This monograph has grown out of a series of discussions and a six-month period of reading and reflecting on the literature which were initiated by Fritz Mosher's suggestions to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to examine the "standards" question. Conversations with Mosher himself and the staff of NAEP have been most…

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) has stated that "the overall achievement goal for American students is performance that qualifies at the Proficient level or higher" (Loomis & Bourke, 2001, p. 2). The Institute for Educational Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education went even further, "The Proficient level…

Looks at four sources for measuring national student performance: (1) the National Assessment of Educational Progress study of basic skills; (2) competency testing in reading, writing, and arithmetic; (3) college entrance examination scores; and (4) rates of educational attainment by sex, race, ability level, and socioeconomic status. (SK)

The Connecticut Assessment of Educational Progress assesses writing traits using different approaches to diagnose students' skills. These include multiple choice, direct assessment, "revising test," dictation, and note-taking. These measures and scoring guides are used to assess several elements of good writing. (DWH)

According to a National Assessment of Educational Progress report, most American school children have mastered reading and writing fundamentals without learning how to analyze, evaluate, and extend ideas they read and write about. To address this "surface understanding" problem, the report recommends literacy programs aimed at high risk…

Three aspects of the match between education and the demands of our changing economic situation are examined. First, the skills students will need for the future are identified. These skills included competencies in reading, writing, speaking and listening, mathematics, science, reasoning, basic employment, economics, and computer literacy.…

This design document describes a research methodology for setting achievement levels (performance standards) on the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress). The current plan is an extension of earlier work by NAGB (National Assessment Governing Board) to set achievement levels on the 1990 NAEP mathematics assessment, and by NAGB and…