Math in Common® (MiC) is a five-year initiative that supports a formal network of 10 California school districts as they implement the Common Core State Standards in mathematics (CCSS-M) across grades K-8. As the MiC initiative moves into its second year, one of the central activities that each of the districts is undergoing to support CCSS…

How much do 17-year olds know about U.S. history and literature? The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has been gathering information about the educational attainment of American students in a variety of subject areas, but no study had focused solely on students' basic knowledge of American history and their familiarity with major…

The State of Florida has, for several years, been committed to perfecting a workable system of accountability for the public schools. The Florida Statewide Assessment Program, begun in 1971, has been an important element in this accountability effort. The Program was designed to assess students' academic strengths and weaknesses, particularly in…

The Michigan accountability system, based on statewide objectives-referenced testing at two grade levels generated considerable controversy, including this response to criticisms of an evaluation of the program by a panel of three persons. The contract under which the evaluation was performed is quoted to show that the authors of the report were…

The pros and cons of using behavioral objectives, the merits of norm-referenced versus objective-referenced tests, and the virtues of sampling versus census testing are familiar topics in evaluation literature. Far less common is practical information on how to implement objective-referenced testing, particularly the large-scale testing required…

Education is experiencing a case of misplaced accountability, where an exclusive reliance on high stakes tests overlooks the more subtle judgments of teachers and professional educators and, because of its simplicity, passes as democratic. This article investigates the theoretical underpinnings of current accountability initiatives and draws upon…

Some uses of achievement tests to provide information for school administrators are described. Three systematic programs are described briefly: (1) a computer-based approach to management and planning designed to answer what is to be learned, how is it to be learned, and has it been learned; (2) a problem solving design for accountability that…

As a result of using the Rasch model in building item banks in reading and mathematics, we were able to design two new testing programs for our district. The first was a grade level competency-based evaluation program designed to identify our district's low achievement-level students as well as the precompetency goals on which they needed help.…

This report is an evaluation of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) done by an external advisory panel. Panelists were selected in terms of availability and complementary skills. The program was evaluated by the Shepard method which consists of a checklist grouped into the areas of goals and purposes, technical aspects, management,…

Key findings of a pilot study of the Alaska Instructional Diagnostic System (AIDS) are summarized. The AIDS pilot test served to verify the appropriateness of the skills survey as well as the validity and reliability of the items. The AIDS testing system includes three components: (1) upper level skills surveys (grades 3-8); (2) lower level skill…

Part I of this report attempts to describe the system that was developed for local educational agencies by the Delaware State Department of Public Instruction to support classroom and curricular improvement in mathematics through the administration of an objective-referenced test in mathematics to grade four students. This system includes the…

As part of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, 132 preprimary objectives were developed in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Volunteer teachers assessed the attainment of these skills in their kindergarten children. A profile on each student was designed to report skill attainment to first grade teachers and parents. The…

An assessment was conducted in 1983 of the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of California sixth and twelfth grade students in the area of computer technology. Cognitive test questions were written to conform to a set of objectives used in the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) curriculum; attitude questions were obtained…

As part of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program, a sample of approximately 2,000 fourth and seventh grade students were tested in music and metric measurement. Teachers and curriculum specialists helped to develop individualized tests which could measure the attainment of objectives that could not be tested with group-administered items,…

The purpose of this research was to construct tests that could be used to support various decisions in the educational system in Tanzania. Emphasis was placed on decisions made at the end of primary education, and at the end of four years of secondary education. (Author/BW)