This paper addresses the educational, technical, legal, and practical challenges states must confront as they consider the content of the assessment, its technical quality, the capacity of educators and the public to use the results of the assessment, the benefits and additional complications of performance testing, and the overall tension betwen…

This booklet provides parents, teachers, administrators, and policymakers with information about achievement testing which is relevant to their needs. The first section presents an overview of the current market for standardized achievement tests and provides key definitions, distinctions between ability and achievement testing, comparisons of…

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…

This report on competency testing in vocational and technical education is a follow-up to previous reports published in 1988 and 1990. Section 1 summarizes the data. It describes competency testing in the 13 states that currently mandate competency testing and identifies the 11 states in which voluntary testing is occurring, the 9 states either…

Teacher evaluation is receiving increasing attention. Texas is the largest state to adopt a statewide appraisal instrument. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in Texas Teacher Appraisal System (TTAS) scores over a period of four years. The sum of scores of the first four individual domains and the overall summary performance…

This fold-out chart provides information about educational achievement in New Mexico for 1988-89. Demographic and educational indicators are summarized for the 88 school districts with over 292,450 students in 633 public schools in the state. The New Mexico Assessment System measures student achievement in language arts, social studies, science,…

This report summarizes information about student achievement, student opportunity to learn in science and mathematics, and student variables relating to that achievement for elementary and secondary students in the state of Illinois. Five tests were used for the basis of this report: The Illinois Inventory of Educational Progress, the American…

Each spring the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) are administered to grades 5, 8, and 11 throughout New Mexico as part of the State Department of Education mandated assessment program. This report contains information regarding Albuquerque Public Schools' results on the 1982 CTBS. A new form of the CTBS was selected for testing fifth and…

The Maryland Accountability Program Annual Report has been developed as a reference document on test data for the public. It provides a survey both of test results and of the progress being made by students attending Maryland public schools in grades 3, 5, and 8. The 1980-81 report is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 defines educational…

A statewide sustained effort to improve student learning in Missouri by adopting and adapting promising research-based educational practices is described. The concept of an Instructional Management System (IMS) with desired learner outcomes determining both instruction and testing was suggested to local school districts beginning in 1980. In 1985,…

Item specifications developed by the Arkansas Department of Education as part of the Minimum Performance Testing Program (MPT) appear in this document. Specifically, the social studies materials given to sixth-grade students on the MPT are included. The purpose of an item specification is to provide an overview of the general content and format of…

A major issue facing the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Writing Assessment is its relationship with the most frequently encountered measurement practices among State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs). Should NAEP conduct its assessments in a fashion that represents how things should be, or reflect…

A study was designed to assess the effects of the introduction of a state-mandated minimum competency test (MCT) on students' acquisition of basic and high-level mathematics skills. Subjects of the study were ninth-grade students, all of whom attended the same schools in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District, and took the same form of the…

Since 1983 the Migrant Education Program Evaluation (MEPE) has collected data about migrant children in summer programs throughout the state of Illinois. Testing is done during the summer months with migrant students in grades 3, 5, and 7. Preliminary screening identifies students who are limited-English speakers, and they are excluded from…

This manual contains the writing objectives and measurement specifications for grades 3, 5, and 9, for use by teachers and other educators responsible for pupil instruction, and for test development specialists involved with preparing the Texas Assessment of Basic Skills tests. The learning objectives are congruent with the "State Board of…