Assessment is a crucial component of gifted education. Not only does it facilitate the recognition of the potential and specific needs of gifted students, it also monitors the progress and growth of gifted students, and allows for the evaluation of gifted education programs. In the present review, we synthesize the literature on assessment in…

This year the Center on Education Policy (CEP) analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps…

A three-year study was conducted to evaluate the implementation of the Transitional School Model in the Des Moines, Iowa, Independent Community School District. The model was designed to provide early adolescents in grades 6-8 with a more comprehensive bridge between elementary school and high school by emphasizing students' physical, emotional,…

The purpose of this study was to design, produce, and evaluate testing reports that would be useful and meaningful at the classroom level: reports that would be useful to teachers and informative to parents, without making time demands on teachers in either preparation of the reports or in inservice training in educational measurement. The Iowa…

Technical problems with norm-referenced achievement testing that can lead to the erroneous evaluation of schools for Chapter 1 Program improvement is discussed, and an alternative testing model is presented. The history of Chapter 1 testing and evaluation policies is briefly reviewed, and problems with the norm-referenced model are explored. Data…

In the 1992-93 school year, in response to a request from the Board of Trustees of the Austin Independent School District (Texas) (AISD), the district's Office of Research and Evaluation conducted a retrospective examination of the 1991-92 AISD programs to determine cost-effectiveness when possible. This report describes the review process.…

Two projects that have explored the feasibility of computer-generated verbal score reports for the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills are reported. The first, the Madison Project, designed, produced, and evaluated computer-generated testing reports that were useful to teachers and informative to parents. The reports, which were narrative in format, were…

Each year, Nevada students in grades 3, 4, 5, and 7 participate in testing as part of the Nevada assessment program. Students in grades 3 and 5 take the Nevada Criterion Referenced Assessment (Nevada CRT) while students in grades 4 and 7 take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). These tests serve as an important measure of student achievement for…

Teacher aides, teachers, administrators, and observers in 1 elementary, 1 junior high, and 1 senior high school participated in an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Detroit Pilot Program to Train Teacher Aides in (1) identifying, developing, and defining the role of the aide and (2) identifying effective aide training methods. Procedures…

This volume summarizes the results of the evaluation of the Austin (Texas) Independent School District 1981-82 State Compensatory Education Program. This technical report is organized into eight appendixes. Each appendix reports the information collected by a specific measure. Each appendix consists of (1) an instrument description, (2) purpose of…

This paper highlights measurement issues faced when attempting to assess and interpret results of a school improvement project. Based on the assumption that to measure effectiveness, one must measure a wide variety of school factors, the paper presents a broad perspective on measurement problems and dilemmas in analyzing norm-referenced test data…

The purpose, procedures, analyses, and results are documented for seven information sources used by Austin (Texas) Independent School District in the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA)/Districtwide Priorities--Systemwide Desegregation Evaluation, 1981-82. The information sources include: (1) Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, (2) Sequential Tests of…

The Quality Measurement Project was established in 1956 by the New York State Education Department to determine the feasibility of measuring quality differences between schools and of identifying variables related to these differences. In the latest revision of the project, begun in 1964, 99 representative school systems, excluding the New York…

This report presents a formative evaluation of the first year's program of Trailwoods Environmental Science School, a magnet elementary school in the Kansas City School District in Missouri. The school serves students in grades kindergarten through grade 5 and began operation in the fall of 1990. The report focuses on the implementation of the…