This statistical profile provides a comprehensive resource for citizens, parents, educators, legislators, researchers, and others who want facts about education in South Dakota. South Dakota has 177 school districts, with 774 schools. Fifty percent of these schools have 100 students or fewer, and only 7% have more than 500 students. The 1995-96…

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…

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the most ambitious study conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement to date. TIMSS developed and administered tests and questionnaires in three student populations to study achievement in participating countries and the factors associated…

This report is a first look at the results of the 1994 NAEP geography assessment. It presents national findings of 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade students' overall performance on the NAEP geography scale, and summary data for the major demographic subpopulations in the United States. Results are reported on a 500-point NAEP scale, used to show…

In designing the learning process for the comprehensive high school, close attention must be paid to curriculum development, instruction, and assessment. Curriculum theorists have identified definitions of curriculum, forces affecting curriculum adoption, and conceptions of curriculum that provide a framework for a definition of curriculum…

Developmental changes in the understanding and use of the logic of experimental control were addressed with three tasks in a longitudinal study. In all three tasks, understanding of experimental control was assessed by production measures (children were asked to test potential causal relations in a multivariable situation) and by choice/evaluation…

The perspectives in these essays present an examination of the Kentucky educational reform effort, with an examination of its rationale, various facets, and the reactions to its implementation. The ambitious assessment system includes multiple-choice and open-ended items, performance tasks, and portfolio assessments. The following are included:…

A preliminary investigation has been made of some claims regarding alternative assessment. Using the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS)--Middle Grades Mathematics Performance Assessment as a platform, the study examined how alternative assessment operates in actual practice. Early findings are presented in the following areas: (1)…

For the past seven years, Missouri has been administering the Missouri Mastery and Achievement Tests (MMAT) to fulfill the requirements of the Excellence in Education Act of 1985. The MMAT, as a criterion-referenced test, can measure student progress on specific key skills over time. This summary presents results of the spring 1993 administration…

This paper offers college teachers guidelines for improving their teacher made tests. It notes that teachers may focus on how well students have learned course objectives while being unaware of how the testing process itself contributes to the results obtained. The paper reports the results of a test-taking workshop designed to improve college…

School report cards from 11 Southeastern states were studied for similarities and differences in: (1) instruments used to measure student performance; (2) student outcomes reported and the procedures for reporting them; (3) levels of outcome reported; (4) school and community factors reported; and (5) statistical procedures used to evaluate data.…

The issue of low teacher expectations of students is addressed, bearing in mind that any effort to address low teacher expectations for students that does not address the broader issue of school change will fail. The first section of the monograph explores the relationship between teacher expectations and student achievement. The second section…

This newsletter issue focuses on the assessment of school-aged children to: (1) determine if a child has a disability and is eligible for special services, and (2) provide information that can drive educational programming. Section 1 is an introduction which addresses a definition of assessment, how students are identified for assessment, federal…

Some of the deficiencies and abuses associated with past testing practices are reviewed, and some of the present and future possibilities for educational assessment are explored. At this time, assessment and testing in American schools are caught between the rhetoric of reform and the intransigence of long-established practices. Use of measurement…

This paper describes the partial immersion program (PIP) at Key Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia. In this program, which has completed its seventh year, half the day is taught in English and half in Spanish. The review of the program, which included classroom observations, teacher and staff interviews, and student assessment, revealed a…