As the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) has expanded, growing to 26 tests in 8 grades by 2002, new administration procedures have been needed. As these test administration procedures evolved, they were communicated through different avenues. This document consolidates the procedures to facilitate better understanding and more consistent…

Suggests that GCE and CSE boards need to bury their differences if progress is to be made on the 16-plus proposals. (Editor)

The gap between professionally and legally acceptable practice in professional licensure tests is addressed. Pertinent activities of the American Psychological Association, American Educational Research Association, and the National Council for Measurement in Education are discussed. (TJH)

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of formulaic writing such as the five-paragraph theme (FPT) or essay for the purpose of earning high scores on high-stakes writing assessments. This qualitative descriptive study analyzed more than 1000 essays from Delaware Grade 8 and 10 writers, written for a statewide…

Two focus groups of test and measurement experts were held to explore the use of out-of-level testing for students with disabilities. The participants (n=17) included state and federal level assessment personnel, test company employees, and university professors. A content analysis of the narrative results indicated that there was no clear…

Remarks made at the conference are summarized in seven sections of this narrative report: (1) update: recent events concerning testing,--representing the viewpoints of school districts, professional associations, government agencies, and research organizations; (2) National Institute of Education (NIE) study of school districts' use of test and…

This article recognises the well-established processes available to educators for the validation of competence, however acquired, and suggests that these mechanisms could be deployed more frequently in future. This proposition is based on employers' adoption of work-based learning strategies that focus on learning outcomes rather than on…

Local assessment systems are being marketed as formative, benchmark, predictive, and a host of other terms. Many so-called formative assessments are not at all similar to the types of assessments and strategies studied by Black and Wiliam (1998) but instead are interim assessments. In this article, we clarify the definition and uses of interim…

This paper estimates the impact of the Michigan school finance reform, "Proposal A," on education inputs and test scores. Using a difference-in-difference estimation strategy, I find that school districts in Michigan used the increase in educational spending generated through "Proposal A" to increase teacher salaries and reduce…

The TES investigates the power and influence of the examining boards, and looks at possible changes in the system. (Editor)

The problem of the structure of human abilities is approached within the framework of higher order confirmatory factor analysis. Non-hierarchical models suggested by Thurstone and Guilford are reviewed, and it is concluded that these models fail to give a theoretically and practically useful representation of the organization of human abilities.…

In the past there has been some question about a pupil's retention of knowledge after the summer recess. In the Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) system, once a pupil begins working through the objectives, it should be unnecessary to have him take placement tests each Fall. The present study extracted data from the pupils' placement…

This is a report of the findings and recommendations of the Division of Instruction and Professional Development of the National Education Association (NEA) on testing. NEA called for a moratorium on standardized testing in 1972 and created the task force on testing, whose work is summarized in this report. After an introduction stating the…

This report is concerned with the state testing and evaluation programs which were in effect during the year 1949-1950. Each program account describes the agency which coordinated the program; the nature and purpose of the program including the tests administered, the uses of test results, and other pertinent information; and the publications…