The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world's leading educational research centres. ACER's mission is to create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the life span. This annual report describes ACER's milestones and accomplishments for the 2013-2014…

Across the globe, educational tests are being used at a rapidly increasing rate. More recently, educational tests are being used to inform educational policy and for holding educators accountable for student learning. One reason educational assessments are used for these important purposes is that they are considered to provide reliable and…

Changes to state tests impact the ability of State Education Agencies (SEAs) to monitor change in performance over time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Standardized Performance Growth Index (PGIz), a proposed statistical model for measuring change in student and school performance, across transitions in tests. The PGIz is a…

This article reviews the "Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Third Edition" (WIAT-III), a newly updated individual measure of academic achievement for students in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 (age 4 years, 0 months to 19 years, 11 months). Suitable for use in educational, clinical, and research settings, the stated purposes of the WIAT-III…

In most large-scale assessments of student achievement, several broad content domains are tested. Because more items are needed to cover the content domains than can be presented in the limited testing time to each individual student, multiple test forms or booklets are utilized to distribute the items to the students. The construction of an…

Presents five guidelines designed to minimize the testing problems that school administrators face. (Author)

The accuracy of achievement test score inferences largely depends on the sensitivity of scores to instruction focused on tested objectives. Sensitivity requirements are particularly challenging for standards-based assessments because a variety of plausible instructional differences across classrooms must be detected. For this study, we developed a…

Outlines a procedure to be followed whenever any communitywide, state, regional, or national test of either "achievement" or "ability" (including IQ) is to be given. (Author/IRT)

Individual schools can assess the progress of their students using equivalent achievement test scores in subject areas at grade levels, between grade levels, and across subgroups of students. A demonstration of this procedure is presented. (Editor)

The article contrasts North American and Soviet views and approaches to student evaluations, especially in the area of testing differences in academic achievement. It provides a brief summary of Soviet schooling and evaluative procedures. (Author/SB)

The purpose of this paper is to help teachers develop a table of specifications for use in classroom testing. The common elements of tables of specifications are presented and explained. Special emphasis is placed on content-process validity. There are 12 tables of specifications in the appendix. The tables serve as examples and are representative…

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…

A number of major studies are discussed concerning the effects of testing on schools and needed changes in test use to improve education. Test use is analyzed at building and classroom levels for insights on better education, and at local, state, and national levels for oversights of educational progress. (Author/CM)

The relationships between ratings on the Idaho Alternate Assessment (IAA) for 116 students with significant disabilities and corresponding ratings for the same students on two norm-referenced teacher rating scales were examined to gain evidence about the validity of resulting IAA scores. To contextualize these findings, another group of 54…

Discusses the difficulties that arise when tests designed for one purpose are used for another. Points out that tests reflect the characteristics of the institutions that use them and emphasizes the need for more careful design of actual instructional programs as well as of the tests intended to assess learning. (Author/GC)