During the past two years, three independent studies--conducted by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), American Institutes for Research (AIR), and the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE)--have examined the accomplishments, shortcomings, and continuing challenges of California's Public Schools Accountability Act (PSAA).…

The accuracy and fairness of standardized testing is taken very seriously in the education world. These issues are a major focus of both the testing experts who develop standardized tests and the researchers who endeavor to ensure a test's fairness, reliability, validity, and accuracy. But many issues remain both controversial and complex. The…

The 20 essays in this book will open eyes to what really goes on in the classroom and on the school board. The author draws on his extensive experience to examine some of the hottest educational issues including school reform, civic education, the function of honor societies, the decline of reading and writing skills, the role of guidance…

This document is a supplement to the Test Content Description for the Georgia High School Test in English Language Arts. The sample items are representative of items on the actual Georgia High School Tests. The strands (major areas) being tested are Reading/Literature (47 to 49% of the test), Critical Thinking (37 to 39% of the test), and…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the nation's only ongoing representative sample survey of student achievement in core subject areas. In 2000, NAEP conducted a national mathematics assessment of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students. State-level results were also collected at the fourth and eighth grades within…

This report is a review and analysis of the psychometric literature on the topic of out-of-level testing. Out-of-level testing refers to the practice of using a level of the test other than the test taken by most of the students in a student's current grade level. Much of the research on out-of-level testing was conducted in the 1970s and 1980s,…

This paper presents results from the 2000 Citywide Reading Tests (CTB-R) for New York City public school students grades 3, 5, 6, and 7, comparing results with 1999 test results. Overall, more students met the new, rigorous standards for English and language arts (ELA) in 2000. When combined with data for the grade 4 State ELA, the percentage of…

This document consists of the two 2000 issues of the "Journal of Educational Relations," published twice yearly to promote student achievement through positive school-home-community relationships. The articles in the first issue include: "Behaviors of a Principal Directly Influence a School's Culture" (Douglas J. Fiore) and…

This book reviews the assessment movement, from the history of testing to the practical considerations of enhancing classroom experiences for teachers and students. It explores making time for assessment, tailoring assessment to desired outcomes, and scoring and evaluating student performance. The chapters are: (1) "Where We've Been: Standardized…

This study examined the relationship between students' socioeconomic characteristics and qualification for a merit scholarship in a new, state-run program. The Michigan merit award scholarship program provides scholarships of up to $2,500 for students who score at Level 1 or 2 of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program High School Tests.…

Competent readers use strategies automatically; moreover, the use of strategies is a natural part of their reading process. Interested in the effects of the direct teaching of strategies to poor readers, a researcher decided to use a classroom action research approach. She studied reading strategies used by competent readers before, during, and…

This report summarizes interviews with Washington state administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, and community members at eight public high schools. Respondents identified several common themes regarding strategies to improve learning, the impact of state standardized tests, options and strategies for making learning more relevant, and…

This study was conducted to determine whether norm-referenced test data and Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) data from 1995 and 1999 showed similar gains in reading and mathematics achievement. TAAS data were collected from all students in Texas who were in the accountability subset of scores used for rating schools, approximately…

Data from four different school sites nationwide were analyzed to examine whether standardized test results may be confounded by the lack of language proficiency of English language learners. Several analyses comparing the performance of limited English proficient (LEP) students and their non-LEP classmates revealed major differences. A Disparity…

This report explores some of the critical issues that have emerged from the data collected from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study-Repeat (TIMSS-R) to inform educational decisions in the state of Delaware. Research questions include Delaware's student performance on the TIMSS-R and the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP),…