Studied how performance on a standardized writing assessment might influence graduate admissions decisions if, along with test scores, test takers' essays were made available to admissions committees. Results for 27 test takers(2 essays each) suggest that the availability of examinee essays would have little, if any, influence on admissions…

This article discusses the structure of a committee that evaluates assessments for students with visual impairments and the process by which the committee arrives at its recommendations to test developers and administrators. Concerns and preferred practices that have been revealed by the committee's two years of experience are discussed. (CR)

After decades of criticism that standardized testing is culturally biased, the Educational Testing Service claims great strides in eliminating test bias in the Scholastic Assessment Tests and related tests and reports initiatives in cooperation with educators leading to better academic preparation for students of color. Critics still ask for…

Examines an educational statute in Texas that requires all third graders to pass a reading test before promoting to fourth grade. Discusses negative implications for literacy instruction. Examines the notion of measurement-driven instruction and skills-based classrooms. Finds the improvement of students' reading performance in Texas via…

State attendance laws that provide for home instruction typically specify (1) home instructor qualifications; (2) curriculum; (3) amount of daily instructional time; (4) number of instructional days during the year; (5) required standardized tests; and (6) parental reports to verify legal compliance. Reviews court decisions and state legislation.…

Rather than an unbiased accumulation of evidence, the work argues the authors' position, which includes advocating the use of achievement tests in the college admissions process. Arguments against use of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) are primarily based on analyses of data from the National Longitudinal Study of 1972. (SLD)

Assessment of student performance in nursing education takes many forms: (1) the Real Clinical Situation Model; (2) the Quasi-Clinical Situation Model; (3) the Clinical Laboratory Simulation Model; and (4) the Clinicam Video Simulation Model. The New York Regents External Degree Program has a highly developed method of examining the proficiency of…

Testing has almost completely lost its identity as a device to increase access to college for the underprivileged. Testing today is seen as a device to deny access. Intelligence is randomly distributed among the rich and the poor, and testing helps remove privilege as a guarantee of success and advancement. (MLW)

Reports that the procedures for scholastic achievement in West Germany are established by the state administration, including judicial review of student evaluation. This judicial review is largely formal and not specific to schooling. Advocates the insertion of pedagogical criteria into the legal review of student assessment. (Author/LS)

The issue of interpretation of standard test scores of minorities is discussed. The history of the issue is reviewed. The National Academy of Science's decision to reinterpret the scores of minorities is summarized. (YP)

Four publishers responding to the previous discussion agreed that American elementary achievement has improved, but evidence presented by the Secretary of Education confirms that few real improvements have occurred since "Nation at Risk." Commercial achievement tests provide falsely high scores (the Lake Wobegon Effect). (SLD)

The article discusses how historically Black institutions are addressing standardized test proposals for teacher certification in such areas as admissions, coursework and practice, and post-graduation activities. General recommendations are included, emphasizing formalized, gradual, knowledge-based development into the teaching profession. (CB)

The effectiveness of value-added programs can be enhanced by employing appropriate methods of faculty judgments to support content-related and instruction-related evidence for validity by adapting standard-setting techniques to judge gains observed and by using appropriate caution and research designs when making causal inferences. (Author/MLW)

Describes the teacher-developed California Assessment Program (CAP) writing measure, designed to support California's reform curriculum and based on matrix sampling techniques. This program will be supplemented by literature and mathematics assessments. The greatest challenge is designing an assessment to match the state's new history and social…

Ten metalinguistic tasks of intellectual development were studied in five- and six-year-old children using factor analysis. Results suggested that metalinguistic awareness can be viewed as developing in association with other intellectual activities, and that it can be conceived as a unitary construct. (55 references) (Author/CFM)