This booklet serves as an advisory reference to available software programs that address specific objectives for students in grades 1-8 in all three Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) curriculum areas--language arts, mathematics, and science. A description of the basic skills objectives precede each curriculum section. Information provided for…

This booklet serves as an advisory reference to available software programs that address specific objectives for students in grades 1-8 in all three Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) curriculum areas--language arts, mathematics, and science. A description of the basic skills objectives precedes each curriculum section. Information provided…

The Registered Holistic Scoring Method, which has been used for one year to score the ninth grade writing test of the New Jersey High School Proficiency Test, is described. Registered Holistic Scoring was developed from the previous holistic approach in order to provide more reliable scoring guidelines year after year. Two trained evaluators…

Focusing on the problems of assessing the speaking skills of secondary school students, this paper provides one example of how those problems were addressed in the Massachusetts speaking assessment. The paper identifies four requirements for measures of speaking skills: (1) feasibility, (2) reliability, (3) validity, and (4) freedom from bias. The…

This paper examined the status of assessment of writing as it is currently performed in the United States. All fifty states and the District of Columbia responded to a survey requesting information on their testing programs. Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia were found to assess writing on the statewide level, and eight states were in…

The nature of the listening and speaking instruments used for the Massachusetts assessment of those skills is discussed in this paper. Information concerning the design and administration of the assessment and data analysis is included. Copies of the instruments are appended. (FL)

The Chancellor of the New York City Board of Education was required to set minimum standards of performance and establish the accountability plan for all schools in the city's decentralized school system. The system includes 32 community school districts. A 29-member commission, which held periodic one-day meetings, developed the standards for the…

South Carolina's Educator Improvement Act, a recently enacted teacher minimum competency testing measure, is described. The act mandates testing of basic skills and subject matter knowledge of college students planning to teach, and observational assessment of the performance of teachers and student teachers. Testing provisions are discussed. (PP)

This document presents information to trainers already trained in the Registered Holistic scoring method. It has been developed to assist these trainers in training others in the procedures and the criteria of the new scoring method. The Registered Holistic scoring method was designed and field tested for the ninth grade writing sample component…

The Georgia Teacher Certification Tests were developed and validated to be job-related and to reflect the minimum content knowledge that is necessary to teach in each certification area in Georgia classrooms. Three assessment instruments are used in evaluating the performance of preservice students and beginning teachers. The Teacher Performance…

To overcome various reporting constraints, numerous strategies have been developed to facilitate accurate and timely reporting of data concerning the impact of Louisiana's State-Funded Compensatory/Remedial Program. These strategies include: (1) using existing statewide communication networks; (2) employing the Basic Skills Test (BST) as the major…

This report is a brief analysis of survey results from 43 states and 2 non-state jurisdictions regarding the status of their implementation of a new provision in the 1997 Amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that requires each state to establish performance goals and indicators for children with disabilities. The survey…

The effort to institute minimum competency testing (MCT) is nearly universal despite the need to debate its basic definitions, implications, and consequences beforehand. There are seven distinct reasons for the MCT movement: (1) legislative zeal; (2) unfavorable allegations by local and national press; (3) economic accountability; (4) the…

As part of Louisiana's minimum competency program, the Basic Skills Test (BST) was administered in grades 2 through 5. Student promotion rates in these grades between 1980 and 1985 were examined. Results showed that, in all four grades, the percentage of students retained to repeat the grade increased slightly. The BST was the main, but not the…

This review of literature from the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database is the second volume on the topic of testing and assessment for the counseling professional; the first volume was published in 1979. The sections on minimum competency tests identify issues of current interest, e.g., the basic issue of definition; the…