One critical area of concern for governments of small states is the provision and administration of examinations at the end of the secondary school cycle. The problems, faced by all states, of assuring that assessment and certification are carried out fairly, are compounded for small states by the additional difficulties associated with their…

This report is aimed at helping Congress: (1) better understand the functions, history, capabilities, limitations, uses, and misuses of educational tests; (2) learn more about the promises and pitfalls of new assessment methods and technologies; and (3) identify and weigh policy options affecting educational policy. To prepare this report, the…

The speeches presented at the second national conference on testing deal with models for program evaluation, reporting of test results, minimum competency programs, and the role of state and federal government in educational testing. Various approaches to program evaluation, and its relationship to testing are described by Michael Scriven, Lee J.…

Recommendations of the Study Group on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are summarized in this report. The report is then reviewed by the National Academy of Education. The recommendations are to: (1) maintain NAEP's continuity; (2) assess the core curriculum; (3) focus on transitional grades (4, 8, and 12) and sample…

The document states that certain steps need to be taken immediately for rectifying and containing the injustices of testing. Until such time that the State can demonstrate unequivocally that their statewide testing and evaluation program is fair to all groups, and that every student has had an equal exposure to quality school environments before…

Two major issues related to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are explored: (1) the roles and responsibilities of federal and state education agencies in reformulating NAEP to facilitate comparisons among states; and (2) problems and solutions in aligning or accounting for differences between national assessment objectives and…

This four-part report deals with minimal competency testing with a focus on test development and the federal role in competency testing. The first section presents highlights of a 1978 conference on "Achievement Testing and Basic Skills" chaired by Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph Califano. The second section contains the…

Nine papers were presented at the 1986 Educational Testing Service Invitational Conference on outcomes assessment in higher education. The Award for Distinguished Service to Measurement was awarded to Frederic Kuder for development of the Kuder-Richardson 20 and KR-21 formulas for test reliability, the Kuder Preference Record, and the Kuder…

Extracts from the papers and position statements presented at the National Conference on Achievement Testing and Basic Skills are provided in an attempt to capture both the diversity and the consensus among the participants. Six sessions are summarized: (1) achievement tests and basic skills: the issues and the setting--by Harold Howe II; (2)…

A detailed description is presented of the types, functions, performance levels, governance, administration, and funding of public examinations in 14 Sub-Saharan African countries with different educational traditions, based on English, French, or other backgrounds. The countries are: (1) Kenya; (2) Lesotho; (3) Mauritius; (4) Swaziland; (5)…

This paper discusses two examples of federal agencies which administer laws fundamental to the protection and advancement of the educational interests of minority children: the Office for Civil Rights, and the Division of Education for the Disadvantaged. Provisions of these laws can be construed as protective standards which may provide the major…

When the nation of Pakistan was first created, school entrance and civil service examinations were administered in a foreign language--English. A major concern is that enrollment in primary education only increased from 17 percent in 1947 to 48 percent in 1983, with stil a very high dropout rate. National and province-wide boards of education were…

The National Education Association (NEA) Task Force on Testing's position statement on educational and psychological testing, originally presented at the 1973 Representative Assembly of NEA, is reinforced for the 1975 assembly. In summary, the task force believes that the major use of tests should be to improve instruction--to diagnose learning…

This report is aimed at helping Congress better understand the functions, history, capabilities, limitations, uses, and misues of educational tests; learn more about the promises and pitfalls of new assessment methods and technologies; and identify and weigh policy options affecting educational policy. To prepare this report, the Office of…

Addressing often neglected broad issues, rather than the pragmatics of test development and administration, this Conference on Minimum Competency Achievement Testing was organized around six topics: (1) social and philosophical roots, uniqueness among testing movements, and policy issues; (2) legal, curricular, and social-demographic consequences;…