The Florida Statewide Assessment Program provides "The Practice SSAT-II," for students who will be taking the State Student Assessment Test, Part II (SSAT-II). This practice test may be administered to tenth grade students taking the test for the first time and to eleventh and twelfth graders if they have previously failed the SSAT-II.…

The potential of item response theory (IRT) for solving a number of testing problems in the Maryland Functional Reading Program would appear to be substantial in view of the many other promising applications of the theory. But, it is well-known that the advantages derived from an IRT model cannot be achieved when the fit between an item response…

A brief overview of the status of state programs designed to assess teacher competency is provided. Tests commonly used by states include tests of persons who apply to educational programs (admissions tests) and tests for graduates of teacher education programs (certification tests). Admissions tests are used by 24 states, while certification…

General guidelines for administering the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations for June 1987 in Alberta, Canada, include shipping dates of the tests, a schedule for returning examinations, securing test materials, and handling walk-in candidates. Additional information includes what to do about students who arrive late, violation of examination rules,…

This bulletin contains general guidelines on the Diploma Examinations Program required for all grade 12 students for the 1987-88 school year in Alberta, Canada. The grade 12 Diploma Examinations Program is an integral part of the high school diploma requirements and is intended to develop and maintain excellence in educational standards through…

Each year the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests all 4th, 7th, and 10th grade students in reading and mathematics and one or more subject areas. Because MEAP has lost funding for test development, experienced assessment staff and a volunteer team of local educators and college and university specialists develop, administer, and…

The Kansas Minimum Competency Testing Program is designed to provide the public, the Kansas State Board of Education, and the Kansas legislature with descriptive profiles of student performance relative to minimum competencies in reading and mathematics. Results of the 1982-83 assessment are presented in this report. Included are overall test…

Offered as a result of suggestions by Maryland teachers, this guide serves as an instructional reference for educators on teaching functional writing at the elementary and secondary school levels. The guide was developed as a supplement to volume one; both volumes provide a comprehensive perspective to writing improvement in Maryland. The first…

Several of the major considerations involved in implementing a statewide testing program are discussed. The test results provide information which influences the educational enterprise in matters of curriculum, instruction, guidance, and accountability. Tests to be used in an assessment program must be developed by the administering agency when…

The Kentucky Department of Education has a responsibility to provide technical assistance and consultative services to local school districts. Descriptions of the state selected diagnostic reading test, the Prescriptive Reading Inventory (PRI) and the diagnostic math test, the Diagnostic Math Inventory (DMI), are explained. Each school district in…

The purposes of the North Dakota Statewide Assessment of Student Performance in Mathematics are: (1) to meet the public's right to know about the current status of student knowledge throughout the state; (2) to provide information and recommendations for corrective action concerning areas of student performance needing improvement; and (3) to…

The Michigan accountability system, based on statewide objectives-referenced testing at two grade levels generated considerable controversy, including this response to criticisms of an evaluation of the program by a panel of three persons. The contract under which the evaluation was performed is quoted to show that the authors of the report were…

The Nebraska Assessment Battery of Essential Learning Skills (N-ABELS) is a goal-oriented instrument with an evaluation component providing a basis for determining acquisition of twelve skills defined as learning goals. Each goal is stated in terms of an acceptable performance standard which clearly describes what the student must do. The skills…

The pros and cons of using behavioral objectives, the merits of norm-referenced versus objective-referenced tests, and the virtues of sampling versus census testing are familiar topics in evaluation literature. Far less common is practical information on how to implement objective-referenced testing, particularly the large-scale testing required…

Three papers in this book place the current movement of accountability and State assessment in perspective and point to the emergence of a different set of "arrangements" for education than those normally accepted by Americans and a different way of framing goals for education. In the first paper, Miriam Clasby draws attention to the intended and…