State mandated tests are being implemented in the public schools, but states differ greatly in the complexity of their tests, making comparisons very difficult. States may have widely different definitions of what counts as proficient, and it is evident that state standards are set arbitrarily. It is also important to consider the relationship of…

This paper is based on guidelines developed in 1989 for training workshops for state and local educators to demonstrate the processes by which performance assessments could be created, validated, and used in statewide assessment programs. These guidelines are based on work with the National Assessment of Educational Progress and several statewide…

A systematic analysis of student assessment data from Maine and Kentucky, using National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data and state and local assessment results, was conducted to address issues of measurement and attribution involved in evaluating systemic school reform. This paper (1) examines ways to cope with the challenges of…

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…

The process of developing a state education indicators system using the model proposed by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is described. The CCSSO model has three components--indicators of educational outcomes; indicators of school policies and practices; and indicators of contextual factors, or state characteristics. The goal is…

This booklet examines national and state educational reform in the 1990s, noting the ways in which performance assessment is being presented as a mechanism of reform. Three reform initiatives are examined: national education goals, standards, and reform legislation. In conjunction with these reform movements, new methods of assessment are being…

The proposed program represents a vehicle whereby Minnesota can conduct a comprehensive assessment of the State's educational progress. It can provide a means of periodically monitoring achievement in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. The program is modeled after the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), an ongoing…

The National Assessment, a census-like study to collect information concerning the educational attainment of Americans, is being adapted in many states with the results of the adaptations being used for decision making by state agencies or by teachers and administrators. The characteristics of the adaptations follow patterns related to this…

With this volume, the Council of Chief State School Officers introduces a new 2-year format for state education indicators. The first section of this report is an analysis of state-level data related to the first-ever state-by-state achievement results from the 1990 mathematics assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).…

The National Academy of Education Panel is providing the intellectual leadership and coordination for an independent evaluation of the 1990 and 1992 Trial State Assessments (TSA) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). These instruments provide state-by-state comparisons of educational achievement, which is the first such use of…