To portray the status of minimum competency testing programs nationwide; as of June 30, 1979, on-site visits were conducted with directors of all 31 state programs and 20 local district programs. Most programs were developed since 1976; 14 state and 13 local programs are fully implemented. The state board of education mandated 16 state programs;…

A method of developing measurement instruments to assess academic achievement in proficiency-based education is presented. Materials and exercises are sequenced to correspond to major activities which must be completed in developing local assessment systems. The exercises contained in this workshop guide have been field tested and can be followed…

In 1976, New Jersey public law established uniform statewide minimum standards in the basic communication and computational skills for publicly educated students in the state. To implement the law for the year 1976-77, the New Jersey Educational Assessment Program administered tests to all fourth, seventh, and tenth grade students. These tests…

A procedure which employs a method of item substitution based on item difficulty is recommended for developing parallel criterion referenced test forms. This procedure is currently being used in the Florida functional literacy testing program and the Georgia teacher certification testing program. Reasons for developing parallel test forms involve…

Mathematics achievement test scores of high school students in the Austin Independent School District who graduated before implementation of minimum competency testing were compared to the scores of students who were more recently enrolled in mathematics tutorial classes in order to meet minimum competency requirements. The percentages of…

The increasing use of educational performance or outcome measurements for a range of policy purposes points to new procedures for adjusting data for population composition. The purposes include: program formulation, budget resource allocation, grant-in-aid designs, performance incentive payments, consumer information for school selection, and…

This final report on the Preliminary Evaluation of Planned Variation in Head Start According to Follow Through Approaches is a detailed account of the field testing and implementation activities performed during the 1969-1972 period, with emphasis on the second and third years. The sections of the report are as follows: I. Introduction; II.…

State-mandated student testing in Ohio is a combination of three different initiatives: (1) competency-based education (CBE) assessment; (2) achievement and ability testing; and (3) proficiency testing. This report describes the current testing requirements and some of the characteristics of each of these types of assessment. CBE assessment was…

Minnesota has developed a statewide assessment in response to the national movement toward state accountability and high standards for all students. The Minnesota Basic Standards Tests currently assess whether a student has achieved a minimum level of competency in reading, math, and writing. Limited English speaking (LEP) students in Minnesota…

This report examines issues concerning the participation of students with disabilities in state and district assessments and offers principles and recommendations for increasing their participation. This report suggests that 85 percent of students with disabilities could participate either in the regular assessments or by using accommodations and…

Arizona teachers and administrators (n=2,444) were surveyed to determine (1) use of standardized test scores; (2) teachers' perceptions of others' use of scores; (3) how schools prepare students to take tests; (4) conditions under which tests are given; and (5) views of current testing program effects. (SLD)

In their reply to our article, Greenwald, Rudman, Nosek, and Zayas offered comments on the use of their procedure relative to one that focuses on standard multiple regression (SMR) methods). Here we address five issues where we think a balance of perspective is called for: (a) issues of measurement, (b) the structuring and reporting of the…

This study was patterned after a previous study by Skaggs and Lissitz (1992) in which inconsistency of differential item functioning (DIF) was reported across test administrations. They suggested multidimensionality of test data as one possible reason for inconsistency. Therefore, in this study, DIF indices which were developed recently with a…

This study compares logistic discriminant function analysis for differential item functioning (DIF) with a technique for the detection of DIF that is based on item response theory rather than the Mantel-Haenszel procedure. In this study, the areas between the two item characteristic curves, also called the item characteristic curve method is…

Under the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA), Title I programs are evaluated using standards-based multiple measures. In California, school systems would like to use state standards for the evaluation, but state performance standards are still under development and content standards are very new. The Sacramento City Schools (California) has…