Despite common conceptions, evidence on whether No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has had adverse effects for low achieving students is mixed. We hypothesize that the incentive to shift attention away from the lowest achieving students increases with the rigor of state standards. Using panel data from students in North Carolina, we exploit two natural…

This article examines how international differences in age-grade distributions and grade effects contribute to science scores among 27 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. As shown in the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment, countries vary substantially in the grade distribution of 15-year-olds. The costs…

Ten tables present equivalent scores between the 1978 Metropolitan Achievement Tests and the 1973 Stanford Achievement Test in terms of grade equivalent (GE) scores. These data were derived empirically by administering the two tests to two groups of students matched in terms of Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test scores. Equivalent GEs were determined…

THE ASSUMPTION THAT ONE-TENTH OF THE YEARLY GROWTH IN ALL ACHIEVEMENT AREAS TAKES PLACE EACH MONTH OF THE SCHOOL YEAR AND THAT ONE-TENTH OF THE YEARLY GROWTH OCCURS DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS WAS INVESTIGATED. THE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE ANNUAL IOWA BASIC SKILLS TESTING PROGRAM IN THE STATE OF IOWA. MEDIANS FOR THE 11 SUBTESTS…

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)

Using the grade equivalent composite scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills of Iowa fourth grade public school pupils who took the tests in January 1970, a study was made to determine the relative precision with which an estimate could be made of the individual percentile norms from different types of cluster sample designs. Five scores ranging…

When 74 sixth-grade special education students were tested on the fifth-and fourth-grade levels of the 1977 California Achievement Test, their scores dropped significantly, although converted to in-level norms. Test validity, measured by the number of students scoring at floor level, on the in-level versus below-level norms, was subtest dependent.…

The Peabody Individual Achievement Test was factor analyzed at five grade levels. Subtests composing each factor changed from the lower to upper grade levels, but abilities measured by each factor appeared constant. A close similarity between the two factors and Cattell's concept of fluid and crystallized intelligence was noted. (Author)

Credit by examination is essentially the awarding of credit for theoretical knowledge gained outside traditional classroom situations. The examination provides the basis for the kinds and numbers of credits awarded. Programs in credit by examination are innovative because they recognize that people do indeed learn, either purposefully or…

Uses of the variety of scores generated by standardized achievement tests are discussed. Desirable characteristics of scales, raw score scales, percent of correct items, percentile ranks, grade equivalents, normal curve equivalents, and scale scores are considered. The various meanings and purposes of each type of score are discussed. It is…

Questions that parents, students, and teachers have frequently asked about the meaning of grade equivalent scores are answered, and implications for gifted students are considered. Facts concerning achievement test scores, content, and the norm group are indicated. (SEW)

The cautions needed for correctly interpreting grade equivalent scores are presented simply, for persons who are not statisticians. Four potential limitations of grade equivalent scores are summarized. (1) Comparisons across grades are of little value when the subject content is not the same; for example, sixth grade American history is not…

Five possible interpretations are given of very high correlations between scores on successively administered ability tests in a longitudinal sample of approximately 7,000 public school students tested in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11. At each of the four grades, students were given the appropriate level of the Sequential Test of Education Progress…

The developer of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills scaling responds to Hoover's attacks on Thurstone and item response theory scales (TM 510 173). While agreeing that grade equivalent (GE) scores are presently the most appropriate developmental score for reporting elementary grade achievement tests, limitations and inconsistencies in the GE…