Using data from state and academic reports, an independent committee of researchers has evaluated the Massachusetts Teacher Tests. Scores are found to be highly unreliable, and the tests are found to contain questionable content. Suspending use of the tests is recommended. (SLD)

The critique of the Massachusetts Teacher Tests by W. Haney and others points out some flaws in the tests but ignores the fact that the tests provide some useful information to guide teacher selection decisions. Calls for additional study of these teacher evaluation instruments. (SLD)

Portfolios are the centerpiece of Vermont's statewide assessment program in mathematics. Portfolio scores in the first two years were not reliable enough to permit the reporting of student-level results, but increasing the number of readers or the number of portfolio pieces is not operationally feasible. (SLD)

The psychometric properties of the testing tools of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP), the state standardized testing program, are examined. Reliability studies have indicated that the scores from the MEAP, ranging from 0.654 to 0.949, are generally acceptable. The State Department of Education offered supporting evidence for the…

Performance based assessment refers to tasks that require students to construct responses or take actions to demonstrate specific knowledge or skills. Performance assessment tasks appear in a variety of formats, but they focus on higher order skills and are nonroutine, and sometimes loosely structured, in nature. A number of concerns have been…

The North Carolina End-of-Grade Testing Program is based on the assessment of higher level skills in the context of specific subject-area content. These tests inform students, parents, the community, and educators about the achievement of North Carolina students in grades three through eight in given areas. This report describes the development…

The Statewide Assessment Program, administered by the Alaska Department of Education, tests all fourth and eighth graders in math and reading biennially. In 1985, the Department's Office of Evaluation, Assessment and Research undertook an evaluation of the assessment program to identify procedures which needed improvement and to determine the…

Technical questions regarding the reliability and validity of large-scale portfolio assessment were studied which focused on: (1) whether raters can score collections of writing reliably with rubrics designed for single samples; (2) whether ratings derived from different frameworks differ in their capacities to support technically sound…

The National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching is working with the New York State Education Department to develop an assessment system that addresses both instructional and accountability concerns. The new system is intended to move the state to a system of performance assessments used in the service of ongoing teaching and…

The North Carolina End-of-Course Testing Program is based on the assessment of higher level skills in the context of specific subject-area content. These tests inform students, parents, the community, and educators about the achievement of North Carolina students in given areas. This report describes the development and psychometric properties of…

This volume contains the initial draft of a model for assessing students in vocational education programs in Georgia. Addressed in the first section of the draft are some of the components that are believed to be critical in the development of a model for assessing vocational student achievement, including selecting a program for use in developing…

In response to a prevailing demand for better quality education in public schools in Pennsylvania, procedures were developed to measure the adequacy and the efficiency of the educational programs in public schools. The objectives currently assessed are in the following areas: communication skills (reading and writing), mathematics, self-esteem,…

Adult educators in the state of New Jersey have expressed concern about the adequacy of the 1978 General Educational Development (GED) test. Based on these concerns research was conducted in the use and applicability of the current GED test. The project investigated whether the existing GED test was meeting the needs of the large majority of GED…