State standardized exams help parents, educators, and policymakers understand which students are on track -- and who is falling behind -- so that the adults can intervene to meet the needs of all students. This information is more crucial than ever given that COVID-19 upended traditional schooling. This report's recommendations for federal and…

California is in the midst of a major K-12 reform effort. In 2010, the state adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which outline what students should know in mathematics and English. In 2013, it adopted tests of the new standards developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Collaborative (SBAC). These tests will be administered beginning…

State legislatures have demanded hard figures on what their dollars are producing in the schools. Today, 43 states have some sort of assessment program. (Author/MLF)

This document contains parts of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). Rubrics and released items are provided for four levels and areas of the test including high school, grade 5, grade 8, and graphing items. (CCM)

The current status of state testing programs is assessed drawing primarily on information provided by the Educational Testing Service publication, "State Testing Programs, 1973 Revision." Increases in state operated programs are indicated and are probably due to an increase in federal money for testing purposes. Because of possible…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the assessment procedures initiated and used by most Canadian provinces during the past decade to describe public school reading achievement, to identify commonalities and differences among those procedures, and to comment on the significance of the identified trends. The stated purposes of evaluation…

What is meant by "accountability" varies a great deal. It is not, however, the tools such as merit salary plans, voucher plans, and management techniques that are used to achieve accountability. Accountability has from its earliest days been tied to testing. In discussing testing, it is necessary to discuss the pros and cons of standardized, or…

This handbook is designed to serve as a resource for Alaskan district-level administrators in charge of planning, implementing and monitoring districtwide student assessment programs. The information is divided into 10 chapters, including: (1) aligning assessment with curriculum and instruction; (2) planning an assessment program; (3)…

A report is given on two years' experience in using the Anchor Test Study (ATS) norms, developed by the Educational Testing Service under contract to the U.S. Office of Education as part of the Washington State Assessment program. In the first year, the desire to develop a state reading achievement profile through the application of the ATS norm…

This Information Aid assembles facts about recent trends in standardized testing among secondary students and summarizes both the possible causes for declining scores and some counterarguments against some of these causes. Emphasis is given to two college admissions tests--the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing…

In 1998, the Stanford Achievement Test Series, Ninth Edition, Form TA (Stanford 9) was administered to Virginia students in grades 4, 6, and 9 as the norm-referenced component of the Virginia State Assessment Program. As in the previous year, from 93 to 96% of Virginia's students took the Stanford 9, although the first administration was taken by…

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…

This study examined the construct validity of the subtests in the California Entry Level Test (ELT). The ELT is administered to every first grade pupil in California as part of the California Assessment Program and is used as a baseline measure of the prereading skills of beginning first graders. The discriminant validity of the subtests was…

This paper addresses itself to the history and use of standardized aptitude and achievement tests for practical judgements about schools in New Jersey. In the author's opinion, school-wide aptitude testing is not a particularly useful practice when other types of information, particularly grades, achievement tests, and teacher's comments, are…

The impact of the new Virginia statewide Standards of Learning (SOL) testing program on classroom instructional and assessment practices was studied through surveys before and after implementation of the testing program. The sample represented responses from 570 secondary school teachers (of mathematics, social studies, English, and science) and…