Although the number of countries conducting large-scale assessments has increased significantly over the past two decades, this has not necessarily led to the effective use of learning assessment data in policy-making and planning. To better understand the reasons for this, the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP)…

Large-scale learning assessments can be used to generate performance and contextual data on student learning outcomes. They can be national, regional, or international; school based or household based. The UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO) has conducted a qualitative study to explore both how and why learning…

The booklet was designed to help each recipient of the California Achievement Test (CAT) reports to understand the general format of the reports, the abbreviations and symbols used, and the types of scores presented. It was also intended to assist in interpreting CAT results and using these results at each level of the educational process to best…

This article on open education and the direction it is taking is a kind of "state of the wave (movement)" message-a necessary caution not only for those moving along nicely with the current, but also for those who may already be over their heads and those who have yet to test the water. (Editor/RK)

The author assesses the contributions to educational planning of the National Assessment of Education Progress. He gives examples of the findings and asks questions as to how they can be utilized by school systems. (Editor) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in this document: Results (Utilization).

The Ohio Career Development Program was evaluated and students were tested in order to carry out that evaluation. (RK)

This Action Plan has been developed to ensure the success of the Arkansas Smart Start Initiative, the part of the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Accountability Program (ACTAAP) that focuses on grades K through 4. As do other aspects of the ACTAAP, the Smart Start Initiative has four components, each of which is described here: (1)…

The article examines the American Council of Education's programmatic efforts in (1) continuing functions--formal military evaluations and the GED testing program, (2) new functions--a project on noncollegiate-sponsored instruction and developing interfaces among credentials, and (3) general concern for credit policies and practices. (MW)

Most standardized testing programs do not furnish examples of the kinds of information young people actually know. Instead they indicate only (1) how far an individual student is above or below an average score, and (2) the average score of a classroom or a school in relation to others. In contrast, National Assessment evaluates educational…

In 1998 the Colorado State General Assembly passed a bill that revised the schedule for implementation of the Colorado Student Assessment Program of state assessments. During the 1998-99 school year, the state assessment was to include third-grade literacy, fourth-grade reading and writing, and seventh-grade reading and writing. The newsletters in…

A conceptual framework is developed for analyzing the costs of alternative assessment instruments. The framework will be used in future analyses by the Center for the Study of Evaluation to determine the costs of alternative assessment programs in a number of states. It is important that a distinction be made between costs and expenditures. Costs…

This paper reviews the process employed in Pennsylvania to develop, refine, select, and implement educational indicators at the state level as part of a state testing program. The indicators are used to provide meaningful comparative information for analysis and planning, to encourage school employees to make productive curricular or…

An 8-item survey instrument, Plans Beyond High School, was administered to over 80,000 high school seniors in 1968 as part of the Florida Statewide Twelfth Grade Testing Program, a battery consisting of academic ability and achievement tests in English, social studies, natural sciences, and mathematics. The survey instrument was primarily designed…

This paper offers a scenario for how educational assessment might change in response to market forces that affect not only the future of large-scale testing but also society in general. The scenario divides into three generations distinguished by the purpose of testing, test format and content, and the extent to which testing capitalizes on new…

This is the fifth in a series of six monographs developed to help local educators use and report Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test results. An organized plan facilitates the important task of reporting test results to the school board quickly and accurately. This monograph gives one approach that enables the staff to take the…