This analysis of the findings of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 1996 for North Carolina documents the state's substantial and sustained gains in educational achievement since 1990. The education reforms of the 1980s are beginning to pay off in North Carolina. It has moved from its historic position at the bottom of all…

These discussions of performance-based student assessment provide a record of a decade-long exploration of unsettled issues in assessment. The first section provides the elements of a basic rationale for performance-based assessment, while the second section contains accounts of efforts to develop new performance-based systems in one city and four…

A survey was completed by 30 administrators in Northwest Ohio who were in charge of the administration and remediation for the Ohio Ninth Grade Proficiency Tests for their respective schools. On a scale of 0 to 5 (0 signifying not at all and 5 signifying great extent), the respondents were asked to rate 20 different intervention and remediation…

One of the first tasks in developing the academic achievement indicator for the Plan-Canadian Education Indicators Program was to survey each province and territory about existing student assessment and examination practices. Survey results are reported. There is considerable diversity in Canadian assessment and evaluation practices because…

In this study, FairTest evaluated how well state assessment practices live up to the promise of high standards without standardization. The practices of states were measured against standards derived from the "Principles and Indicators for Student Assessment Systems," a 1995 publication of education and civil rights groups working…

FairTest evaluated how well state assessment practices live up to the promise of high standards without standardization. The practices of states were measured against standards derived from the "Principles and Indicators for Student Assessment Systems," a 1995 publication of education and civil rights groups working through the National…

The Delaware Student Testing Program ties student achievement to the state's content standards that define the knowledge and skills Delaware students need to succeed beyond high school. This report presents information to help parents interpret their children's scores on the tests, which are given in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. Section 1 introduces…

The extent to which classroom instruction and assessment activities in mathematics are aligned to the State of Maryland's Learning Objectives and the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) was studied by examining the underlying structure of the mathematics teacher questionnaire developed and administered to teachers in the 1996-97…

This pamphlet explains a child's Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) "Student Report for Parents/Guardians." In spring 1999, more than 210,000 students from grades 4, 8, and 10 in Massachusetts took the state's MCAS tests. All public students in grades 4, 8, and 10 are required to participate, and the Education Reform…

This document contains data about the results of the Kansas Writing Assessment for 1999. Because administration conditions of the assessment vary widely, the results must be interpreted with caution. Year-to-year state data are considered not comparable, but they are reported in the interests of consistency. Comparisons among districts should not…

Beginning in Spring 1998, Virginia students participated in the Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments designed to test student knowledge of the content and skills specified in the state's standards. This document contains questions that approximately 79,000 students in grade 8 were required to answer as part of the SOL assessments. These…

In 1987, a survey report by J. Cannell was published criticizing state reports based on national standardized testing of elementary school students that indicated that all 50 states were above the national average. This phenomenon--known as the "Lake Wobegon Effect"--is analyzed. Technical problems with the study are considered. (TJH)

Analysis of several national surveys found that states collect a tremendous amount of data on educational outcomes, but little on the status of students with disabilities. Trends toward increasing local control concerning decisions of testing participation and accommodation strategies were found. The need for carefully planned inclusion of…

Teacher testing-related attitudes and practices related to court-ordered achievement testing were studied through a mail survey completed by 79 elementary school teachers in a midwestern urban district. Teachers engaged in a large number of test preparation practices and reported finding minimal value in purpose or results of testing. (SLD)

Analyses of 10 raters' reasoning during think-aloud interviews provided evidence to support a model of the fundamental processes involved in rating standards-based, nonprescriptive portfolios. This process model provides a framework within which to conceptualize sound-rater reasoning and to identify reasoning that distorts the meaning of scores.…