California has embarked on a major new wave of curriculum reform with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the new English Language Development (ELD) standards, and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The adoption of the CCSS builds a legacy of standards-based education reform in California that began with the…

California has embarked on a major new wave of curriculum reform with the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the new English Language Development (ELD) standards, and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The adoption of the CCSS builds a legacy of standards-based education reform in California that began with the…

This report on competency testing utilizes a literature review, examines the state of the art to define competencies, and presents information from the field to delineate programmatic and administrative questions and their implications. Information was collected from school districts implementing minimum competency testing (MCT) programs through…

This study examines the degree, the style, and the importance of participative linkage between central, region, and school offices in carrying out management of a large urban school district. A systems approach for implementation of a districtwide testing program was chosen as the framework of the research. (Author/LMO)

"Options in Education" is a radio news program which focuses on issues and developments in education. This transcript contains discussions of federal money for colleges and universities; the high school proficiency test in California; the writing problems of college students; letters from listeners about schooling and jobs; the Arts…

The Texas Examination of Current Administrators and Teachers (TECAT) is a basic literacy test that was administered to 202,000 educators in Texas in March 1986. An in-depth case study was undertaken to examine the effects of the TECAT. The 2-year project involved 10 separate data-collection studies including structured interviews with key…

In 1984 the Louisiana State Superintendent of Education directed the Bureau of Evaluation to conduct a study of alternative testing strategies for the State, keeping in mind the possibility that retaining the current testing program was an alternative to be considered. The Bureau designed a study calling for the involvement of four distinct…

Information was gathered about current state interest, activity, and concerns related to performance assessment for students. The Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing of the University of California (Los Angeles) conducted telephone interviews with directors of testing in each of the 50 states in the spring of 1990.…

Analyses of 10 raters' reasoning during think-aloud interviews provided evidence to support a model of the fundamental processes involved in rating standards-based, nonprescriptive portfolios. This process model provides a framework within which to conceptualize sound-rater reasoning and to identify reasoning that distorts the meaning of scores.…

The Council on School Performance Standards, appointed in February of 1989 by the Governor of Kentucky, was charged with finding out what students in Kentucky should know and be able to do, and with determining the best ways to assess student learning. The Council met with six groups: community leaders; employers; parents; school administrators;…

The assumptions that high-stakes testing is useful in raising educational standards for all students and that higher standards lead to higher educational performance for all students have not been tested in schools along the Texas border with Mexico. This study analyzed the effects of the high-stakes testing policy on students in a small rural…

The development and field testing of a proficiency test in English as a Second Language for non-native speakers teaching on Guam is reported. The resulting instrument measures four language skills (listening, reading, writing, and speaking). The listening measure uses natural language that might be heard by a classroom teacher. The reading measure…

The Statewide Assessment Program, administered by the Alaska Department of Education, tests all fourth and eighth graders in math and reading biennially. In 1985, the Department's Office of Evaluation, Assessment and Research undertook an evaluation of the assessment program to identify procedures which needed improvement and to determine the…

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…

This paper places Kentucky's accountability program in the national context, and then describes how educators in four rural Kentucky school districts reacted to the program in the initial years of its implementation. The information is drawn from a qualitative study of the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) in these four…