State mandated tests are being implemented in the public schools, but states differ greatly in the complexity of their tests, making comparisons very difficult. States may have widely different definitions of what counts as proficient, and it is evident that state standards are set arbitrarily. It is also important to consider the relationship of…

Since the passage of the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, inclusion of all students with disabilities in accountability systems has been mandatory. By 2001, school personnel began to understand that alternate assessment needed to focus on students' performance on state standards, and nearly all states had created…

The New York State School Report Card is an important part of the state's efforts to raise learning standards for all students. This guide provides an overview of the changes for the year 2000, answers to frequently asked questions, and descriptions of the state's testing program and other performance measures. This document focuses on questions…

The impacts of the Maryland State Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) and the Maryland Learning Outcomes (MLOs) on curriculum, classroom instruction and assessment, professional development, and student learning were studied. Data sources were questionnaires completed by principals, mathematics teachers, and students from 90 elementary and…

Maryland participated in the State National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 1996 and 1998 when samples of approximately 2,500 fourth and eighth graders in 100 schools participated in the testing sessions for mathematics (1996) and reading (1998). This report is an initial attempt to return information to Maryland about the relations…

In 1996, North Carolina established its "ABC" plan for educational improvement, based on accountability (A), testing of basic subjects (B), and more local control (C). Each year student test results in reading, mathematics, writing, and selected middle school and high school courses are analyzed to determine whether or not schools have…

This paper describes the approaches taken at a middle school to improve student problem solving ability and test results for the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) mathematics tests. The focus was on grade 6. In 1996, 35% of the 437 students in grade 6 did not master the mathematics problem solving skill. A committee of…

This study investigated school-level benefits of using the PLAN program over time. Outcome variables included the average gain in ACT Assessment scores, the proportion of students whose ACT scores achieved college readiness benchmarks, and the proportion of students who took particular patterns of college preparatory coursework in high school.…

The roots of the American testing movement lie deeply imbedded in the American progressive temper which combined its belief in progress, its racial attitudes and its faith in the scientific-expert working through the state authority to ameliorate and control the evolutionary progress of the race. (Author)

Through a retrospective study, the methods of investigative journalism are analyzed as they are applied to a statewide evaluation of student achievement and to a local school evaluation of new student registration procedures. The benefits and shortcomings of the journalistic approach are illustrated. (Author/AL)

Teachers are practically unanimous in their opinion that the benefits derived from a mandated testing program are less than the costs in teacher/pupil time and money, the same information might be obtained from fewer tests, and teacher evaluations are more accurate than mandated tests in assessing pupils' abilities. (Author/CM)

The history of the Oxford Local Examinations is discussed beginning with the first examination in 1856 and including the advent of the General Certificate of Education examination in the late 1940s. (SA)

Comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the reading portions of the California Achievement Tests. (JT)