The Iowa Test of Educational Development (ITED), a test of general abilities given to high school students, is intended as a tool for teachers and administrators to measure the progress of their students and plan accordingly; it also purports to assess the use by students of critical and evaluative abilities. Because such tests as the ITED carry…

The High School and Beyond study is a national large-scale longitudinal survey of a representative sample of approximately 58,000 high school students. Information was collected at various stages from 1980-1986, on over 1,500 variables including achievement in six different areas measured by a 126-item cognitive test. Previous analyses of the…

The contribution of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) to education is described, and the most frequently asked questions about its use are addressed. The SAT became a prominent tool in college admissions when the members of the College Board recognized in the 1930's that the Board's program of very specific subject-matter tests was no longer…

Describes the development of a standardized achievement test for high school horticulture students and analyzes resulting data from 37 high schools. Although the sample may not have been truly random, the test is felt to be sufficiently reliable and valid for use as a research and evaluation tool. (MF)

This content assessment project is designed to determine what social studies content should be tested on national standardized tests and how that content should be defined. Sixteen historians, political scientists, and social studies educators were interviewed to identify key concepts. In a second phase, the cultural literacy rationale for content…

Because test scores reflect not only a student's knowledge in a given area, but also his or her familiarity with cues present in the test, and because tests are so prevalent and important in schools, there is a great need to teach test wiseness skills. It is ethical to do so if no material from the final test is included. Certain principles and…

An assessment was made of the psychometric and educational quality of all high school level tests of general mathematics, applied mathematics, algebra and geometry. The study was part of a large-scale project involving evaluations of all standardized secondary school tests available in the United States. Assessments revealed most tests to be low…

The American College Testing Program (ACT) routinely evaluates the fit of its tests to the curriculum of high schools nationwide to ensure that what is being assessed reflects what is being taught as necessary for college success. This report describes the steps ACT has taken to ensure that the content foundations of the ACT Assessment Mathematics…

A panel of expert referees from the Philadelphia school district categorized items from secondary-level standardized mathematics tests according to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) subobjectives for mathematics. The following tests were covered by the study: (1) California Achievement Tests (Levels 19 and 20); (2) Comprehensive…

Investigates whether standardized tests measure the same comprehension construct as free recall assessment techniques. (FL)

A study examined whether career academy programs, with their tailored curricula, dilute content of required curricula, and whether academy students who follow this alternative course of study are less prepared to score well on standardized tests. Data were gathered through site visits to seven schools, review of reports and documents, and…

Mississippi students are now being tested at almost every grade level. Passage of the Functional Literacy Examination (FLE) will be a prerequisite for a high school diploma beginning with the 1989 graduating class. This emphasis on testing, without an accompanying commitment to ensuring all students equal access to a full academic core curriculum,…

The validity of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) and problems associated with inappropriate norms were investigated in eleven senior high schools in Phoenix, Arizona. CTBS validity was assessed in three ways: (1) correlation between test scores and number of courses taken in that subject; (2) correlation between CTBS scores and…

A formative evaluation of a pilot review and appeal process for the Maryland Writing Test (MWT) is described. The MWT is a large-scale direct assessment of writing. A three-year pilot phase was to culminate in the implementation of an operational procedure for the review and appeal of scores impacting a pass/fail decision for examinees. The MWT…

Magnet schools have become increasingly popular as alternatives to traditional curriculum offerings and as tools to promote voluntary desegregation in urban school districts. Most evaluations of magnet schools have been concerned with monitoring objectives and compliance with regulations. Few reports assess the impact of magnet curricula on…