Title I is a compensatory education program supported by funds from the Department of Education to enable high-poverty schools to provide opportunities for educationally disadvantaged children. In 1995-96, Title I provided funding to 38 campuses in the Austin Independent School District (AISD) (Texas) through schoolwide programs and…

This annual report examines trends in Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) data for Maryland vis-a-vis national trends. Major findings include the following: (1) composite SAT scores for Maryland students trail the national average for the first time since 1982; (2) composite SAT scores of African-Americans in Maryland have consistently trailed those…

A look at the figures in a recent report, "The State of Learning," reveals that for the students in New York City, who are almost one third of all those in the State's public schools system, the state of learning is deplorable. The children who are most at risk receive fewer resources than their more advantaged peers. Minorities…

Steps involved in the item analysis and scaling of the 1990 edition of Forms A and B of the Nevada High School Proficiency Examinations (NHSPEs) are described. Pilot tests of Forms A and B of the 47-item reading and 45-item mathematics tests were each administered to random samples of more than 600 eleventh-grade students. A computer program was…

This publication is a distillation of the most salient, most often repeated observations and recommendations of Maryland teacher-test scorers on their experiences scoring student responses to the Maryland School Performance Assessment (MSPAP) test in 1994. Feedback is organized into perceptions about what would be pertinent to share with other…

This report presents the results and sample items of a reading test and a mathematics test administered to Year 5 and Year 7 primary level students in 1989 in the Northern Territory of Australia. The Primary Assessment Program (PAP) monitors achievement in English and Mathematics in urban schools. All students in Years 5 and 7 are tested in…

The Milepost Testing Program of the Los Angeles Unified School District (California) is described. The district's Ten Schools Program was designed as an intervention to raise student achievement in 10 historically low-achieving inner-city schools, with a minimum 60-percent African American population. The Milepost Testing Program was conceived of…

This report deals with a variety of ways that have been, or could be, used to interpret the scales used in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Policymakers, researchers, and other users of assessment results need to understand the methods used for reporting NAEP. Having a reference is particularly important as the methods of…

In the fall of 1990, seven teachers at the Ralph Bunche School, a public elementary school in Harlem (New York) began an experiment in school restructuring they called the Computer Mini-School. An unexpected outcome of the project was an increase in standardized test scores among their 120 students. This outcome is explored. It is argued that the…

The Elementary School Curriculum Efficacy Program (ESCEP) of the Detroit (Michigan) Public Schools is intended to improve the academic performance of students through the development of positive attitudes toward learning. The ESCEP introduces students to a process of self-exploration that better enables them to understand their personal…

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…

The purpose of this study was to examine patterns with regard to six advanced high school mathematics courses 12th-grade students who took the American College Testing (ACT) assessment had taken between 1987 and 1997. Differences in performance on the ACT mathematics test were studied with respect to mathematics courses taken, gender,…

In 1990, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) included a Trial State Assessment which, for the first time in the NAEP's history, made voluntary state-by-state assessments. This 1992 mathematics report marks the first attempt of the National Center for Education Statistics to shift to standards-based reporting of National…

This report describes the aggregated reading and mathematics performances of students in years 5 and 7 in urban Northern Territory (Australia) schools on the Primary Assessment Program (PAP) tests. The aggregated results are encouraging, with apparent gains in some reading tests over the preceding year, and no evidence of decline in the others.…

This report provides an overview of the Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP) and summarizes students' average writing assessment scores from 1987 through 1992. Oklahoma has completed its 6th year of administering a state legislature mandated test to 10th graders and its 5th year of testing 7th graders. The Stanford Writing Assessment Program was…