State Board of Education policy in North Carolina requires students who entered the ninth grade in 1994-95 and later to meet a higher competency standard in reading and mathematics. These students must receive an Achievement Level III or above on the eighth-grade reading and mathematics tests in order to receive a North Carolina high school…

The purpose of this document is to report the performance of students in the classes of 1998 to 1005 on the more rigorous competency standard in North Carolina as of the 2000-2001 school year. This report contains aggregate and disaggregated state-level results from administrations of the North Carolina competency tests of reading and mathematics…

This document provides basic information about the Statewide Student Assessment System in New Mexico. There are four components of the Statewide Student Assessment System that are guided by the State Department of Education. Each component serves a specific purpose and targets specific grade levels. The purpose of the reading assessment of grades…

This summary report provides information about three of New Mexico's statewide assessments in 1997-1998. In spring 1998, the CTBS5/Terra Nova Survey Plus achievement test was administered to approximately 65,000 students in grades 4, 6, and 8 as part of the New Mexico Achievement Assessment Program. With three exceptions, the median national…

When selecting standardized reading tests for purposes of decision making, the school psychologist must answer several questions, such as "What reading skills do I wish to assess?" or "How do I judge if the test is technically adequate?" Recommendations for test selection are made within the context of these questions.…

Public school enrollment is increasing, especially among minority students. Preschool attendance is up. The number of elementary schools has lagged behind enrollment and school size. Teacher numbers and salaries have risen since the 1980s. Local school revenues are surpassing state government revenues. The national per pupil expenditure rate is…

Gender gaps in educational outcomes are a matter of real and growing concern. It has been known for a long time, since the 1970s, that girls outscore boys in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading tests, while boys tend to outperform girls in math and science. Boys are increasingly less likely than girls to attend college…

Many significant changes in perspective have to take place before efforts to learn the content and capabilities of children's minds can hold much sway in educational testing. The language of testing, especially of high stakes testing, remains firmly in the realm of "behaviors", "performance" and "competency" defined…

This paper contributes to the literature on the effectiveness of schools. The analysis is unique in using data on the minutes of instruction per day in each of four subjects taught in the public elementary schools in Illinois. Few education production function papers have information on the amount of instruction students receive in a given…

This paper examines reading achievement when the maternal/paternal language has become a de facto second language. The performance of a cohort of Greek-Australian high school students (N = 270) on a diagnostic Greek reading test was significantly below that of pupils in second to fourth grades in Greece. The mean item difficulty for…

This study examined student, parent, and teacher perceptions of the use of testing accommodations and the relationship between student perceptions of testing accommodations and their disability status and grade level. Students with and without disabilities completed math and reading achievement tests with and without accommodations. Students,…

This study hypothesizes that while the mental age most effectively predicts reading readiness, deficits in information processing at the automatic level decrease the efficiency of the prediction. Conclusions support this hypothesis. (Author/HMV)

THE COMPARATIVE VALIDITY OF THE LEE-CLARK READING READINESS TEST AND THE CALIFORNIA TEST OF MENTAL MATURITY (CTMM) FOR PREDICTING GRADE 1 READING SUCCESS WAS STUDIED. ALL ENTERING FIRST-GRADE PUPILS IN TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN A LOW-MIDDLE-CLASS COMMUNITY WERE ADMINISTERED BOTH TESTS DURING THE FIRST 3 WEEKS OF SCHOOL. PERFORMANCES ON THESE TESTS…

An overview of Ohio's proficiency testing program is presented and specific information pertaining to the testing at each grade level is detailed. The proficiency tests at each of four grade levels in Ohio include tests in writing, reading, mathematics, and citizenship, with science tests to be added in 1996. All of the tests, at grade level 4, 6,…