One component of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) is the state's performance-based assessments, criterion-referenced tests that require students to apply what they know and can do to solve problems and display other higher-order thinking skills. This document helps parents, teachers, students, and other citizens…

Beginning in the 1995-96 school year, the science test will be added to the Ninth-grade Proficiency Tests Program. Any student graduating after September 15, 2000 will be required to pass the Ninth-grade Proficiency Test in Science, as well as the other tests in reading, writing, mathematics, and citizenship. This fact sheet provides information…

The North Carolina End-of-Grade Testing Program is based on the assessment of higher level skills in the context of specific subject-area content. These tests inform students, parents, the community, and educators about the achievement of North Carolina students in grades three through eight in given areas. This report describes the development…

Using data from the same source as that employed in Herrnstein and Murray's book, "The Bell Curve," this study reexamined links between the test scores of mothers and children, paying close attention to what the scores measure and whether these measurements mean the same things for blacks and whites. The study replicated Herrnstein and…

This article addresses the problem of ascertaining the most suitable learning environment for learning diagnostic skills in health education--specifically diagnostic reasoning and the selection of therapy--through the design, development, and evaluation of a videodisc program. It describes the design, development, and formative evaluation of a…

This paper discusses whether or not revisions of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT) have created such significant differences between the two tests that a student could conceivably score significantly higher on one than the other. The SAT has been revised to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student…

State program practices in norm-referenced testing (NRT) are described as found in the 1990-91 school year and prior years to provide information on years of administration of the same test and the age of the norms. All 50 State Departments of Education were surveyed in 2 stages. States without NRT were asked to described their testing policies;…

The Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education of the House Committee on Education and Labor met to consider the recommendations of the National Council on Education Standards and Testing. The report recommends the establishment of national education standards, a national system of assessments, and the establishment of a…

The Iowa Vocational Assessment System (IVAS) conducted extensive research and developed an assessment model appropriate for use by local education agencies to assess competency-based curriculum. Two school districts requested and administered the Iowa Career Education Inventory with IVAS assistance in administration, scoring, and interpretation of…

Although a large number of adults in the United States are assumed to need literacy training, little agreement exists on that number. Adults who attend literacy instruction are assumed to acquire the skills, but little is known about program effectiveness. Another assumption is that adults should define their goals, but this does not ensure that…

Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA), as mandated by the Kansas State Board of Education, requires schools to document student learning through multiple assessment strategies and requires students to participate in state-developed assessments in reading, writing, mathematics, and science. The Kansas National Education Association has joined…

This book on attention deficit disorders (ADD) is designed to prepare current and prospective teachers and other school personnel to teach and work with students with ADD in the schools. Part 1 introduces the field; reviews characteristics of ADD, symptoms at different stages of life, and coexisting conditions; offers a brief history of the field;…

The New Standards Project is a joint effort of the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) and the National Center on Education and the Economy toward creation of a national examination system based on performance assessments. This study explored the feasibility of comparing performance on…

As the latest in a series of studies analyzing the data reported on Tennessee's school district report cards, this paper focuses on finding a common statistical treatment to examine the impact of predictor variables on dependent variables. Investigations of the 1988-89 report card data explored the relationships among eight school district…

As part of the educational reform movement, states and local districts have implemented outcomes-based accountability for student outcomes. Outcomes-based accountability systems are using results of both traditional assessments, such as norm-referenced tests, and authentic performance assessments in an effort to measure broad domains of student…