Annual student achievement data derived from state assessment programs have led to widespread enthusiasm for statistical models suitable for longitudinal analysis. The current policy environment's adherence to high stakes accountability vis-a-vis No Child Left Behind (NCLB)'s universal proficiency mandate has fostered an impoverished view of what…

Standards-based reform, as codified by the No Child Left Behind Act, relies on the ability of assessments to accurately reflect the learning that takes place in U.S. classrooms. However, this property of assessments--their instructional sensitivity--is rarely, if ever, investigated by test developers, states, or researchers. In this paper, the…

Percentile scores appear to be the easiest standardized test scores for parents to understand. Yet in this true-false test, Hills reveals commonly held misconceptions about percentile score reports. (LC)

This National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) module is designed to help teachers understand test reliability requirements. Focus is on the reliability of scores from teacher-made achievement tests used for interpreting norm-referenced scores. Reliability, factors affecting scores, reliability estimation methods, reliability's relation…

This module describes a method for weighting various measures of student achievement, such as examinations and home assignments, in order to combine these measures into a final grade. Standard deviation methods receive extensive attention. (TJH)

The unfulfilled promise of criterion-referenced measurement is that it would permit valid inferences about what a student could and could not do. To come closest to achieving all that criterion-referenced testing originally promised, tests of higher item density, with more items per amount of domain, are required. (SLD)

A Friends for Education (FFE) survey revealed that no state is below the norm at the elementary school level on six nationally normed commercially available achievement tests. Tests use a norm group from the past for comparison, but FFE suspects that inaccurate initial norms and teaching the test may cause high scores. (SLD)

Officials of the United States Department of Education conclude that the pervasive "above average" achievement reported by J. J. Cannell (1988) results from a combination of testing practices and procedures among school testing programs. Causative factors of this paradox, dubbed the "Lake Wobegon Phenomenon," are discussed.…

Representatives of the Riverside Publishing Company discuss the "Lake Wobegon Phenomenon," the reported "above average" achievement of most elementary schools nationwide that was discussed by J. J. Cannell (1988) of the Friends for Education. More appropriate use of normative comparisons and more complete reporting of test…

The time-bound nature of test norms is discussed in light of the report of J. J. Cannell (1988) that a large majority of elementary schools report above average achievement on national achievement tests. Generally increasing levels of achievement are deemed to be responsible for this phenomenon. (SLD)

Recognizing the concerns raised by J. J. Cannell (1988), Science Research Associates (SRA) defends its norms. Trends in curriculum need to be monitored in addition to students' achievement levels. New norms are needed only when there is a significant shift in curriculum or student performance. (SLD)

Despite the skepticism of J. J. Cannell (1988) that commercial test scores reveal much about the real achievement level of students, there is ample evidence that at least some of the gains observed on standardized tests are legitimate. Standardized scores should be greeted with healthy skepticism when high, but taken very seriously when low. (SLD)

Means of interpreting norm-referenced tests to lead to more accurate reporting results are discussed, with particular emphasis on state-level and district-level data. Suggestions fall into the categories of documentation, frequency norming, and multiple form use. (TJH)

Issues in the measurement of subject matter proficiency, as defined by recognized subject matter scholars, are explored as they relate to the increasing use of teaching machines, programmed learning, and broadly conceived instructional systems. Criterion-referenced measurement is discussed. (SLD)

Beginning discussions and exploratory work on criterion-referenced measurement are reviewed in this commentary on the author's 1963 address to the American Educational Research Association on issues of measurement and the development of educational technology. Many problems foreseen at that time remain current. (SLD)