This handbook describes the responsibilities of district and school assessment coordinators in the administration of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). This updated guidebook contains the following sections: (1) General Assessment Guidelines for All Assessments; (2) Writing Specific Guidelines; (3) Reading and Mathematics…

Increased emphasis on public school accountability has resulted in several states including a science component in their elementary and middle school testing program. This component often includes items designed to measure process skill ability. The purpose of this study was to examine the performance of high school students on four types of…

Data gathered from large-scale assessments in the Ontario Assessment Instrument Pool (OAIP) are examined. Implications for science instruction are to be found at the item level; the items should not involve more than two or three steps if the responses are to be informative. Items are collected and linked to provincial curriculum guidelines. These…