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…

Whether to adopt national standards and tests has long been a subject of lively debate in the United States. With 47 states now participating in the Common Core State Standards Initiative, and a commitment from Education Secretary Arne Duncan to allocate hundreds of millions in stimulus funds to the development of common tests, the country is…

This report discusses five issue areas in which it is believed substantial improvements in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) might be achieved. The unifying themes among these issues are to increase the visibility of NAEP, its relevance to policymakers, and its utility to state and local agencies. The first of five substantive…

State assessment systems must address both technical and policy issues as assessments and accountability practices are developed and implemented. These technical and policy issues have been expanded from traditional large-scale assessment to new alternative assessment approaches required by law and developed in every state. The primary purpose of…

To ensure that educational tests do the least harm and bring the greatest good to the education of elementary and secondary school students, it is important that parents, teachers, educational administrators, and policy makers be actively involved in test construction and use. The purpose of this Statement is to provide a checklist of some…

In the 1995-96 school year, the Memphis (Tennessee) City Schools released standards for student performance in seven content areas and began laying the foundation for a standards-based curriculum and assessment system. The steps taken to develop and implement this project are outlined as follows: (1) defining the objectives and the project scope;…

The experiences of state and local education agencies in implementing the RMC evaluation models in their evaluations of Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I programs are discussed with emphasis on the problems encountered, suggestions for resolving these problems, and encouraging results which have been reported. Four activities are…

The design and outcome of a bilingual education program evaluation emphasizing the instructional and attitudinal variables of the bilingual education program presently in operation is described. The purpose of this program evaluation emphasizing needs assessment is to gather base-line data for continued evaluations in the following years. The…

Covering the period of 1973-76, the Tennessee Exemplary Project in Career Education (TEPCE) was designed to develop a comprehensive career education program, in the Greeneville and Greene County, Tennessee, schools. Objectives for each level in the educational program were established for the awareness (K-5), exploration (6-8), preparation (9-12),…

Three conference sessions focused on attempts to implement minimum competency testing programs at various educational levels. In each of the sessions particular attention was paid to planning for the development of a minimum competency testing program; the processes of development, initiation, and interpretation of the results; and difficulties…

The testing program of the Royal Oak (Michigan) School District was examined and evaluated under agreement of the Royal Oak Teachers Association and the Administration of the Royal Oak School District. A committee was formed of people knowledgeable of the program and/or specialists in evaluation and testing. This study represents two days of…

As a result of the increasing insistence that schools should concentrate on teaching basic skills, states and school districts have moved to establish minimum competencies for high school graduation, to be assessed by tests that demonstrate that students have achieved a certain level of mastery of basic skills. The Austin, Texas, Independent…

The introduction to this annual report traces the history, activities, and growth of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), and notes future challenges facing ACER. Abstracts are presented of seven papers which were delivered at the Invitational Conference on Societal Change held in August l980 at the University of Melbourne.…

A method of developing measurement instruments to assess academic achievement in proficiency-based education is presented. Materials and exercises are sequenced to correspond to major activities which must be completed in developing local assessment systems. The exercises contained in this workshop guide have been field tested and can be followed…

Materials contained in the 16 volumes that make up the Rural America Series suggest practices through which rural schools can meet local community needs and realize their potential for career program delivery. This handbook for rural school counselors, one of five in subset C of the series, provides a basic rationale for career counseling and a…