The valid interpretation of international testing program results in mathematics and science must recognize inherent limitations to international comparisons, and should give opportunity-to-learn as much importance as achievement data. Canadian test results, looked at in this light, appear better than some critics have suggested. (Author/SLD)

This report summarizes information about student achievement, student opportunity to learn in science and mathematics, and student variables relating to that achievement for elementary and secondary students in the state of Illinois. Five tests were used for the basis of this report: The Illinois Inventory of Educational Progress, the American…

The Tennessee value-added assessment system (TVAAS) is described. TVAAS is a statistical process measuring the influence which school systems, schools, and teachers have on indicators of student learning. Initially, TVAAS will furnish information at the system level for grades three through eight in math, science, reading, language, and social…

Twelve teachers and two principals from the Addison Northeast Supervisory Union School District (Vermont) met to consider what a small rural school district can do to assess its own programs and to discuss how to go about program assessment with the goal of helping schools become effective learning organizations. The district serves about 1,800…

Estimates of the costs of including hands-on measures of science skills in a large-scale assessment program were derived from a field trial involving more than 2,000 fifth and sixth graders. Results suggest that complexity makes hands-on assessments more than three times as expensive as open-ended writing assessments. (SLD)

Key findings based on data from the Second International Science Study for 19,036 third, fourth, seventh, eighth, ninth, eleventh, and twelfth graders in Sweden are discussed. Findings concerning achievement, attitudes, gender differences, future education, and career choices indicate that science achievement is increasing, and gender differences…

Data from the grade 8 and grade 10 science tests of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) were used to demonstrate that achievement tests are multidimensional and that using psychologically meaningful subscores in national surveys can enhance test validity and usefulness. (SLD)

The Connecticut Assessment of Educational Progress (CAEP) is modeled after the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and has been in operation since 1971. This report is the culmination of a multi-year effort by the Connecticut State Department of Education to make its CAEP program even more useful to classroom teachers and other…

This annual report presents data for the entire province of Alberta (Canada) for the 1992-93 school year, combining the January, June, and August examinations. Results are also summarized by gender, population subgroup, and achievement-over-time. The Grade 12 Diploma Examinations Program, established in 1984, has three main purposes: (1) to…

The Missouri Mastery and Achievement Tests (MMAT) were developed as a result of the Excellence in Education Act of 1985, which required the state department of education to identify core competencies and key skills in reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies/civics and to test a sample of students annually. State-level data…

The 1979-80 South Carolina Statewide Testing Program assessed the achievement of students in public school grades 3, 6, and 11. Results were used to facilitate the decision-making process of educators at the state, district, and school levels. The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) were used to measure achievement in the basic skill areas…