Offers a historical perspective on testing in U.S. education, arguing that nationwide emphases on student assessment have been linked to vacillations in public confidence in the nation's educational system. Compares the focus on assessment that followed the expansion of secondary education between 1890 and 1935 with the current assessment…

Offers a synthesis of the arguments for and against value-added testing (i.e., assessing how much students learn or improve or grow in school or college). Looks at alternative methods of measuring the value added in terms of the relationship between entry and exit skills. (DMM)

Part of understanding the issues that surround the implementation of transformative federal mandates such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is the accumulation of sound, evidenced-based findings that are coupled with rich descriptive explanatory findings. By doing so, the research community supports educational practice to continually…

Proponents of out-of-level testing generally contend that there are three benefits for students with disabilities: (1) undue test frustration is avoided; (2) test measurement accuracy is improved; and (3) test items are better matched to students' current educational goals and instructional level (Thurlow, Elliott, & Ysseldyke, 1999). It is…

This descriptive study compared the assessment practices of 10 elementary school teachers over a 11 weeks to those of Ohio's fourth and sixth grade science Proficiency Tests. Findings show that the assessment practices of these teachers were not aligned with Ohios proficiency test. The tests used in participants' classrooms contained a…

This report discusses alternate assessments that are to be used in accounting for the performance and progress of students with disabilities who do not participate in typical state assessments. Alternate assessments are data collection procedures used in place of the typical assessment when students cannot take standard forms of assessment. Four…

In question-and-answer form, this pamphlet describes the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP). The CSAP tests are designed to measure student achievement in relation to the Colorado Model Content Standards. Every student enrolled in the grades tested is expected to take the appropriate CSAP. The CSAP tests are developed collaboratively by…

This book documents classroom practices and considers the implementation and consequences of the Kentucky Education Reform (KERA) Act through case studies, comparisons to other models, and responses from national experts. The chapters are: (1) "Kentucky Lesson: How High Stakes School Accountability Undermines a Performance-Based Curriculum…

This report describes the accountability system for the Texas public schools and notes recognition the system has received. Since 1993, the state has had an accountability system for prekindergarten-12 schools. The addition in 1998 of an accountability system for educator preparation makes Texas the first state to create a prekindergarten-grade 16…

The effects of presenting a choice of writing tasks on the quality of essays produced by eleventh graders were studied with 34,200 students in Georgia. The choice condition had no substantive effect on the quality of essays, but race, gender, and the writing task variable did. (SLD)

The following is adapted from chapter 2 of "Assessing Expressive Learning: A Practical Guide for Teacher-Directed Authentic Assessment in K-12 Visual Art Education" by Charles Dorn, Stanley Madeja, and Robert Sabol. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ 2003. (Appendices referred to in the following article can be found in the book…

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.…

The purpose of this chapter is to synthesize the results of the studies presented in this monograph and to discuss the implications of those results. The chapter is divided into four sections. In the first section state level assessment as a reform mechanism for high school physical education is discussed in terms of the South Carolina experience.…

The U.S. Department of Education has notified 10 states that it intends to withhold a portion of their state administrative funds under the Title I program for failing to comply fully with the testing provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act by the end of the 2005-06 school year. Those funds would instead be diverted directly to school…

"Testing for Justice Rationale" calls for schools to meet the needs of all children. The needs of children can be determined by comparing what children can do with what they can learn to do. Any discrepancy between achievement and potential indicates a need and it is only through adequate testing that these needs can be determined. This…