Expanding numbers of researchers are focusing on the scale and impact of private supplementary tutoring. Such tutoring is widely called shadow education, since much of its curriculum mimics that of regular schooling. Although shadow education has expanded significantly worldwide and is now recognized to have far-reaching significance, research…

The International Civil Aviation Association has developed a set of Language Proficiency Requirements (LPRs) and a Language Proficiency Rating Scale, which seeks to define proficiency in the language needed for aviation purposes at six different levels. Pilots, air traffic controllers and aeronautical station operators are required to achieve at…

Three papers are included in this document. The first, "An Introduction to the Problem of Test User Qualifications," by Kevin L. Moreland, is a short history of the American Psychological Association (APA)/American Educational Research Association (AERA)/National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) Working Group on Test User…

The Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) is a relatively new, statewide performance assessment of students in grades 3, 5, and 8. When first administered in May of 1991, the MSPAP included a battery of performance assessment tasks designed to generate written or drawn responses to reading texts. This study evaluated selected…

Education reformers have been concerned that U.S. schools are not helping to develop in their students critical thinking or reasonable, reflective thinking about what to do or believe. Because of the significant role standardized tests play in measuring student progress, and the way in which they may influence the content and dissemination of what…

The perceived needs of public school personnel in Wyoming with respect to the development and use of criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) as part of a district-wide testing program were assessed using a survey designed for the study. Questionnaires were sent to all superintendents, assistant superintendents, and curriculum directors in the state. Of…

College applicants taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Test of Standard Written English (TSWE) were surveyed regarding the tests, college admission in general, and the communications received concerning the test and their scores. Separate questionnaires were administered before taking the SAT or TSWE, after taking the test, and after…

The mandated minimum competency programs of two states--Pennsylvania and Maryland--are examined, and some of the effects on school districts of raising the testing stakes are reviewed. In a survey conducted during the winter of 1986-87 in Pennsylvania and Maryland, one teacher, one principal, and one central office staff member each from 277…

As the country began to debate the proposition that the United States adopt a national examination system, it became apparent that information was needed about the present extent and cost of testing, as well as the estimated cost of a national examination system. In the fall of 1991, the General Accounting Office (GAO) surveyed testing officials…

For the past six years the National Assessment of Educational Progress has sponsored a national Conference on Large-Scale Assessment, designed to promote and improve communications among educational assessment personnel in State Departments of Education and other agencies. This volume contains most of the papers that were accepted for presentation…