During the last decade many school systems began to define minimum levels of competency for their students and to construct tests to measure whether students had achieved these minimums. Many states have passed laws which require high school students to pass minimum competency tests in order to graduate. This digest overviews four areas of…

This continuing ERIC/CAPS series, entitled Searchlight Plus, consists of two components: first, an in-depth review of cited materials, including prime issues and trends, and implications for helping professionals; and, second, citations from an ERIC computer search on the topic. Series topics are selected in response to user requests. Presented in…

The Tests of General Educational Development (GED Tests) are described. Developed in 1942 for military personnel who had not graduated from high school, the GED Tests enabled veterans to qualify for jobs or enter college. More than 10 million persons have earned GED Test diplomas since 1971. There are five parts to the GED Tests: (1) Writing…

A brief overview of the status of state programs designed to assess teacher competency is provided. Tests commonly used by states include tests of persons who apply to educational programs (admissions tests) and tests for graduates of teacher education programs (certification tests). Admissions tests are used by 24 states, while certification…

This digest presents an overview of accommodations for students of limited English proficiency (LEP) and an overview of inclusion practices on statewide assessments, with emphasis on the accommodation known as linguistic simplification. The inclusion of LEP students in statewide testing programs over the last decade has been uneven. In the…

An urban school district affected by testing in the effective schools context is described in order to provide examples of the effects of testing on teaching and the curriculum. The report describes the method of operationalizing the effective schools research using test information. An important catalyst to improving the instructional program was…

The standards-based educational reform initiatives of the 1990's call for assessment innovations to support high standards. To document state assessment policies and to develop policy recommendations for assessment innovations, the George Washington University Center for Excellence and Equity in Education surveyed state assessment directors in…

Offers a review of ERIC documents providing descriptions of testing programs and evaluations of student assessment programs, as well as materials focusing on assessment validity, state testing initiatives, and cohort testing. (DMM)

Tests can be categorized into two major groups: norm-referenced tests (NRTs) and criterion-referenced tests (CRTs). NRTs are designed to highlight achievement differences between and among students to produce a dependable rank order of students across a continuum of achievement from high achievers to low achievers. With NRTs, a representative…

The results of the annual survey of state teacher testing programs in 1990 are summarized. State directors of teacher testing programs were contacted in the summer of 1990 and asked to update the data compiled in 1989 by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Tests, Measurement, and Evaluation. The results show that 46 states required teacher testing in 1990.…

Authentic reading assessment is examined, focusing on its implementation within the Michigan Essential Skills Reading Test (MESRT). Authentic reading assessment emerged as a response to research that indicates that reading is not a particular skill but an interaction among reader, text, and the context of the reading situation. Unlike formal…

This report was compiled to serve as a reference on assessments of achievement in pre-college mathematics. Patterns of mathematical assessments are discussed in terms of the history and nature of assessments of achievement, the relationship between assessment and minimum competency testing, and the current status of state assessment programs.…

Community college students are dropping courses at increasing rates at substantial costs to their institutions and themselves. Subsequently, numerous studies have been conducted to investigate this trend, the factors that influence it, and ways of reversing it. A recent study revealed that the most frequently cited reason for course withdrawal was…

This document argues that current efforts to establish a national test to measure progress toward the nation's educational goals will inhibit, rather than advance, educational reform. Proponents of a national test have asked for single, primarily multiple-choice tests, or for performance assessments to measure progress toward the nation's…

Both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced interpretations of student, school, district, and state testing data can be improved by customizing the traditional norm-referenced test. Improvements that can be made include: (1) increasing the relevance of the test to the curriculum and (2) having greater confidence in the national comparative…