Public school critics often point to rising expenditures and relatively flat test scores to justify their school reform agendas. The claims are flawed because their analyses fail to account for the difference in data types between dollars (ratio) and test scores (interval). A cost-benefit analysis using dollars as a common metric for both costs…

To what extent can young people analyze the pros and cons of a proposal to develop a new source of energy? Construct and test a model or prototype? Use the Internet to find and summarize data and information in order to solve a problem or achieve a goal? The exploding growth in the world of technology and the need to answer questions similar to…

Describes the evolution of national educational assessment in the United States, its present stage of development, methodological and reporting problems, and approaches applicable to assessment data. Examines how proposed approaches can be applied in the California Assessment Program and in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. (MJL)

Standard setting is a fairly widespread activity in educational and psychological measurement, but there is no formal psychometric theory to guide the development of standard setting methodology. This paper presents a conceptual framework for such a psychometric theory and uses the conceptual framework to analyze a number of methods for setting…

This paper discusses different perspectives associated with the use of multiple measures in educational assessment and explores some of the technical considerations for selecting and combining multiple measures. The paper concludes with an example of the use of multiple measures with regard to the recent No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002.…

Developed an empirical strategy for studying broad-based educational change using quantitative methods and an extensive database consisting of state policy indicators and data on schools and classrooms from states participating in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Results of a Rasch analysis indicate that patterns of state policy…

This study introduced a probabilistic model utilizing item response theory (IRT) for dealing with a variety of misconceptions. The model can be used for evaluating the transition behavior of error types, advancement of learning stages, or the stability and persistence of particular misconceptions. Moreover, it apparently can be used for relating…

To fulfill its mandate and its potential the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) must be a multi-content annual assessment of priority learning areas. This report describes a procedure under which measures of attainment can be charted over time in a broad range of skill domains, on item-invariant item response theory scales, using…

The role of technology and the measurement of educational progress are discussed, with an emphasis on the development of school report cards. Comments are made from the perspectives of (1) a member of a university community and (2) a researcher in evaluation and measurement. Efforts to formulate school report cards in Florida, California, and…

In September 1991, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) announced standards for basic, proficient, and advanced achievement in mathematics and reported that few American students had reached these standards. Expert reviewers noted technical problems with the NAGB approach and questioned its results. In this report, the NAGB…

The National Academy of Education (NAE) Panel has drawn two major conclusions in its evaluation of the National Assessment Governing Board's (NAGB) efforts to set achievement levels for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). They are that the Angoff procedure is fundamentally flawed for the setting of achievement levels, and that…

National Assessment is a data gathering project designed to provide information, in ten subject areas, about knowledge, skills, understandings and attitudes of young people in this country, and to assess changes in these variables over time. The data is collected and reported at the item level. Each exercise was developed with emphasis on content…

"The Politics and Process of Evaluation and Decision Making in the Schools: The Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Experience" and "Use of National Assessment Model for Classroom Evaluation" were two papers presented at the Regional Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies. The first paper concerned the development of an…

In this article, the authors describe various rationales for accountability testing programs over the past century. This history forms the backdrop for current test-driven reforms, including Public Law 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), which was signed into law in January 2002. The goals of the authors are first, to illustrate…