life and culture. For some, certain unintended impacts may be like side effects of medicines that need to be tolerated; for others they raise larger questions about…

A variety of testing methods can be extremely useful in finding out whether children who are experiencing learning difficulties may have one or more learning disabilities. This is an important and valuable role for testing. Another important issue concerns how best to ensure fairness for a learning disabled student when he or she must take a…

This issue includes the following articles: "New Rule Increases Flexibility for Students with Disabilities," which discusses a new provision of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) that will give local school districts greater flexibility in meeting the Act's requirement for educating students with disabilities; "The Three R's for Success.…

There have always been tests, but there have never before been so many! It is natural for parents and concerned citizens to wonder what is motivating this increase and to examine the many reasons why. Ever since there have been schools, teachers have used tests of various kinds to find out how well students are learning and if their instruction…

Testing in the nation's schools is on the rise. From the classroom quiz to the large-scale standardized test, the pressure for education to be "accountable" has intensified. As children experience this new tide of testing, it is helpful to become more aware of the different types of tests and their purposes. Students in the United States…

The accuracy and fairness of standardized testing is taken very seriously in the education world. These issues are a major focus of both the testing experts who develop standardized tests and the researchers who endeavor to ensure a test's fairness, reliability, validity, and accuracy. But many issues remain both controversial and complex. The…

This report presents the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) performance results to state officials and the public as required by state law. Compiled in two volumes, TAAS results are aggregated and reported for the state as a whole, for education service centers and individual districts, and in district demographic groupings. This volume…

Student assessment, from the classroom to the state and national levels, is changing. The era of norm-referenced, multiple choice, standardized tests may be coming to an end, to be replaced by other forms of assessment, not all equally good. This guide outlines a vision of what assessment in the service of learning can be and provides ideas,…

The "General Report" and "Executive Summary" provide information about the performance of the public school system of Utah. The Utah Statewide Educational Assessment (USEA) Program began in 1975 and has continued every 3 years through the April 1990 assessment, to be replaced in fall 1990 by a new testing program. The new…

English and Spanish versions of a guide to testing reform are presented. The guide explains alternatives to standardized testing for educational assessment and shows how these new methods of evaluation will improve education. Standardized tests are used for an increasing number of purposes in the school system, but there is no proof that their use…

This report presents the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) performance results to state officials and the public as required by state law. Compiled in two volumes, TAAS results are aggregated and reported for the state as a whole, for education service centers and individual districts, and in district demographic groupings. Section 1…