The purpose of this report is to inform users and other interested parties about the development, content and technical characteristics of the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments. It provides information for the 2003 "SOL" cycle that comprises the fall 2003 and spring 2004 administrations. The report is divided into three…

Differences between national testing as discussed in the most recent report of the National Council on Education, Standards, and Testing, and by the Office of Technology Assessment are reviewed. National testing is not new, but the political use of nationally standardized achievement tests is a recent and dangerous trend. (SLD)

In the context of the development of a possible national mathematics assessment, a study was conducted to determine whether a test item characterization scheme could be created based on a state policy document that serves as the driving force behind large-scale performance assessment. Further considerations were whether such an item…

Considerable evidence suggests that policy-makers, educators, the media, and the public do not understand national and state test results. The problems appear to be two-fold: the scales on which scores are reported seem confusing, and the report forms themselves are often too complex for the intended audiences. This paper addresses two topics. The…

This report documents the design and data analysis procedures of the Trial State Assessment Program of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Today the NAEP is the only survey using advanced plausible values methodology that uses a multiple imputation procedure in a psychometric context. The 1990 Trial State Assessment collected…