This paper describes the development of the Basic Educational Skills Test (BEST) in the Austin Independent School District. In 1982 future options for the AISD minimum competency program, which requires all students to meet minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics before graduation, were evaluated against legal and local criteria. It…

This paper outlines how the Austin Independent School District (Texas) tried to deal with the following questions: (1) Should special education students be included in the administration of standardized tests?; (2) Should their scores be included or excluded in the reporting of test results?; and (3) What are the evidences that test scores reflect…

Designed for junior high and high school students and their parents, this brochure explains the structure, function, and method for interpretation of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress. A question and answer format is used to provide information on scope and purposes of the tests, meaning and accuracy…

This report summarizes results of student achievement in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) on the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS) tests in 1986-87. Major findings indicate the following: (1) 99.4% of AISD seniors to graduate in May 1987 passed the Exit-Level TEAMS tests, with only 17 denied diplomas in…

The Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), here summarized for administrators, are intended to provide information about the skills development of individual students and about relative strengths and weaknesses of the instructional program. The ITBS represents the first comprehensive elementary school and secondary school statewide testing program in…