The current NCLB/ESSA-generation [No Child Left Behind/Every Student Succeeds Act] of pre-service teachers in the U.S. received their K-12 schooling during the standardized test-focused education accountability era. There is little research exploring how they perceive the disconnect between their K-12 teacher-centered, test-focused school…

Critics of creativity tests, some of which are used widely in determining student eligibility for special educational opportunities such as gifted programs, claim that scores on these tests can be improved with specific training on the scoring components of the tests. However, we could find no empirical evidence supporting this claim. So, we…

A fundamental claim for Common Core State Standards (CCSS)-aligned assessments is that they will lead to better teaching practices. The purpose of this study is to seek evidence in support of this claim by surveying teachers about their instructional practices, test preparation strategies, and test score use both before and after the introduction…

As the number, date and form of the written tests are structured and teacher-oriented, it is considered that it creates fear and anxiety among the students. It has been found necessary and important to form a testing model which will keep the students away from the test anxiety and allows them to learn only about the lesson. For this study,…

In his focus article, Koretz (this issue) argues that accountability has become the primary function of large-scale testing in the United States. He then points out that tests being used for accountability purposes are flawed and that the high-stakes nature of these tests creates a context that encourages score inflation. Koretz is concerned about…

Many medical schools have adopted multiple mini-interviews (MMI) as an advanced selection tool. MMIs are expensive and used to test only a few dozen candidates per day, making it infeasible to develop a different test version for each test administration. Therefore, some items are reused both within and across years. This study investigated the…

This paper addresses the question: How do teachers and school leaders respond to high stakes testing of pupils transitioning from primary to secondary school? It explores how a new test, the Level 6 test, operated with regard to primary/secondary school relationships in England. It draws on an analysis of qualitative interviews with teachers and…

The purpose of this document is to identify and dispel rumors that are frequently cited about the SAT. The following is a compilation of nine popular rumors organized into three areas: "Student Demographics," "Test Preparation/Test Prediction," and "Test Utilization."

Review quizzes can provide students with feedback and assist in the preparation for in-class tests, but students often do not voluntarily use self-testing resources. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate if taking a mandatory online review quiz alters performance on subsequent in-class tests. During two semesters of a single-semester…

The proper goal of an introductory logic course, teaching critical thinking, is best achieved by maintaining the principle of continuity between student experiences and the curriculum. To demonstrate this I explain Dewey's naturalistic approach to logic and the process of inquiry, one which presents the elements of traditional logic in the…

This article examines the relationship between pre-entry coaching (both in terms of money and effort) and the achievement of Russian high school graduates as measured by the results of the Unified State Examination (USE). Using a data set of students from the 16 biggest Russian cities, which includes information on USE results, family background,…

Previous research has shown that repeated retrieval with written tests produces superior long-term retention compared to repeated study. However, the degree to which this increased retention transfers to clinical application has not been investigated. In addition, increased retention obtained through written testing has not been compared to other…

In order to test the effect of exam-question level on fostering student conceptual understanding, low-level and high-level quizzes and exams were administered in two sections of an introductory biology course. Each section was taught in a high-level inquiry based style but was assigned either low-level questions (memory oriented) on the quizzes…

The role of standardized tests in general and college admission tests in particular is a hot topic for educators, administrators and others evaluating the outcomes of educational institutions. The importance of the test scores for both students and institutions is acknowledged, and the test preparation industry has spawned into a multi-billion…

Students experiencing test anxiety encounter extreme levels of stress, nervousness, and apprehension during testing that drastically hinders their ability to perform well and negatively affects their social-emotional and behavioral development, and feelings about themselves and school. A collaborative and multidimensional approach that includes…