The present report overseen by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) on behalf of the European Commission and the European Education and Culture Executive Agency as part of the contract for the implementation of the European Digital Education Hub, is the third report in a series…

One major impediment to raising test scores is that the tests simply cover more than a teacher can practically teach during the entire school year--much less during the eight and a half months before the testing weeks. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize the concepts and standards that teachers will cover within their classroom curricula.…

Parents and teachers can help relieve student test-taking anxiety by redirecting the student from fear of failure toward productive study skills. (DF)

Testing professionals need to work with teaching staff and parents to help students prepare for standardized testing. Year-long preparation involving teachers and parents is a better alternative than teaching test wiseness strategies at the last minute before a standardized test. (Author/PN)

This essay discusses the uses and consequences of high-stakes tests, which are sometimes believed to interfere with high quality education. High-stakes tests put extreme pressure on students and can create a narrow curriculum with reduced instructional time because of test prepping. Using tests for high-stakes decisions causes problems because…

Using college entrance exams as a primary criterion for college admission discriminates against minorities and the poor, but the practice continues. Coaching for these exams is done in test preparation clinics. One clinic run by the NAACP substantially raised the scores of Blacks but not those of minorities as a whole. (VM)

Although standardized testing is increasingly prominent in the United States, the testing industry has not received much attention. The industry and the market for standardized tests are examined, emphasizing the fragmented nature of the market. After an introduction, Chapter 2 describes the testing marketplace, and Chapter 3 reviews evidence on…

This final report describes the activities, results, and conclusions of a 3-year project whose major purpose was to improve test-taking skills of learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students, with respect to standardized achievement tests. The project concluded that: learning-disabled and behaviorally disordered students exhibit deficits…

Argues that history teachers do not give enough attention to preparing students for major tests. Maintains that the responsibility for test preparation should be divided between the students and teacher. Provides a set of six procedures designed to help students review course content and prepare for examinations. (CFR)

For Blacks and Hispanics, standardized admission tests and licensing exams are barriers to schools and occupations. Case studies are presented of college admission tests and teacher testing that place women and minorities at a disadvantage. Test biases and misuse must be eliminated and new forms of evaluation must be developed. (VM)

Articles in this series on testing and evaluation specifically address the use of tests to assess and improve educational status; achievement test selection; and trend toward increased use of coaching materials to improve test performance. Professional literature on educational measurement is reviewed. (MBR)

California has provided other states with an example of how not to assess student writing and has initiated a new direction in the statewide assessment of student writing achievement, a direction designed to influence writing instruction positively. Before 1987, the California Assessment Program (CAP) limited English skills assessment to multiple…