All students, including students with disabilities, participate in state accountability systems. Many students participate in the regular assessment, with or without accommodations, but some students may require participation in an alternate assessment to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. Students with more significant cognitive disabilities…

Community coalitions (CCs) have labored with some difficulty to demonstrate empirical evidence of effectiveness in preventing a wide range of adolescent problem behaviors. Training and technical assistance (TA) have been identified as important elements in promoting improved functioning of CCs. A reliable, valid, and inexpensive method to assess…

Describes the many causes of pressure to change large-scale assessment in the United States and suggests that the largest factor facilitating change will be technological, especially the use of the Internet. The Internet will help revolutionize the business and substance of large-scale assessment. (SLD)

This report describes the sequence of activities that took place as the Examination Division of the New Jersey Department of Civil Service introduced a word processing system for a test item bank and for production of camera-ready test copy. The equipment selection, installation and orientation procedures are discussed. Keyboard and CRT terminals,…

Summarizes recent developments in the use of technology in schools and state-level testing programs. Presents results of two studies, one with 114 students and one with about 200 students, that indicate that written tests administered on paper underestimate the achievement of students accustomed to working with computers. (SLD)

The Maryland Functional Testing Program (MFTP) uses the Rasch model as the statistical framework for the analysis of test items and scores. This paper is designed to assist the reader in developing an understanding of the fit statistics in the Rasch model. Background materials on application of the Rasch model in statistical analysis of the MFTP…

This paper discusses the rationale for enhancing the current National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) design by adding a capacity for adaptive testing. Items are tailored to the achievement level of the student in adaptive testing. The report describes a 1993 Ohio field trail of two-stage assessment carried out by the National Opinion…

The Learning Outcome Testing Program of the West Virginia Department of Education is designed to provide public school teachers/administrators with test questions matching learning outcomes. The approach, software selection, results of pilot tests with teachers in 13 sites, and development of test items for item banks are described. (SLD)

The Texas Education Code requires the Commissioner of Education to develop and propose alternative methods of assessment for students who have not passed the exit level test. The goal of this requirement is an alternative mechanism by which a student can demonstrate the knowledge and skills measured by the exit level test and thus earn a high…

The development, school district implementation, and initial validation of the Wicat Skills Assessment Test--a computerized testing system for state assessment objectives--are described. Testing with 10,000 students in grades 3, 5, 7, and 9 began in Texas in 1986-87 and 1987-88. Results support the feasibility for districtwide computerized…