Criticisms of norm referenced standardized tests are contrasted with the assumption and claims of proponents of Rasch model testing and item banking. The Rasch test theory model is based on the assumption of equal interval curriculum referenced scales for both students' abilities and test item difficulties. The Portland school district has…

Procedures for administering the Proficiency Testing Program, adopted by the Idaho State Department of Education, are explained in this test administration manual. The tests are described as given on a district optional basis to ninth grade students in the basic skills areas of reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics. Criterion-referenced…

Beginning in 1999, all of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) had to be aligned with the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. This handbook describes the PSSA reading assessment. It contains samples and instructions for developing assessment items for grades 5, 8, and 11. Although designed for teachers, the Handbook is meant to be a…

The Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) is designed to assess progress toward the Delaware Content Standards. Every year a certain number of items are removed from the test and then selected for public release. This booklet contains items released from the 1998 administration of the DSTP mathematics component tests. Taken as a whole, these…

This guide contains information to help teachers understand and use reports from the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP). The DSTP is designed to be a measure of progress toward Delaware's content standards that helps ensure that students can apply their academic skills to realistic, everyday problems. The DSTP aims to promote better…

This booklet prepares a student to take New Jersey's Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA), a test that measures the knowledge and skills that will be tested later in the state's High School Proficiency Assessment. The GEPA has three test sections (content areas): Language Arts Literacy, Mathematics, and Science. The booklet tells students…

This field memo to all teachers and administrators of public and nonpublic schools is the first of three in a series of updates from the Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Elementary, Middle, Secondary, and Continuing Education on standards and assessments in New York. This document contains information on New York's learning standards and the…

A system to provide objective measures of institutional effectiveness was implemented at the Roswell branch of Eastern New Mexico University to determine whether the college was accountable to students, staff, and taxpayers; to improve the curriculum and programs; and to prepare for accreditation review in 1991. A task force spent the summer of…

This is the fifth in a series of six monographs developed to help local educators use and report Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test results. An organized plan facilitates the important task of reporting test results to the school board quickly and accurately. This monograph gives one approach that enables the staff to take the…

The ability to practice a profession is earned through educational preparation, experience, the passing of rigorous examinations, and commitment on the part of the practitioner to public service. Responsibilities are carried out by the professional in accordance with ethical standards developed through the years and in accordance with state laws…

This document presents more useful statewide testing as a rationale for a revision to the California Assessment Program (CAP). A brief description of the revision procedures, and an illustrative outline of the skills and concepts covered by CAP are included. Approximately 270 districts and counties participated in the test development process to…

This handbook contains suggestions for the use of results from the New Mexico High School Proficiencies Examination (NMHSPE) and describes procedures for developing programs and planning intervention strategies. The information and guidelines will facilitate administrative action for program improvement through integration of the NMHSPE results…

The development of the portion of a basic skills test that would adequately assess the writing ability of entering college freshmen in New Jersey is described in this paper. The stages of the test development process that are discussed include the decision to incorporate a writing sample in the form of an essay on a specified topic, the selection…

"What You Need to Know About Starting a Student Drug-Testing Program" is meant to Complement, and build on information provided in an earlier publication, "What You Need to Know about Drug Testing in Schools." This booklet assumes that you as a school, administrator, staff member, or parent involved in the decision have considered all the…

This guide is designed to give the student helpful information about Arizona's Instrument To Measure the Standards (AIMS) for grade 3. The guide provides examples of the type of questions students see on AIMS and explains how items are scored. It does not teach what the student needs to know to do well on AIMS, but it will help the student know…