The quality and the effectiveness of the 1992 New Jersey Grade 8 Early Warning Test (NJEWT) are assessed. Standardized tests possess clear advantages for educators, especially in the case of administration and scoring, but there are clear disadvantages as well, including the possibility of bias. Four criteria are applied to the NJEWT: adequacy,…

In the spring of 2000, public school eighth grade students will be assessed for the first time on the Colorado Model Content Standards for Science. This guide was developed to help educators prepare for the upcoming Colorado science assessment. The purpose of this book is to provide a window into eighth grade science assessment. This guide is…

Test publishers have promoted their commercially available, norm-referenced achievement tests as viable solutions to assessment challenges faced by states. They argue that their tests are developed professionally, and, therefore, possess sound psychometric properties not often found in state-specific efforts. This study compared judgments from two…

The comparability of computerized and paper-and-pencil tests was examined from cognitive perspective, using verbal protocols rather than psychometric methods, as the primary mode of inquiry. Reading comprehension items from the Graduate Record Examinations were completed by 48 college juniors and seniors, half of whom took the computerized test…

The Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA) is New Jersey's test for fourth graders. It is designed to give the school information about how well students are achieving in the areas required by New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards. This guide offers parents, students, and teachers information about the ESPA. The parent…

This addendum was created to reflect the recommendations of the Mathematics Task Force that met in Arizona to make recommendations to the state Board of Education. The Mathematics Task Force recommended that a core curriculum be identified in the Mathematics Proficiency Standards that would be required of all high school students beginning in the…

The standards presented in this book, for reading, writing, and mathematics, are those that will be initially assessed by Arizona's Instrument To Measure Standards (AIMS). These standards and those for other content areas will be a road map for education in Arizona. A statewide test is being developed for each of these areas to measure student…

The Web-based standard setting (WBSS) system described in Harvey and Way (1999) provides an online, Internet-based alternative for testing programs that use onsite judgmental standard setting studies to set their cut scores. Standard setting studies using the WBSS system were compared to similar onsite studies of two exams in the College-Level…

This bulletin provides an overview of substance testing, describes major indicators of the need for such testing, and summarizes the research for recent trends in substance abuse. It examines the practices of implementing a policy of controlled substance testing for appropriate categories of juveniles within the juvenile justice system. A summary…

The objections of testing experts to standardized testing are evaluated. The report begins with a foreword by Chester E. Finn, Jr., followed by an executive summary and an introduction. Four case studies include: (1) experts' opposition to high-stakes testing in Texas; (2) in North Carolina; (3) concerns raised in connection with the National…

Whether increasing reliance on policy-driven assessment for accountability and control of educational institutions is actually sabotaging long-term goals and purposes of the schools is explored, questioning whether current practices of high-stakes testing are anathema to real education values. The distinction between policy-driven assessment and…

A study was conducted in England in 1997 to consider materials that were available to support students making a transition from compulsory education to the study of mathematics in noncompulsory post-16 education. This report on the study also contains an outline of the basic structures of the English education system and its assessment provisions.…

The first purpose of this study is to do a comparative analysis in terms of the item difficulty and discrimination index between Mathematics Placement Test Form A and G. The results seem to suggest that items on both forms of the placement test are equally difficult. However, items on form A appear to have more discrimination power than items on…

The effect of rapid feedback for a state writing assessment on subsequent writing performance was investigated. In addition, the agreement between teachers' scores for the state writing assessment and state department scores was analyzed. Eighth grade English teachers (n=8) were trained in analytic trait scoring of writing assessments. They then…

Articles in this issue vary widely in method, content, and sample size, but come together to produce a valuable collection of knowledge about education in the Pacific Basin, with emphasis on issues of under-representation. The articles are: (1) "Effects of a Culturally Competent School-Based Intervention for At-Risk Hawaiian Students"…