Uses Lipsky's concept of street-level bureaucrat to identify how English teachers in two Chicago public schools respond to student failure within the context of district accountability agenda. Finds, for example, that teachers responded to testing policies by allocating significant classroom time to "teaching to the tests," but employed…

Examines the perceptions of superintendents and school board members in Pennsylvania with regard to state academic standards and standardized test. Finds that superintendents and school board members differ in their knowledge of standards, the ideological position they take on testing, and the degree to which they believe testing has been…

Investigates the validity of phoneme recognition as an indicator of phonemic awareness at kindergarten age. Six paper and pencil phonemic awareness tests, phoneme recognition among them, were administered to a group of Dutch children a few months before they began formal literacy instruction and 10 months later. (VWL)

Argues that U.S. students are not being educated to succeed in a world dominated by the globalization of the economics, politics, and cultures of developed and developing countries. Suggests what educators can do to remedy this situation based on observations of Swedish school system. Suggestions include restructuring education, empowering…

Suggests that analyses of current assessment practices need to examine the impact that testing has on teaching and the curriculum. Notes that writing assessment drives instruction. Provides basic questions to begin analyses of local and state assessments, and provides one such analysis of Illinois' assessment. Concludes that educators need to help…

Describes a process for developing placement tests for English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language learners. The process includes assembling an assessment team, focusing on test takers, defining test objectives, choosing a test type, choosing the test content, creating the test, developing scoring guides, testing the test, and training the testers.…

Describes an Anne Frank project, an interdisciplinary project designed for English-as-a-Foreign-Language students in Israel. The project was conceived of for Grade 11 students, because they learn about the Holocaust in history and are tested on it in the history Bagrut examination. (Author/VWL)

A general process for faculty to use in comparing the relative efficacy of college outcomes assessment instruments for gauging student progress toward goals is outlined. Analysis of two standardized general education exams, the American College Testing College Outcome Measures Project and the Educational Testing Service Academic Profile,…

Some solutions are offered for three large-class testing problems: how to offer students an opportunity to be assessed in an essay format without straining the available grading resources; deal with students who miss a required examination; and generate large numbers of new, relevant examination questions regularly. (MSE)

Proposes a systemically valid testing system that induces curricular and instructional changes in education systems to foster the development of the cognitive traits that tests are designed to measure. Analyzes test characteristics and outlines the principles of a systemically valid testing system. (FMW)

Reviews a volume of descriptive and evaluative information on 47 commercially available English language proficiency tests used in North America, Great Britain, and Australia. The book includes discussions of uses and misuses of tests, and overviews of English as second language testing in North America and Great Britain. (SV)

This article provides teachers with strategies for planning and organizing a positive, efficient physical fitness testing environment for K-12 students, including students with special needs. Methods of class organization and scheduling suggestions are presented. Sample record and score sheets are included. (IAH)

The advantages of group consensus testing are discussed, procedures for preparing and testing students by this method are outlined, and research supporting consensus testing is reviewed. (MSE)

Reports on the formation of the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) summarizes the background to ALTE's formation, and discusses its objectives: to establish common levels of proficiency; to establish common standards for all stages of the testing process; and to collaborate on joint projects and in the exchange of ideas. (CK)

Focuses on the need to develop a standard of language qualifications to facilitate the movement of workers within the European Union and on the establishment of a framework with five language levels relating to vocational qualifications by LangCred. Certificates and examinations assigned to the first three levels are stored in a database system.…