The educational achievement and attainment of young people in the United States has been a long-standing issue of concern. While analyses of long-term trend data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that students in the United States have made gains in reading and mathematics over the past few decades, a sizeable…

Standardized test results are skewed by family socioeconomic status. Until top-down, corporate-style testing is eliminated, genuine reforms like cooperative learning and multi-age classrooms will be doomed. Citizens should learn about local tests, talk to neighbors, speak out at school board meetings, write legislators, and challenge proponents to…

For the seventh consecutive year, the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, Form U (CTBS/U) was used to measure achievement in South Carolina public schools in the following areas: (1) reading; (2) spelling; (3) language; (4) mathematics; (5) reference skills; (6) science; and (7) social studies. Results for grades 4, 5, 7, 9, and 11 are summarized…

The aim of Goal 1.4, an objective of the Albuquerque (New Mexico) Public Schools for 1986-87, is to make literacy a major focus for students identified as needing special assistance. It was planned to increase the scores on standardized tests for identified students. Those scoring below the 32nd percentile (40th NCE) on the reading vocabulary,…

The Kentucky Educational Improvement Act of 1978 mandated local school districts to initiate two programs: (1) screening and diagnostic test; and (2) development of district educational improvement plans outlining remedial programs or activities. The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS/S) were selected as the statewide screening instruments…

South Carolina's School Incentive Reward Program Program (SIRP) based on year-to-year gains in reading and mathematics achievement, which seemed to have face validity, was evaluated, particularly its use of the relative gains of students in only the highest grade in the school as the basis for the awards. When this requirement was relaxed so that…

Results of the 1987 assessments of grades 4, 5, 7, 9, and 11 in South Carolina public schools are summarized. The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills, Form U, was administered to 222,956 South Carolina students in these grades. Achievement levels of grades 4, 5, and 7 were above the national median in all seven areas tested (reading, spelling,…