Drawing on the collective experience of the researchers, their work with teachers and principals, and their previous research in urban schools where students are predominantly Mexican American, this essay outlines the ways in which the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) harms the educational quality and opportunity of minority,…

This document consists of articles 1 through 25 published in the electronic journal Education Policy Analysis Archives for the year 2002: (1) Testing and Diversity in Postsecondary Education: The Case of California (Daniel Koretz, Michael Russell, Chingwei David Shin, Cathy Horn, and Kelly Shasby); (2) State-Mandated Testing and Teachers Beliefs…

Students whose primary language is not English and who are of limited English proficiency are an increasing percentage of North Carolina's school population at all grade levels and in all parts of the state. These guidelines are designed to clarify their participation in the statewide testing program. This program includes the end-of-grade tests…

This paper reviews recent developments in the growth of testing as a requirement for high school graduation for K-12 public school systems throughout the United States. It then examines performance patterns on such tests by focusing on results for students indifferent racial and ethnic groups in several states. The multiple meanings of the…

Starting in the late 1980s, two teams of researchers, well known for their criticism of standardized tests on equity and validity grounds, began attacking standardized testing on efficiency grounds as well, using cost-benefit analysis to do it. Their analyses are reviewed, and their conclusions discussed. The first team, Lorrie A. Shepard, Amelia…

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…

In 1990 the Kentucky state legislature passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), which mandated a total overhaul of the state's kindergarten through grade 12 public school system and was designed to result in equitable education for all students. Accountability components of the KERA include financial incentives for staff in schools where…

These discussions of performance-based student assessment provide a record of a decade-long exploration of unsettled issues in assessment. The first section provides the elements of a basic rationale for performance-based assessment, while the second section contains accounts of efforts to develop new performance-based systems in one city and four…

Issues surrounding the statewide competency testing of at-risk students are discussed. Sanctions, such as negative evaluations of educational programs associated with such tests, used to fall most heavily on schools and staff, but tests are increasingly becoming prerequisites for promotion and graduation, with increasing impact on students.…

Precedents from litigation on state graduation assessments provide insight into the potential legal arguments challengers may raise with regard to mandated content and performance standards for all students. Clearly documented, fairly administered procedures that adhere to professional recommendations will be the hallmark of defensible standards.…

An overview of educational reforms during the 1980s (1978-88) and their effects is presented for use by policy makers, practitioners, and interested citizens. The first section of this report, called "The Reforms of the 1980s", is based largely on a 50-state survey and a research report, both commissioned by the Educational Testing…

Based on telephone interviews with educational officials from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, an overview of the use and impact of standardized tests in the United States during the 1986-87 school year was developed. In addition to interviewing officials from all state departments of education, officials from 56 sample school districts…

This is the 2011 Yearbook of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA). This Yearbook contains five parts. Part I, Invited Chapters, includes: (1) NCPEA President's Message, 2011 (Gary W. Kinsey); (2) Shadows and Images II (Lloyd Duvall); and (3) Micropolitics in the School: Teacher Leaders' Use of Political Skill…

The use of classroom assessments in the context of the new assessment system for California schools, the California Learning Assessment System, is discussed by describing the California Learning Record (CLR). The CLR emphasizes the central role of teachers in equitable assessment of student learning for students of diverse cultural and ethnic…

The development and use of Oregon's Proficiency-Based Admission Standards System (PASS) are described and results of some evaluations of the PASS system are presented. PASS is to be used for college entry in Oregon and is designed to promote the seamlessness of high school and college education by guaranteeing that students would have the…