The report examines 2012-2013 Austin Independent School District (AISD) student academic performance results on the state academic test (STAAR), on an early reading test (Tejas Lee), on the Language Assessment Scales (LAS) Links, and on the state's English language proficiency test (TELPAS) for English language learners in the AISD dual language…

Why has large-scale standardised testing attracted such a bad press? Why has pedagogic benefit to be derived from test results been downplayed? The paper investigates this question by first surveying the pros and cons of testing in the literature, and goes on to examine educators' responses to standardised, large-scale tests in a sample of low…

In the last few decades high-stakes testing has become more political than educational. The Districts within Arizona are bound by the mandates of both AZ LEARNS and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. At the time of this writing, both legislative mandates relied on the Arizona Instrument for Measuring Standards (AIMS) as State Tests for gauging…

Based on the findings of a recent three-year study by Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, the authors can confirm what many librarians have long suspected: students who take part in their local library's summer reading program significantly improve their reading skills. This article describes the results of…

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in academic achievement among students who were Hispanic, Limited English Proficient (LEP), or White, using archival data from the Texas Education Agency's (TEA) Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS). Data examined were fifth grade reading and math passing rates from the 1993…

Increasing standardized test scores in reading and math is of high importance to the California Department of Education to meet requirements mandated by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act of 2001. More research is needed to understand the best ways to improve tests scores to meet concerns of the NCLB act. The purpose of the study was to evaluate…

More than one-fifth of the nation's public school students are Latino. By 2025, the share of Latino children is projected to increase to nearly 3 in 10 school-age children (Fry & Passel, 2009). The fast-growing Latino student population will shape the nation's future, so it is critical that these students are well-prepared for college,…

IF IT IS RECOGNIZED THAT THE SOLE JUSTIFICATION IN GIVING A TEST IS TO OBTAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHILD, FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE THE CHILD'S PERFORMANCE ON THE TEST MUST BE CONSIDERED IN THE INTERPRETATION OF TEST RESULTS. A SUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHILD'S DEVELOPMENT, HIS BACKGROUND, HIS PERCEPTION OF THE TEST SITUATION, AND THE…

Discusses the advantages of and objections to testing children's reading ages and recommends that test results be given for both reading age and percentile levels (rather than standardized scores). (JM)

Three major points covered by this report are (1) What are the demands for reading assessment and how have the demands increased?; (2) How adequately do present standardized reading tests meet these demands?; and (3) What possible approaches exist for developing assessment procedures which meet these demands? An extreme interest in finding out how…

Reports that parents of third-grade students had clear responses to various styles of reporting standardized reading test scores and preferred one that indicated how the child had improved over past performance and that showed the toughest item the child could handle on the test. (FL)

This is a report on the results of the Citywide Reading Test administered in June, 1979, in the elementary, intermediate and junior high schools of New York City. The testing instruments used were the California Achievement Tests. Section A of this report presents information on pupil performance for the school system as a whole. Section B…

The administration of the National Test-Equating Study in Reading is described as part of a symposium on the study. After contacts with each of the State Departments of Education, district and LEA superintendents were asked to consider the participation of randomly selected schools within their jurisdictions. Upon receipt of approval, school…

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…

Students (N = 730) took the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (current forms G or H) during orientation to medical school. Stepwise regression analyses showed the Nelson-Denny Reading Vocabulary, Comprehension, and Rate were significant predictors of MCAT (taken prior to admission to medical school) verbal reasoning. Reading Vocabulary was a significant…