The preliminary draft of a formal program evaluation model for special education operations in Pennsylvania is presented. Beginning chapters provide a review of literature on norm-referenced measurement, an illustration of formal and informal program evaluation in a learning disabilities context, descriptions of general implementation strategies…

This case study shows how testing in Mississippi is used as an effective part of a statewide accountability and instructional improvement program. By using criterion-referenced testing as one aspect of a program evaluation requirement, Mississippi is basing instructional improvement on student performance. (Author)

The Michigan accountability system, based on statewide objectives-referenced testing at two grade levels generated considerable controversy, including this response to criticisms of an evaluation of the program by a panel of three persons. The contract under which the evaluation was performed is quoted to show that the authors of the report were…

A statewide sustained effort to improve student learning in Missouri by adopting and adapting promising research-based educational practices is described. The concept of an Instructional Management System (IMS) with desired learner outcomes determining both instruction and testing was suggested to local school districts beginning in 1980. In 1985,…

In 1984 an evaluation team examined the Maryland Functional Testing Program (MFTP), a statewide competency-based, criterion-referenced testing program that was instituted to limit awarding of high school diplomas to those students who had earned scores above cut scores on a series of achievement tests. This article examines the procedures the…

The primary goal of the Kentucky Needs Assessment Project is to develop methods of sampling and annually assessing the extent of learners' needs in Kentucky and to stimulate educational programming based on the reduction of learners' needs. The completed Phase I of the project was devoted to an identification of learners' needs and a determination…

The purposes for which test data should be used were described as: test should provide a learning experience for the child taking the test, the teacher giving the test, and the parents of the child. It should also provide information useful to school administrators, school boards, and state and national educational agencies. The state-mandated…

The procedures and results of a pilot program in a statewide assessment of learning in Colorado are presented. Findings and conclusions of the project in which the Common Status Measures of the U.S. Office of Education were administered to 12,000 pupils in 31 school districts concurrently with objectives-referenced items developed by the Colorado…

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education uses state-developed, criterion-referenced tests for the purpose of evaluating programs funded by Chapter 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The agency's efforts to obtain approval from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) to use state norms for evaluation purposes are…

The National Assessment, a census-like study to collect information concerning the educational attainment of Americans, is being adapted in many states with the results of the adaptations being used for decision making by state agencies or by teachers and administrators. The characteristics of the adaptations follow patterns related to this…

The Association of State Assessment Programs, an informal association of state assessment directors, began collecting information about large-scale assessment programs in 1977. This report is a continuation of that effort that is currently conducted by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the Council of Chief State School…

The increased use of criterion-referenced statewide testing programs is an outgrowth of the need for more diagnostic information for planning and decision making than is provided by norm-referenced programs. There remains, however, a need for state agencies to compare the results of local districts to a variety of comparison groups for the purpose…

Intended both to evaluate the California testing program's success in assessing student achievement in the basic skills and to suggest possible improvements in the program, this report includes an executive summary evaluating current testing procedures, describing experimental studies on new ways of testing and reporting testing information, and…

This report provides a profile of state testing programs in 1992-93, as well as a view of classroom testing practices by state, school district, school, or individual teacher. Information, taken from a variety of sources, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress and a General Accounting Office study, indicates that the…