Field trials were conducted to test rating methods and the impact of feedback about consequences for the 1998 achievement levels-setting (ALS) process for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The field trials provided the opportunity to try out different methods similar to those used successfully by others, as well as to try out…

This report starts with a quick review of the beginning of standardized testing in U.S. schools and the reasons for growing reliance on testing. It summarizes the recent promising trends and suggests how testing for accountability could be less intrusive and provide better information about achievement in schools. The proposal for a voluntary…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a longitudinal study designed to measure changes in the knowledge, skills, and understandings of young Americans, ages 9, 13, 17, and 26-35. This overview discusses some special aspects of NAEP, and explains its history and governance. (MH) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in…

Discussed are the need for standardized tests and the changes that will be needed for their proper implementation. The use of calculators on tests is advocated. Computer and calculator delivered examinations are also discussed. (KR)

The Mantel-Haenszel approach for investigating differential item functioning (DIF) was applied to United States history items within the 1986 National Assessment of Educational Progress administered to 7,812 11th graders. DIF analyses were based on responses of 7,743 11th graders. Results concerning sex and racial differences and ethnicity are…

The national examination systems of Ethiopia and South Australia are compared with an eye toward identifying problems in the Ethiopian system. Authentic assessment, which has never been a part of the examination system of Ethiopia, should be introduced along with other innovations patterned on the Australian system. (SLD)

Examines Scotland's increasingly standardized national curriculum and testing reforms. Discusses centrally determined innovations, relationships between curriculum and assessment, reforms' effects on classroom, and teachers' role. Compares elements of encroaching "market model" reforms in England, Wales, and United States, suggesting…

The traditional educational approach with students as passive recipients has been the subject of criticism. A constructivist learner-centered approach towards education has been argued to produce greater internalization and application of knowledge compared to the traditional teacher-centered, transmission-oriented approach. Nevertheless,…

Purpose: Policymakers and administrators are increasingly focusing on professional development as a means to improve teaching quality. In this study, the authors examine whether professional development in mathematics is primarily performing an educative function by addressing weak teacher preparation, or a catalytic function by serving mainly…

In recent months the idea of a single national test seems to have lost some of its momentum, while use of national standards to which voluntary regional or state tests would be indexed seems to have gained support. Nationally, there does not seem to be any organized attempt to fuse the national education goals into the state process beyond the…

A study was conducted to investigate the difference in student performance on multiple choice (MC) and constructed response (CR) items relative to the achievement levels of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The study included an investigation of how estimates of student performance were affected by item response theory (IRT)…

The administrator in charge of assessment for the San Diego (California) schools discusses the district's decision about whether or not to endorse a national test. The San Diego schools serve 135,000 urban students in 165 schools, 31% of whom are Latino, 22% Asian Indochinese, 18% African American, and 29% White. Before San Diego would want to…

The United States is not doing as well as it could in assessing educational outcomes in the 1980s. The assessment movement of the 1980s indicates that its institutional memory is poor, and when coping with outside pressures, it is slow to recall how it coped the last time it was under pressure. It is important to remember such events and pressures…

The 1988 assessment of U.S. history objectives by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the first such assessment in U.S. history. This booklet presents a framework of objectives for U.S. history courses, including: (1) the chronology of people, events, documents, and interrelationships that form U.S. history; (2) the context…

This study explored the range of future policies preferred by a selected sample of Australian educators and identified the grounds on which the preferences were based. Seventy-eight policy options for teacher education in Australia were identified through workshop participants and examination of reports of inquiries and investigations in…