It is essential that testing personnel devise methods to communicate understandable and usable information about the effects of schooling to the public. (Author)

The purpose of the pre-school assessment program described is to improve the first grade curriculum and make it more meaningful to all students through early identification of strengths and weaknesses, coupled with appropriate follow up activities. Children (340) entering the Rockdale County, Georgia, first grade in the fall of 1968 completed a…

This report was requested by the Lunenburg, Massachusetts Public Schools through the Merrimack Education Center. Under the agreement with the Center, the consultant, with the assistance of several associates, evaluated the statewide program in the town of Lunenburg. Objectives were to determine the system's total evaluation needs from an…

The president of the Educational Testing Service gives a history and an overview of the organization. (IRT)

The profile of American education in the twentieth century, especially at the secondary and postsecondary undergraduate levels, is mirrored in the chronology of College Board policies and programs over its 75-year history. After a review of the first 75 years, speculation is made on the next 25 years and the shapes that may be taken by American…

The activities of the Nucleus Testing Committee, particularly its Curriculum Related Subcommittee, of the Madison, Wisconsin public schools are described in relation to its effort to bring about increased awareness of the need for reexamination of both district-wide and local school evaluation procedures. The sub-committee's recommendations are…

Author looks at the controversy over school-leaving examinations in America. (Editor/RK)

Presents some specific questions that educators ought to raise about standardized tests and some alternatives to standardized tests. (Author/IRT)

This document describes the breadth of the research being conducted in 2008 by the Research and Development Division at Educational Testing Service (ETS). The research described falls into three large categories: (1) Research supported by the ETS research allocation; (2) Research funded by testing programs at ETS; and (3) Research funded by…

The U.S. public has consistently favored standardized testing in the schools, preferably with consequences (or "stakes") riding on the results, ever since the first polls taken on the topic several decades ago. Results from different polls approaching the topic in different ways suggest that nearly all Americans would like to see…

Guidelines are presented for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania City-Wide Testing Program. They involve the preparation of pupils for the Administration of the tests, preparation of teachers for administering the tests, some acceptable and unacceptable practices, use and dissemination of test results, and security concerns related to the testing…

Describes the Comprehensive Achievement Monitoring (CAM) program which has been in effect in Hopkins, a Minneapolis suburb, since 1970. CAM tests are given regularly and frequently, with each test graded and returned to the classroom within a day or two. Much teacher time is saved and the students can see where they stand while the course is in…

Describes New Jersey's coordinated, statewide higher education effort involving mandatory testing, remediation, and evaluation. Reviews the program's history; the role of the New Jersey Basic Skills Council (NJBSC); the Basic Skills Placement Test, which focuses on reading comprehension, sentence sense, math computation, and elementary algebra;…

Several test publishers respond to a charge of racism in testing, made by Robert L. Williams in the previous edition of this journal. Responding are: George Bennett of The Psychological Corporation, John Sommer of Houghton-Mifflin, Leo A. Munday of the American College Testing Program, Samuel Messick and Scarvia Anderson of the Educational Testing…

Calculated year-1 to year-2 stability of assessment data from 21 states and 2 Canadian provinces. The median stability coefficient was 0.78 in mathematics and reading, and lower in writing. A stability coefficient of 0.80 is recommended as the standard for large-scale assessments of student performance. (SLD)