Provides an update on the current status of high stakes testing and accountability programs in the United States, conducts a review of important litigation related to high stakes accountability, and highlights best practices for policy makers based on the development of the Arkansas accountability program. (SLD)

This article discusses the five studies included in this issue. Each article addressed the same topic, population invariance of equating. They all used data from major standardized testing programs, and they all used essentially the same statistics to evaluate their results, namely, the root mean square difference and root expected mean square…

Reviews the history of initial teacher licensure testing in the United States and summarizes issues and problems, focusing on Massachusetts, a state that has only recently begin initial licensure testing. Provides information on past practices and a table of current state approaches to teacher licensure. (SLD)

The attempt by D.Edwards and C. B. Cummings to adjust state mean Scholastic Aptitude Test Scores for differential participation rates with a "fuzzy truncation model" satisfies three criteria the authors previously defined but falls short for two. Omission of sensitivity studies mars the otherwise exemplary study. (SLD)

Developed as an easy to use reference on test data for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), this report is divided into two sections: analysis of county data and analysis of school data. Features of the report are as follows: (1) a longitudinal analysis of performance of students tested in MCPS in 1976, 1978 and 1980; (2) school results broken…

Research on globalization and education involves the study of intertwined worldwide discourses, processes, and institutions affecting local educational practices and policies. The four major theoretical perspectives concerning globalization and education are world culture, world systems, postcolonial, and culturalist. The major global educational…

Addressing issues facing vocational education on the topic of performance testing, this handbook consists of a collection of seventeen commissioned papers and reactions to the papers. Two papers are presented on each of the following types of issues that must be considered before a performance test can be constructed: philosophical, technical,…

The increased use of large-scale assessments to measure student achievement and school performance based on defined standards has had a profound impact on state board of education members and other state policymakers. Almost any decision that involves applying standards will, at some point, be unpopular. Everyone seems to be in favor of standards,…

Guidance services must be concerned with helping students understand themselves and their environments. Testing cannot be an isolated strategy but a tool that is at the disposal of a counselor to help students cope with the decisions of each developmental stage. (Author)

Presents a state-of-the-art review of educational testing problems and programs with regard to determining the political knowledge of students in elementary and secondary schools. Concentrates on examining and critically reviewing test instruments. (Author/DB)

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) permits the Secretary of Education to use NAEP achievement level scores, in concert with other data, to confirm state testing results. The U.S. Department of Education has not yet published a guidance document describing how NAEP might be used appropriately. A review of the literature from the Department and…

For this report, CEEP staff collected information on testing timelines, subjects, grade configurations, names, and SEA testing contacts. As with the 2003 report, discussion in this report is limited to the testing components of state assessment programs, such as Indiana's ISTEP+ program, used for compliance purposes with state and federal…

Nearly every state is engaged in standards-based reform, as seen by the development of statewide academic goals and guidelines in core subjects and the subsequent new state tests that will measure students' progress toward achieving these goals. A Study Group on Statewide Assessment Systems formed by the National Association of State Boards of…

An evolved form of the Edwards and Beckworth (1989) model for probability selection for Scholastic Achievement Test takers using truncated normal distributions is presented. It is shown that the arguments of Holland and Wainer are not sufficient to reject this model. (SLD)

The two articles in this special section discuss the use of portfolios in large-scale assessment. Both describe pilot studies of portfolio assessment, pointing out pitfalls and advantages. If portfolios are to realize their potential in assessment and instructional improvement, teachers, students, and the public must receive better information…