Economists often use test scores to measure a student's performance or an adult's human capital. These scores reflect non-trivial decisions about how to measure and scale student achievement, with important implications for secondary analyses. For example, the scores computed in several major testing regimes, including the National Assessment of…

A national census of educational quality is advocated to keep a constant check on the overall quality of American education. Why the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) cannot fill the role is explained, and specific recommendations of what should be included in the census are enumerated. (MT)

Teachers concerned about excessive testing may be depriving themselves of useful information provided by standardized achievement tests and their own exams. Teachers tend to separate testing from teaching. This article explores the relationship among data collection, curriculum planning, and instruction and gauges the impacts of mandated…

Because the skills tested on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) are higher order skills than those of basic literacy, teaching basic literacy will not necessarily improve SAT scores. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which does test literacy, indicates that students do possess basic literacy skills. (IRT) Aspect of National…

Prior to the late fifties test usage enjoyed a degree of acceptance which diminished as test impartiality was increasingly questioned. Criticisms of testing are delineated, including the discrimination implicit in normative testing itself and the application of resulting test scores. This criticism of measurement techniques has directed attention…

This collection of original papers, first published in the June and July, 1976 issues of Educational Technology Magazine, was prompted by the enormous public outcry which greeted the general public realization that achievement and college aptitude test scores were continuing in recent months and years the steady erosion which began in the…

Describes trends related to declining mathematics and science achievement test scores of graduating high school seniors. Reports that scores of students intending to major in college mathematics and science have been stable over time. Discusses implications for education policy, particularly in science in elementary grades. (CS)

Most other nations have a very different approach to measuring academic achievement at the end of high school and signaling that information to universities and other interested parties. In Australia, Denmark, England, Scotland, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and many Canadian and German provinces, for example, high school exit…

The 2012 edition of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is the 48th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The "Digest" has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977-78, 1983-84, and 1985-86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field…