Despite growing up in a world that is permeated by mathematics, students graduating from US schools are woefully unprepared for the mathematical challenges that await them in the workplace or in higher educational pursuits. Mathematical competencies underpin not only success in college but also increase job opportunities for students after…

The purpose of this paper is to provide information and insight into how state assessment programs are governed, how individual state and state-consortium assessment programs actually operate, and how key policy and technical decisions on these programs are made. To address these issues, this paper is divided into three sections: First, the New…

This guide explains the results and other information contained in the "Test Item Analysis Report," the "Test Item Report Summary," the "School Report," and the "District Report" for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests of spring 2002.The report contains these sections: (1)…

This report shares with educators and the public all of the test items on which spring 2002 student results from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) are based. The release of these items provides information on the kinds of knowledge and skills students are expected to demonstrate on the MCAS tests. Local educators are…

This overview of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests is designed to help schools implement the Massachusetts"Curriculum Frameworks." For this fourth administration of the MCAS tests in 2001, the design of the tests remains essentially the same, but there are some changes highlighted in this overview. The first…

Reviews the history of initial teacher licensure testing in the United States and summarizes issues and problems, focusing on Massachusetts, a state that has only recently begin initial licensure testing. Provides information on past practices and a table of current state approaches to teacher licensure. (SLD)

This publication presents guidelines for parents and educators in making appropriate decisions about participation in the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MACS) tests for students with disabilities, and it describes commonly used test accommodations. State law requires the participation in MCAS of all students who are educated with…

The testing of every fourth-grade classroom in Massachusetts was carried out in an effort to answer the following questions: (1) What are the levels of mastery of basic skills in Massachusetts fourth grades? Are there differences in achievement between skills?; (2) What educational needs can be inferred for Massachusetts' students, based on basic…

Scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests are used to select exemplary schools in Massachusetts, and the schools thus identified can receive awards from three different programs. This study examined the evidence about the use of MCAS scores to assess school quality. These three programs use MCAS to identify exemplary…

The 1972 assessment activities in the Massachusetts schools concentrated on the areas of citizenship and science, utilizing two seventh grade samples of 10,000 students each, with each group completing only one assessment form. The testing program utilized National Assessment Items for age 13, as well as a few items from the Measurement Research…

This paper makes the case that the high-stakes testing and accountability program currently in place in Massachusetts misuses scores from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) to select particular schools as exemplary. School awards and recognition programs in Massachusetts imply that score gains are equivalent to school…

All states are addressing the problems of accommodations for English Language Learners (ELL's) in state assessment systems, but Massachusetts is noteworthy for the way in which it handles this problem. Since the early 1980s, over 40 states have created a statewide assessment program. Testing in these states is typically modeled on the National…

This manual documents the technical aspects of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). In May 1999, Massachusetts public school students in grades 4, 8, and 10 participated in the second annual administration of the MCAS tests in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science & Technology. This report provides information…

Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics, and Ecology assessment instruments were administered to approximately 1,800 nine year old and 1,800 seventeen year old Massachusetts students. The 9 year old students exceeded the performance of a national and international sampling of students. They equaled the performance of a sampling of students from…

The Massachusetts Statewide Educational Assessment in Consumer Education covers six content areas: borrowing, buying, investing, planning, protecting, and sharing. Nine year old and seventeen year old students were selected from various kinds of communities, six regions of the state, and from varying family occupational backgrounds. Both male and…