This handbook will assist principals and school testing coordinators in implementing the spring 2007 administration of the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). Information regarding administration timeline, reporting, process, online tools and contact personnel is discussed. Contents include: (1) Scheduling; (2) Identify Primary Test…

To explain reading level clearly to parents of learning disabled children, teachers must focus on two broad areas: the differences between standardized tests, and the occasional mismatch between sequence of instruction and the test items, per se. (CL)

This discussion of assessing students' reading abilities focuses on the need for developing better tests and better interpretation of test scores. Criterion-referenced tests versus norm-referenced tests are described, highlighting the Degrees of Reading Power and Metropolitan Achievement Tests: Reading, and the need for assessing the reading…

This study of curriculum-based assessment of the reading ability of four elementary-level students with learning disabilities found that individual-referenced tests are powerful for understanding instructional effects, whereas norm-referenced tests are best suited for determining deployment and allocation of resources. (DB)

The Adult English as a Second Language Diagnostic Reading Test was developed under Adult Education Demonstration Funding. It is designed for English as a Second Language students in adult education or community college programs. The purpose is to diagnose reading strengths and weaknesses for a student or groups of students as well as to provide…

This score interpretation guide is designed to help administrators and classroom teachers understand the scores and scales of the 1994 and Beyond Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP). MSPAP scale scores indicate a school's level of performance in the content areas of reading, writing, language usage, mathematics, science, and…

This book is meant to be a guide to standardized reading tests, to help teachers live with tests. Standardized, norm-referenced reading tests are a fact of life for most teachers. The suggestions in this book are drawn form the experience of teachers in the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Teachers College, Columbia University. Part…

The Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) is a statewide testing program in reading and mathematics (with other subject areas tested on a sampling basis). The MEAP tests are administered every fall to all fourth, seventh, and tenth graders. This Handbook was developed to assist educators in analyzing, using, and reporting MEAP test…

In 1988, the New Jersey Legislature passed legislation that moved the High School Proficiency Test (HSPT) from ninth to eleventh grade. This test of basic skills in reading, mathematics, and writing will be a graduation requirement for all students in New Jersey who enter high school on or after September 1, 1991. In October 1994 the test was…

The book is designed to help language teachers write better tests, taking the view that test construction is an exercise in problem-solving, with every teaching situation presenting a different problem that an understanding of the underlying principles of testing can help solve. Examples are given from testing of English as a Second Language…

Designed to assist school jurisdictions in interpreting their achievement test results, this report describes the achievement testing program in Alberta, Canada, and indicates the conditions for student exemption from testing. It explains the Grade 3 English Language Arts Achievement Test design and development, gives a description of the test…

The test manual for the Secondary Level English Proficiency (SLEP) test has been prepared for teachers, counselors, and others responsible for interpreting SLEP test scores. The SLEP is designed to assess the proficiency in English of students entering grades 7 through 12 whose native language is not English. As a test of understanding written and…

The handbook reviews approximately 150 educational tests and their uses within the total process of educational assessment for students who have academic difficulty because of mental retardation; learning disabilities; physical handicaps; emotional, sensory, and social disorders; other health impairments; and related problems. Introductory…

The Secondary Level English Proficiency (SLEP) test is a measure of ability in understanding spoken and written English. It is designed for use with students entering grades 7 through 12 whose native language is other than English. Previously offered on a limited basis at test centers established by the Educational Testing Service, the SLEP is now…

Schemes for assessing reading achievement with specific tests have been in use since early in this century. The two driving forces behind the testing movement--scientific objectivity and compulsory education--blossomed in the 1920s and 1930s and continued substantially unchanged through most of the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the idea of mastery…