The purpose of this research project was to develop, administer, evaluate, and revise a set of tests which would effectively measure the academic and professional knowledge about English and the teaching of English possessed by prospective secondary school English teachers. The battery of tests was to consist of four parts covering knowledge of…

Preparations for panel discussions at two New Jersey high schools, where college professors evaluated local student College Board Writing Samples in terms of freshman composition standards for the high school English departments, are described. Procedures for the selection of samples written by area students, selection of college professors for…

This report was drawn from the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and describes the science performance of eighth grade students in North Carolina. It compares results for various groups of students within that population and examines the results for individual demographic groups as well as individual background questions. The…

This technical report on the National Association of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1996 State Assessment Program in Science provides an overview of the design, implementation and analysis of the educational assessment including details of sampling design, field administration, preliminary data analysis, and reporting of state results. This report…

This document contains four issues of "NAEPfacts," a report series about the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Issue 1 discusses data from the NAEP 1996 Long-Term Reading Assessment, which shows that overall student reading performance has increased for both 9- and 13-year-olds. Issue 2 reports that data from the NAEP…

This sampler of student responses to mathematics and science items was assembled to show how student responses differ depending on whether students are tested in English or in their native languages. The sampler aims to promote awareness among teachers and assessment developers that low language proficiency in English is a factor that can penalize…

This "NAEP Arts Report Card" for music, theater, visual arts, and dance is in the form of a CD-ROM. This version includes recordings, videos, and other materials used as stimuli for students, extensive examples of student works of art and performances, and explanations of how these works of art and performances were scored. The report's…

Research reports major concerns over classification and measurement for students with limited English proficiency (LEP). A poor operational definition of the English language proficiency construct and validity concerns about existing language proficiency tests are among these issues. Decisions on including LEP students in large-scale assessments…

Presents objectives, methodology, and results from a binary model that studies data from a 1987 nationwide survey of high school students taking the Test of Economic Literacy (TEL). Links current economics class performance to perceived usefulness of additional economics courses. Advocates curriculum reassessment. Includes tables showing results.…

Explores the role of the urban school superintendent with regard to each of the six National Education Goals of 1990. Superintendents must mobilize their forces to fulfill the reforms outlined in the goals and must focus on specific needs of urban children. (SLD)

The degree to which between-group differences in performance on individual questions on the NTE Professional Knowledge Test conform to expectations was studied for 19,307 examinees who had taken the NTE Core Battery. Some items are quite consistent with the intended test interpretation test, whereas others are less consistent. (SLD)

Discusses decision making and politics in teacher education. In Papua New Guinea, poor command of the English language led to implementation of an intensive, controversial program in teacher education colleges. The article presents comments on teacher education, language, and competency testing in England, Wales, Brazil, Canada, and the United…

Asserts that the current national standards movement is a broadly based discussion and debate about what art educators hope to and should accomplish through their work. Reviews the origins and process of developing national art education standards. (CFR)

Examines British national examination results and related trends in the declining level of performance in modern languages relative to other subjects, suggesting that this trend to underperform in modern languages may be due in part to the relative difficulty of the examinations. The paper proposes strategies to help teachers become more rigorous…

States are the primary policymakers in several important areas of K-12 education. Given their dominant role in educational funding and regulation, states not surprisingly have been the primary initiators of the latest wave of educational reform starting in the mid-1980s. In this paper, the authors sought to test indirectly for the effects of…