The enhancement of critical thinking skills is necessary for students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. A three-year mixed methods study conducted at a Historically Black College and University in Baltimore, Maryland focused on enhancing critical thinking skills for African American students.…

Using data to redesign instruction is a means of increasing student achievement. Educators in Camden County (Georgia) Schools have used data from benchmark testing since 1999. They hired a commercial vendor to design a benchmark test that is administered four times a year and use the data to generate subject-area reports that can be further…

This article describes the findings of studies conducted on a large-scale, classroom-based performance assessment of literacy for the early grades designed to provide information that is useful for reporting, as well as teaching. Technical studies found the assessment to be a promising instrument that is reliable and valid. Follow-up studies of…

The National curriculum assessment (NCA) in Wales has evolved from common foundations into a system that is now distinct from that in England. The influence of the political and social milieu of Wales can be seen both in the distinctive features that have been in place from the outset and in the more radical changes introduced since 2002. In this…

Current efforts to reduce bias in assessment and placement of children with special needs has included the development of new testing procedures, use of adaptive behavior scales, use of criterion referenced measures, and interpretation of test results using local or special group norms. (SBH)

This study aimed to determine how California secondary physical education teachers perceive the state mandated youth fitness testing for the 5th, 7th, and 9th grades using Fitnessgram. The participants were secondary school physical education teachers (N = 323). A previously validated attitudinal instrument (Keating & Silverman, 2004a) was…

The author describes the tests he uses in evaluating students for learning disabilities, his reasons for using them, and results and interpretations based on those tests. (CL)

With the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the United States entered the "age of high-stakes educational accountability". According to the United States Department of Education, NCLB is designed to change the culture of America's schools by closing the achievement gap, offering more flexibility, giving parents more…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of the results from the June 1998 administration of the Mathematics 30 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school…

"Classroom Assessment in Action" clarifies the multi-faceted roles of measurement and assessment and their applications in a classroom setting. Comprehensive in scope, Shermis and Di Vesta explain basic measurement concepts and show students how to interpret the results of standardized tests. From these basic concepts, the authors then…

This report describes findings from the second year of the most comprehensive, intensive, and carefully constructed study to date of trends in student achievement in all 50 states since 2002, the year the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was enacted. Last year, the Center on Education Policy (CEP), an independent nonprofit organization, began this…

Background: In this article we address some of the challenges posed by the development of national assessment systems and discuss the need for high quality information on trends in attainment; support for school improvement processes and ways in which learning should be enhanced through valid assessment. Purpose: Key elements are explored,…

The summary information contained in this report provides teachers, school administrators, students, and the general public with an overview of the results from the June 1998 administration of the Mathematics 33 Diploma Examination by the Alberta Department of Education in Canada. This information is most helpful when used with the detailed school…

The study concerns whether graduate students could improve the accuracy of their self-evaluations of performance in a statistics class over a semester when feedback was provided and whether such accuracy was related to their Miller Analogies Test scores. (Author/KM)