Tens of thousands of students in the Houston area switched schools during the school year annually. In moving from one school to another, students often experienced disruptions to their education. This study examined what this mobility meant for students' performance on state accountability tests, high school grade retention, high school dropout,…

Although the number of countries conducting large-scale assessments has increased significantly over the past two decades, this has not necessarily led to the effective use of learning assessment data in policy-making and planning. To better understand the reasons for this, the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)…

Large-scale learning assessments can be used to generate performance and contextual data on student learning outcomes. They can be national, regional, or international; school based or household based. The UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO) has conducted a qualitative study to explore both how and why learning…

How and how much should students be tested? What information should schools and districts be required to collect and monitor? And what should be done when that information suggests a school is not meeting the expectations? Those questions are at the heart of Congressional discussions regarding the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary…

Operational testing programs employing item response theory (IRT) applications benefit from of the property of item parameter invariance whereby item parameter estimates obtained from one sample can be applied to other samples (when the underlying assumptions are satisfied). In theory, this feature allows for applications such as computer-adaptive…

This study examines the practical implications of using state tests to measure student achievement in impact evaluations that span multiple states and grades. In particular, the study examines the sensitivity of impact findings to (1) the type of assessment used to measured achievement (state tests or an external assessment administered by the…

This article reports that the new class of governors and state legislators to be elected November 4 will inherit financial problems that pose both immediate and long-term threats to existing education programs, while constraining their ability to mount new initiatives. The prospect of a deepening economic slowdown--with state-level budget deficits…

Securing data on students' academic achievement is typically one of the most important and costly aspects of conducting education experiments. As state assessment programs have become practically universal and more uniform in terms of grades and subjects tested, the relative appeal of using state tests as a source of study outcome measures has…

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…

Presents a brief historical overview of standardized testing in science including its purpose, consequences, characteristics, and evaluation. Provides a critique that is unique in that this study used national science standards to evaluate a state-mandated standardized science test. (Author/MM)

Administrators can improve the test scores at their schools by working with teachers so that they understand the purpose of the testing and by developing a plan for communicating with parents and the community about the testing program. (MLF)

This paper provides a brief history of attempts to monitor testing in the United States. It describes proposals for monitoring from the first attempts in the 1920s to similar proposals in the 1990s. The discussion focuses on: (1) Giles Ruche's proposal for a consumer research bureau on tests; (2) Oscar K. Burros' reviews of tests and efforts to…

The amount of testing in U.S. schools is substantial. A strong testing program is seen as one of the major factors in effective schools. The authority of a testing program can be enhanced by teacher involvement, specialists' endorsement, formal adoption by a school, and promotion by a principal. (NJ)

Standardized testing is here to stay. Critics are serving a useful purpose in that they force users to examine benefits and the drawbacks. This process has an inevitable spinoff effect since almost every user of standardized tests is involved in a classroom situation where informal testing is ongoing. (Author)

Developed as an easy to use reference on test data for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), this report is divided into two sections: analysis of county data and analysis of school data. Features of the report are as follows: (1) a longitudinal analysis of performance of students tested in MCPS in 1976, 1978 and 1980; (2) school results broken…