Describes how a group of Texas teacher educators use story to examine their teaching decisions in the face of a test-driven curriculum. Notes that their stories reflect their responses to pressures to create curriculum that imitates the test rather than remaining learner-centered. (SG)

By their very nature, grades undermine learning. In schools that constantly emphasize the importance of success, students may regard learning as a chore, avoid challenging tasks, think superficially, and value ability more than effort. Students should be able to think, write, and explore without worrying how good they are. (MLH)

Considers how IQ tests may not be an effective means of identifying English-as-a-second language (ESL) students with learning disabilities due to inherent cultural biases of the tests. Concludes that the use of IQ tests with ESL or English-dialect students is inappropriate when the student's first or primary language is different from the language…

Considers special needs students' interactions with high stakes testing and ways in which teachers try to improve the testing environment. Makes a suggestion for different types of evaluations including a semester-ending project that permits choice and engages students in interdisciplinary lessons. (SG)

The National Academy of Education Panel is providing the intellectual leadership and coordination for an independent evaluation of the 1990 and 1992 Trial State Assessments (TSA) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). These instruments provide state-by-state comparisons of educational achievement, which is the first such use of…

This book explores current theory, research, practice, and policy in the assessment of higher order thinking in mathematics, focusing on the elementary and secondary grades. Current knowledge and research on mathematics learning and testing is synthesized. Examples of innovative test items for classroom use and state assessment programs are…

The Delaware Educational Assessment Program publishes annual results from the California Test of Basic Skills by district, school, and grade (1 through 8 and 11). A statewide computer information system was developed to manage the testing program, the massive 10-year longitudinal database, and the information requests received. The Delaware…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 19 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effectiveness of English placement examinations used at five junior colleges in California; (2) the direction and distance of context required by college…

A group of highly regarded schools in affluent suburban areas was divided into two groups: those judged to have a traditional orientation and those judged to have a more experimental orientation, in terms of course and program structure. A review of the mean Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) from the 1966, 1969, 1973, and 1976 graduating classes from…

American education is not as inadequate as public opinion indicates. The literacy and skill of American youth are higher today than forty years ago because of our high achievement standards and commitment to equal educational opportunity. These opposing principles have been reconciled by the diversity encouraged in institutions, teachers, and…

This symposium consists of five papers and presents some recent developments in adaptive testing which have applications to several military testing problems. The overview, by James R. McBride, defines adaptive testing and discusses some of its item selection and scoring strategies. Item response theory, or item characteristic curve theory, is…

This review covers a time span from 1922 to 1980. It examines the link that exists between assessment and teaching. After discussing the milieu in which the two take place, the remainder of the review addresses four questions: (1) how do teachers use test information for instructional decisions?; (2) what has research indicated about the linkage…

Before a bilingual program can be set up, students who are potential candidates for such a program must be identified. A study was made to investigate the interrelationships of three commonly used measures of "language dominance": the Language Facility Test (LFT), the Home Bilingual Usage Estimate (HBUE), and the Teacher Judgment Questionnaire…

A closed form approximation is given for the variance of examinee proficiency estimates in the Rasch model for dichotomous items, under the condition that only estimates, rather than true values, of item difficulty parameters are available. The term that must be added to the usual response-sampling variance is inversely proportional to both the…

Valid assessment of professional competence has proven to be an elusive goal. Objective tests, direct observation of performance, overall ratings of competence, and simulations have been tried and found wanting in one way or another. Objective test items are criticized as being unrealistic and therefore invalid. Direct observation tends to be very…