States increasingly are incorporating Kindergarten Entry Assessments (KEAs) into their comprehensive assessment systems with the goal of helping educators identify gaps in children's competencies, target instruction to children's individual needs, engage parents to better support their child's learning, and identify needs for expanding and…

States increasingly are incorporating Kindergarten Entry Assessments (KEAs) into their comprehensive assessment systems with the goal of helping educators identify gaps in children's competencies, target instruction to children's individual needs, engage parents to better support their child's learning, and identify needs for expanding and…

Just like all the high-stakes tests that determine students' futures nowadays, The Chorizo Test is a standardized test rooted in the culture of the test makers. It was originally created to be used with students in teacher training programs to sensitize them to the pitfalls inherent in standardized pencil-and-paper tests, such as linguistic bias…

This technical report provides an overview of the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA), including a description of the purpose of the NYSAA, the processes utilized to develop and implement the NYSAA program, and Stakeholder involvement in those processes. The purpose of this report is to document the technical aspects of the 2013-14 NYSAA.…

This 2000 Summary marks the eighth edition of the Summary of State Student Assessment Programs. Using data gathered in the annual survey, this report summarizes what is occurring in statewide assessment programs and provides information on trends in state assessment activities. Completed surveys for the 2000 year were received by the Council of…

Large-scale testing programs often require multiple forms to maintain test security over time or to enable the measurement of change without repeating the identical questions. The comparability of scores across forms is consequential: Students are admitted to colleges based on their test scores, and the meaning of a given scale score one year …

A critical, but often neglected, component of any large-scale assessment program is the reporting of test results. In the past decade, a body of evidence has been compiled that raises concerns over the ways in which these results are reported to and understood by their intended audiences. In this study, current approaches for reporting…

This study was commissioned to investigate issues related to the inclusion of the American College Testing Program (ACT) assessment within the Colorado State Assessment Program (CSAP). Analyses were carried out using assessment materials, assessment results, and various data from the ACT and the Colorado State Department of Education. One focus of…

The annual Survey of State Student Assessment Programs (SSAP) summarizes what is happening in statewide assessment programs and identifies trends in assessment. The two volumes of this report contain a wealth of information about assessment in the statewide programs. Usually, each question in the survey has a corresponding data table, although in…

Volume 1 of the fall 1997 annual survey tabulates information about each state's assessment program during the 1996-97 school year. This volume contains the survey sent to state assessment directors, which was completed by representatives of all 50 states, and a summary table that lists the types of programs in each state. A list of state…

Mandated testing is not working as advertised. Too much classroom time and energy is being spent on tests that do little to measure or instill in our students the skills and knowledge needed for their later life. Corruption and political manipulation of the testing process and test results further add to questions about the use of such testing.…

This year marks the seventh edition of the "Summary of State Student Assessment Programs" (SSAP) and the third year that the Council of Chief State School Officers has conducted the survey on which the summary is based on its own. The survey summarizes what is happening in statewide assessment programs and provides information on trends…

Drawing on the collective experience of the researchers, their work with teachers and principals, and their previous research in urban schools where students are predominantly Mexican American, this essay outlines the ways in which the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) harms the educational quality and opportunity of minority,…

This article presents the viewpoint that care must be taken to fit the specifics of a testing program to its intended purpose. Testing for diagnosing individual student learning and for school evaluation should not be confused. Statewide testing programs may provide evaluative information, but are inadequate sources of diagnostic information. (LMO)

A survey, designed to take approximately 15 minutes to complete, was administered to 1,656 elementary school teachers in Michigan to obtain information on a variety of topics related to student assessment and mandated state testing. Most of the teachers were employed in small suburban or urban schools, and 88% were employed in the public schools.…