Summative assessments measure students' mastery of grade-level academic standards and skills in specific content areas after learning. State summative assessment systems provide students and families, school and district leaders, and state policymakers with valuable data to help understand student progress and school quality. This Policy Guide…

Considering the heritage Americans been given, they have both the resources and the responsibility to meet the challenges faced as the United States struggles to regain--or sustain--its world leadership in postsecondary education. The growing importance of education has led to a lot of public attention and churning, almost chaotic policy…

Notes that, beginning in the mid-1970s, role of educational testing and assessment began to expand dramatically in response to reports portraying U.S. schools and students in less than favorable light. Sees the future status of new forms of assessment that are used to influence curricula and motivate teachers and students being related to their…

Examines proposals to establish national test/testing system as administrative, policy mechanism to foster good teaching and learning, monitor student progress, help in college admission and employment decisions, and monitor progress toward national goals. Notes that history of testing as administrative mechanism suggests that linking of important…

Introduces special journal issue on policy-driven assessment in elementary and secondary schools by highlighting themes in the 13 articles in the issue and by posing questions related to new policies and testing practices that are being implemented in the schools. Also presents conjectures about state and national testing programs. (NB)

A state superintendent of education discusses standards from the point of view of a policymaker, acknowledging both educational and political elements. The objective for the policymaker is to take the work of researchers and educational theorists and make it something that practitioners and ultimately the public can understand. The first thing is…

Examines some of the policy implications for the proposed assessment systems to replace multiple-choice tests in education as part of educational reform movement. Notes that, like multiple-choice formats, the origins and assumptions of performance assessment methods have implications for the usefulness of the data that result. (Author/NB)

This paper is a case study of Kentucky's attempt to fix not only failing schools but a failing public school system. It reports on the policy making and implementation conundrums of the debate over Kentucky's high stakes accountability system. As a political policy analysis, the study relies on documents, media reports, and interviews with key…

This report provides updated information on major national activities related to the development and assessment of educational outcomes of students with disabilities who are receiving special education services. The report reviews major initiatives in the areas of the national education goals (Goals 2000), standards, and national testing. The…

In 1991 Arizona embarked on a program to change schools and make them more accountable for educational achievement. The instrument of reform was an assessment program known as the Arizona Student Assessment Program (ASAP), the most notable feature of which was a performance assessment that was added to an already extensive battery of…

Four national educational reform initiatives (national goals for schools, core curriculum, national student examination system, and teacher certification processes) are examined and policy implications discussed. It is argued that, although these initiatives are progressing, they will not succeed without sustained commitment on the parts of the…

The document states that certain steps need to be taken immediately for rectifying and containing the injustices of testing. Until such time that the State can demonstrate unequivocally that their statewide testing and evaluation program is fair to all groups, and that every student has had an equal exposure to quality school environments before…

Examines history of Title I--Better Schooling for Educationally Deprived Children--program since its inception in 1965. Notes difficulties encountered by Title I in developing accountability models. Relates history to testing companies' reactions to federal policy. Discusses the history of assessment programs, what types of tests are used, and the…

This report focuses squarely on strategies for instructional improvement in American high schools. Specifically, this study examines how high schools that perform below average incorporate their state's accountability goals into their own goals, identify their challenges, and search for strategies for instructional improvement. It focuses on how…

Deals with some of the lessons considered to have been learned from the studies of licensing and certification of the Center for Occupational and Professional Assessment, ETS, New Jersey, when one considers what educators can learn from testing in and for noneducational occupations. (Author/JM)