The Tests of General Educational Development (GED Tests) are described. Developed in 1942 for military personnel who had not graduated from high school, the GED Tests enabled veterans to qualify for jobs or enter college. More than 10 million persons have earned GED Test diplomas since 1971. There are five parts to the GED Tests: (1) Writing…

This content assessment project is designed to determine what social studies content should be tested on national standardized tests and how that content should be defined. Sixteen historians, political scientists, and social studies educators were interviewed to identify key concepts. In a second phase, the cultural literacy rationale for content…

The evolution of the relationship between the College Entrance Examination Board and the Educational Testing Service is outlined, and five aspects of the current cooperative relationship are noted: contractual agreements, shared tasks, specific membership needs, moral obligations to the educational community, and tradition. (MSE)

Differences between national testing as discussed in the most recent report of the National Council on Education, Standards, and Testing, and by the Office of Technology Assessment are reviewed. National testing is not new, but the political use of nationally standardized achievement tests is a recent and dangerous trend. (SLD)

This report is aimed at helping Congress: (1) better understand the functions, history, capabilities, limitations, uses, and misuses of educational tests; (2) learn more about the promises and pitfalls of new assessment methods and technologies; and (3) identify and weigh policy options affecting educational policy. To prepare this report, the…

The strengths and weaknesses of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are discussed. The NAEP estimates the number of students who are more likely to do certain problems correctly than other students. NAEP reports the numbers, briefly describes the problems, and says that more students need to do these problems correctly. The…

The thesis of this paper is that achievement tests have changed their primary function from serving as indicators of educational accomplishments to becoming instruments of educational policy, and have thus come to be regarded as effective means of altering educational achievement and productivity. This assertion is explored by using examples of…

The 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) will mark the first time that state-level comparisons will be possible with NAEP data. The 1990 data will contain, as a trial component, state-level assessments of eighth graders in mathematics. Mathematics and reading comparisons for fourth graders will be added in 1992. Statistical…

The use of standardized testing in secondary schools (with students between 10 and 19 years old) is described for four European countries: (1) England; (2) West Germany; (3) the Netherlands; and (4) Sweden. In the decentralized English system, several published standardized tests are available; they are used less at the secondary level than in…

Whatever the cause of present-day problems in American education, there is little doubt that proposals for national curricula and examinations are a response to widely-held perceptions of serious problems in the schools. Although national examinations have been proposed, there has been little consideration of their purposes and structures. The…

Lessons learned in changing a large-scale testing program are outlined. The redesigned Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) will be administered in spring 1994. Major changes for the verbal SAT section include more emphasis on critical reading, longer and more accessible passages, measurement of vocabulary in context, and use of double passages with two…

How two students with the same number-correct score, calculated by dramatically different patterns of responses, can achieve the same ability estimate is demonstrated. The present study investigated the incidence of person misfit to the model in a nationally standardized test of achievement devised using the Rasch item response theory model. It…

This paper discusses the relationship of the content of nationally standardized and normed achievement tests and that of local school curricula and the effect that relationship has on the meanings and uses of the test scores. The following questions are considered: (1) whether tests have to match what is taught to be useful; (2) whether it is fair…

This study compared the different modes of evaluation at work in Greece's secondary school graduation and university admission process. The goals of the study were (1) to provide background information regarding the contribution of in-school assessment scores and external examination scores to higher education admissions decisions, and (2) to…

This document argues that current efforts to establish a national test to measure progress toward the nation's educational goals will inhibit, rather than advance, educational reform. Proponents of a national test have asked for single, primarily multiple-choice tests, or for performance assessments to measure progress toward the nation's…