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…

Some schools use results from the MAP® Growth™ interim assessments from Northwest Evaluation Association® (NWEA®) in a number of high-stakes ways. These include as a component of their teacher evaluation systems, to determine whether a student advances to the next grade, or as an indicator for student readiness for certain programs or…

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, and what they can do with what they know. It provides the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA indicate the quality and equity of learning…

Learning to read proficiently by the end of third grade is one of the best predictors of a student's later academic success. This policy brief analyzes school-level District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System (DC CAS) exam results, which are reported on a four-tiered scale: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient and Advanced. Results found that:…

Reports 1990 SAT scores for Blacks, women, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Asian Americans, and compares them with 1989 and 1976 scores. National scores show a slight decline this year, while scores for Blacks are unchanged and scores for Asian Americans and Native Americans show gains. (DM)

A study investigated the existence and direction of any change in reading standards of pupils in England and Wales between 1987 and 1991. The Reading Ability Series Test A was completed by two independent samples (comprised of 2170 pupils in 61 schools) of Year 3 pupils aged seven to eight years in the spring of 1991. The first sample consisted of…

In 1987, General Educational Development (GED) test passing score requirements were raised in Wisconsin. To study the effect, data were gathered from samples of 480 examinees each for 1986 and 1989 through site visits and follow-up surveys mailed to 900 of the 960 in the samples. Responses were received from 206 persons (37 percent). Chi-square…

This study investigated changes between 1987 and 1996 in the proportions of ACT-tested students taking or planning to take high school mathematics and science courses prior to high school graduation. The changes in course-taking patterns among racial/ethnic and gender subgroups were also compared. The seven courses studied were Algebra II,…

This report addresses the unstable and unsatisfactory performance of Chicago, Illinois' Olive-Harvey College's (OHC) associate degree nursing (ADN) graduates on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). An ex post facto correlation study was designed to determine the worthiness of pre-nursing admission course…

Determining the overall pass rates on the College-Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) for a given cohort of students involves an analysis of both the first-time examinee performance and subsequent pass rates of students who failed the test and retook it at a later date. Two increases in the scores required to pass the CLAST in 1986 and 1989 have…

This report gives the results of the Primary Assessment Program (PAP) in Aboriginal schools (Australia) for the 1987 school year. The purpose of PAP is to provide instructional feedback on student achievement in reading and mathematics and to provide indicators of performance for public reporting. All Aboriginal schools which had students in grade…

Cutscores for certifying competence on the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) have been raised three times since the test was implemented in 1982. In 1989, a study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) to challenge the contention that a vast majority of students taking the CLAST under the largest and most recent jump in…

When properly understood, scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) support the hypothesis that the performance of American students as measured by the SAT is steadily improving. As the overall pool of SAT takers increases and as pressures to adopt SAT scores as an administrative measure of instructional performance mount, SAT averages at the…

Calls for education improvement are often predicated on a decline in U.S. education. Past U.S. high school students' knowledge is examined through U.S. history test data from 1915 to 1925 and national achievement test data for 1932 to 1965. Evidence does not support a decline in student knowledge. (SLD)

The State Bilingual Education Program and the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) Chapter 1 Migrant Education Program are used to meet the special education needs of bilingual and migrant students in the Saginaw (Michigan) city school district. These programs operated at 24 elementary schools, 4 junior high schools, and 2 high…