This case study shows how testing in Mississippi is used as an effective part of a statewide accountability and instructional improvement program. By using criterion-referenced testing as one aspect of a program evaluation requirement, Mississippi is basing instructional improvement on student performance. (Author)

Research on the lack of correlation between standardized tests and school district goals has suggested that district goals might be better met by supplementing standardized tests with district-made criterion-referenced testing systems. This article reports on the development of such a system, the Academic Learning Progress Assessment System…

The Georgia Teacher Certification Testing Program includes 28 criterion-referenced tests designed by National Evaluation Systems, Inc. (Amherst, Massachusetts) and covering 28 different teaching, leadership, and service fields. This publication offers an overview of the test development process, test validation procedures, test administration…

The graded test movement is currently attracting interest in the United Kingdom as a possible alternative to existing public examinations. Three key features of graded tests are: (1) emphasis on student success; (2) a progressive sequence of levels; and (3) tasks to be mastered by candidates being clearly specified. (LMO)

Describes procedure for combining Stanford Achievement Test items with local supplementary items to measure individual and aggregate student performance in mathematics. Two reports are generated from the test results: a diagnostic report of student mastery of each objective and an overall score. (TE)

Discusses the problems associated with the assessment of art and design. Identifies criterion-referenced assessment practices within the British General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) program as central to the development of a system of examination which is more fair to participants. (KO)

An urban school district affected by testing in the effective schools context is described in order to provide examples of the effects of testing on teaching and the curriculum. The report describes the method of operationalizing the effective schools research using test information. An important catalyst to improving the instructional program was…

Kansas law requires setting passing scores for the reading and mathematics competency test for 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 11th grade students, administered annually since April of 1980. New objective-referenced tests are prepared each year. Both judgmental (Angoff, Ebel, and Nedelsky) methods and empirical (contrasting groups and borderline) methods…

The activities and results of the first year of a two-year student assessment pilot program are described, based on a 1978 mandate by the Kansas Legislature requiring the development of minimum competency objectives in the areas of reading and mathematics for students in grades 2, 4, 6, 8, and 11 and instruments for assessing those competencies.…

One Midwestern state has chosen a model of state assessment in which local school districts are responsible for developing the strategies to measure and report their students' performance on state-adopted content standards. When students are not measured on common instruments, district accountability becomes an added challenge. This paper presents…

This booklet provides parents, teachers, administrators, and policymakers with information about achievement testing which is relevant to their needs. The first section presents an overview of the current market for standardized achievement tests and provides key definitions, distinctions between ability and achievement testing, comparisons of…

A statewide sustained effort to improve student learning in Missouri by adopting and adapting promising research-based educational practices is described. The concept of an Instructional Management System (IMS) with desired learner outcomes determining both instruction and testing was suggested to local school districts beginning in 1980. In 1985,…

In 1984 an evaluation team examined the Maryland Functional Testing Program (MFTP), a statewide competency-based, criterion-referenced testing program that was instituted to limit awarding of high school diplomas to those students who had earned scores above cut scores on a series of achievement tests. This article examines the procedures the…

The comprehensive system of external examinations in Scotland has undergone major changes. The external examination system has been expanded to cover the entire secondary school curriculum. The examinations will now be administered to all students. The "continuum" model of criterion referenced tests has been adopted for the school…

Rasch model statistics and domain-referenced test development methods were used in the Virginia Basic Learning Skills (BLS) testing programs and the Graduation Competencies testing program in order to increase the fairness and effectiveness of those programs. Mastery of each of the 83 objectives in reading and mathematics for grades one through…