The Student Assessment Consortium (SAC), a collaboration between the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing and the Council of Chief State School Officers, was created to facilitate innovative assessment work in several subject areas. Its purpose is to share expertise and information about the development of innovative…

This first report of the Arizona State Department of Education on the progress of the Arizona Student Assessment Program (ASAP) includes results of the March 1992 Pilot Assessment and contains a profile of Arizona student achievement. The first administration of the ASAP fulfills the legislative requirement of pilot testing. The report also…

This document provides information on student performance at the state, regional, and school system levels on end-of-grade multiple choice tests for grades 3 through 8 in reading and mathematics and the end-of-course multiple choice tests administered in high school subjects in 1996-97 as part of the North Carolina Testing Program. The figures and…

At this conference on educational assessment, there was consensus among participants on the importance of the use of assessment to improve instruction, enhance the curriculum, and allow policy makers to measure achievement. There was less consensus about the best forms of assessment to use. The following conference papers are provided in this…

For 1989, the ninth year of standardized norm-referenced achievement testing mandated by the Arizona State Legislature, the Arizona State Board of Education adopted the Riverside Basic Skills Assessment Program (RBSAP). According to the RBSAP, the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills are administered to students in grades 1 through 8, and the Tests of…

The Pre-Professional Skills Tests (PPST) of reading, mathematics, and writing are three separate tests designed to measure basic proficiency in these areas. In response to a mandate from the State Legislature, the Minnesota Board of Teaching adopted these tests, developed by the Educational Testing Service. An evaluation of the 3 years of…

This document presents 10 papers concerning the 1990 Trial State Assessment, which was restricted to the eighth-grade public school population in 37 states, the District of Columbia, and 2 U.S. territories. The following are the papers: (1) "A Critique of Sampling in the 1990 Trial State Assessment" (Bruce D. Spencer); (2)…

In 1982, writing was added to the North Carolina Annual Testing Program. Results from the 1990-91 writing evaluations in grades 6 and 8 are reported. Tests were read by two readers, with an agreement rate of over 71%. In 1990-91, sixth-grade students were asked to describe a kitchen so that readers could picture it. Quality was determined on the…

This report presents a summary of information about the use in Massachusetts of open-ended questions in the Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program's biennial assessment of mathematics at grades 4, 8, and 12. These questions appeared in one form of the tests in each grade. One-twelfth of the fourth-graders, one-sixteenth of the…

Results of Nevada students in grades 3, 6, 9, and 11 on tests of the Nevada Proficiency Examination Program are presented for the 1987-88 school year. Examinations prescribed for grades 3 and 6 in mathematics, reading, and language are the appropriate Stanford Achievement Tests. Tests mandated for grade 9 are the Science Research Associates'…

This special report on the assessment of French immersion students in Alberta focuses on critical issues and methodological problems with testing methods. After an introduction, the second section gives an overview of these issues and problems. Issues discussed include the following: whether students instructed in French immersion programs should…

Results from North Carolina's End-of-Course Testing Program in 1989-90 are presented. Participation, student characteristics, and achievement are summarized, largely in table form, for the following subject areas: (1) Algebra I, (2) Geometry, (3) Algebra II, (4) Biology, (5) Chemistry, (6) Physics, (7) U.S. History, and (8) English I. Background…

A study was conducted to examine the feasibility of using scores on the districts' standardized norm-referenced tests (NRTs) to predict performance on Florida's State Student Assessment Tests (SSAT) at grades 3, 5, and 8, and on the SSAT-I and SSAT-II given in grade 10. Specific questions about the use of district scores were addressed in a study…

In Arizona, beginning teachers applying for certification must take the Arizona Teacher Proficiency Examination which tests professional knowledge, reading, mathematics, and grammar. The high failure rate on the grammar test has caused a great deal of concern; 40 percent of the examinees, and a higher percentage of minority groups, failed it in…

The Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) was developed by the Texas Educational Agency (TEA), in response to Texas House Bill 72 (1984), which mandated a new basic skills assessment program for mathematics, reading, and writing at grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. The test given to students in Grade 11 is an exit-level examination,…