The importance of student assessment, particularly for summative purposes, has increased greatly over the past thirty years. At the same time, emphasis on including all students in assessment programs has also increased. Assessment programs, whether they are large-scale, district-based, or teacher developed, have traditionally attempted to assess…

In addition to some general and basic principles regarding the importance of an acceptable accountability system, a number of specific criteria for evaluating state accountability programs is provided. The stated purposes of such a system and the specific uses of the resulting data should be clear and concise. Local control must be retained and…

This publication outlines tests that are included in the North Carolina Testing Program. The end-of-grade tests are curriculum based multiple-choice reading comprehension and mathematics tests that measure curricular competencies described in the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. These tests are administered to all eligible students within…

A method of developing measurement instruments to assess academic achievement in proficiency-based education is presented. Materials and exercises are sequenced to correspond to major activities which must be completed in developing local assessment systems. The exercises contained in this workshop guide have been field tested and can be followed…