Over recent decades, a great amount of attention has been globally directed to school achievement evidenced by large-scale assessment programmes. Additionally, there has been an increase in expectations regarding teachers' use of data. Against this backdrop, there arose a clear demand for assessment-literate teachers, mapping out the changes that…

Standardized assessment measures are important for accurate diagnosis of mental health problems and for treatment planning and evaluation. However, little is known about youth mental health providers' typical use of standardized measures across disciplines and outside the context of evidence-based practice initiatives. A multidisciplinary national…

In "How Is Testing Supposed to Improve Schooling?" Edward Haertel has proposed a framework for thinking about the mechanisms by which testing might improve the various educational processes undertaken in schools. The framework seems to the author to be quite general (he uses the word "general" here in its mathematical sense of including all cases)…

Not much is known about the ways in which assessment data have actually been used in education policy to date. Understanding the role of assessments in informing system-level decision-making is a first step towards helping stakeholders improve the design and usefulness of assessments. Moreover, this understanding can help to further discussions…

Educational assessment and, more broadly, educational research in the United States have entered into an era characterized by a dramatic increase in the prevalence and importance of test score use in accountability systems. This volume covers a selection of contemporary issues about testing science and practice that impact the nation's public…

Offers a procedure that will allow classroom teachers to use standardized reading achievement test scores in order to make appropriate decisions about placing students in instructional programs. (FL)

In determining what will best help learning, the timeliness and possible reversibility of teachers' decisions are influenced by standardized achievement tests. Ways tests can supplement other performance information and confirm or challenge teachers' impressions of student achievement are described. (CM)

This paper addresses the controversy about use of "out-of-level" testing, the practice of assessing students (usually those with disabilities) with a lower-level version of a test. The controversy pits unintended instructional consequences against "accurately" measuring performance and avoiding student frustration. Introductory…

The use of achievement tests for high-stakes decision making is discussed, and some comments are made about Ralph Tyler's contributions to educational assessment and what has resulted from them. The assessment war was raging more than 100 years ago, as historical records of testing student achievement demonstrate. Ralph Tyler, in the 1960s, did…

This book is designed to help K-12 teachers and administrators understand the nature of standardized tests and, in particular, the scores that result from them. This useful manual helps teachers develop the skills necessary to incorporate these test scores into various types of instructional decision making--a process known as "data-driven…

This report presents findings from Alpha, one of four school districts examined in a series of case studies that investigated the complex relationship between reading assessment and instruction. The research was situated in the context of school decision making. Teachers, principals, parents, students, and central office staff were interviewed to…

This report presents findings from Beta, one of four school districts examined in a series of case studies that investigated the complex relationship between reading assessment and instruction. The research was situated in the context of school decision making. Teachers, principals, parents, students, and central office staff were interviewed to…

In recent years, standardized test scores have assumed an increasingly important role in educational assessment. As the stakes involved in testing become higher, educators are forced to make decisions regarding the ethics involved in standardized test preparation and administration. The ethical continuum of test preparation practices as formulated…

This study looks at how testing affects critical decisions for U.S. students, focusing on the impact of testing on individual students. It examines common misuses of tests, their political and social contexts, what happens when test issues are taken to court, special student populations, social promotion, and other issues of current interest. The…

The validity of using proficiency test scores to make specific educational decisions is addressed. Ninth grade mathematics proficiency test scores were analyzed in both continuous and categorized form. The nature of the decisions to be made was examined as a factor in determining the categorization technique. (Author/PN)