Two types of information on the outcomes of education in New York State for the 1983-84 school year are presented. One relates to New York State tests and programs. The second is a by-product of national programs that identify outstanding pupils. During the 1983-84 school year, elementary and secondary school students demonstrated high achievement…

Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states were invited in June 1984 to participate in a project with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to assess the reading achievement of eleventh grade students. Florida, Tennessee and Virginia accepted and worked with SREB and NAEP staff to develop and administer the testing program.…

The proposed activities of the Office of Research and Evaluation of the Austin (Texas) Independent School District in 1990-91 are outlined. Evaluations and other major projects focus on: (1) externally funded projects; (2) systemwide achievement testing; and (3) systemwide evaluation. Twelve evaluations will assess the impact of programs and…

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…

This report was compiled to serve as a reference on assessments of achievement in pre-college mathematics. Patterns of mathematical assessments are discussed in terms of the history and nature of assessments of achievement, the relationship between assessment and minimum competency testing, and the current status of state assessment programs.…

In recent months the idea of a single national test seems to have lost some of its momentum, while use of national standards to which voluntary regional or state tests would be indexed seems to have gained support. Nationally, there does not seem to be any organized attempt to fuse the national education goals into the state process beyond the…

An attempt is made to summarize the perspectives and relevant experience of state-level higher education leadership in responding to the proposals for national assessment resulting from Goal V, Objective 5, of the National Education Goals, which calls for improvement in the critical thinking, ability to communicate, and problem-solving ability of…

This report compares information gathered from the Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test administrations of 1986 and 1988 with data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests given those same years (mathematics and science in 1986 and reading and United States history in 1988). The focus is on how…

The paper reviews previous research studies and conferences which have dealt with the question of whether large-scale testing programs are effective. It is concluded that such programs, defined as efforts to determine the status of student achievement on a school, district, state, or national basis, are not serving the informational needs of the…

The Council of Chief State School Officers has raised some issues pertinent to the implementation of a national project to collect statistical indicators of academic achievement and to compare them across states. The United States Department of Education shares this concern, with an emphasis on sampling schools for a school level analysis which…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessed three grade levels and 21-year-olds in the 1960's, at an annual cost of $6 million. By the early 1980's, adults were no longer tested and funds had decreased to $3.8 million. Other governmental departments, however, have also been funded for testing and a number of state testing…

This report provides a record of student achievement for the State of New York in the 1984-85 school year. It brings together a variety of achievement indicators with a clear focus on knowledge and higher-order skills. Three types of achievement data are presented. One consists of scores obtained on New York State (NYS) tests. These scores may be…

General features of local and national programs for assessing achievements referencing the common instruction are discussed within a single mastery achievement testing framework. The envisioned programs differ only in informative detail. Most such differences are viewed as amenable to formalization and the basis for distinguishing between local…

The introduction of the trial state assessment program into the design of the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) raises questions about differences across states in sampling and administration practices. In addition, questions about the general approach to comparing state data to national data need discussion. Subject areas…