After over 40 years of education reform policies and strategies, America continues its need for systemic education reform. The greatest challenge confronting the nation remains within large urban metropolises where large numbers of minority students attend underfunded and low-performing schools with low standardized test scores and high dropout…

The structure and administration of the Paris Chamber of Commerce Examination of French language proficiency is described, and methods of classroom preparation for the examination are presented. The exam certifies French proficiency at two levels: certificat (language skills necessary to conduct business effectively in the francophone world) and…

In recent years, public dissatisfaction with education has led educators, citizens, and policymakers to consider creating a national system of standards and assessments. This dissatisfaction resulted in movement to establish national standards and assessments in U.S. education. These standards are designed to raise the achievement levels of all…

This report summarizes statewide data and individual school district performance for Alaska's 54 school districts. The report also includes information on two state operated schools: Alyeska Central School (a correspondence school) and Mt. Edgecumbe High School (a boarding school). The report synthesizes data from school districts for 1994-95,…

Hawaii uses the eighth edition of the Stanford Achievement Test (Stanford 8) to assess academic performance of the student population in grades 3, 6, 8, and 10. Hawaii was not included in the norming for the Stanford 8, neither for the national nor the Pacific norms. In this study, Hawaii norms were developed based on the Stanford 8 reading and…

This teaching module with its 80-minute videotape of lessons from U.S., Japanese, and German classrooms is designed to help moderators facilitate discussion among educators. This guide is intended to help moderators make appropriate decisions about sessions and suggest items to consider when discussing the Third International Mathematics and…

Portfolio assessment has become a widely cited technique for obtaining a rich demonstration of the skills that students have acquired, and it is often implied that portfolio assessment provides different types of information from that obtained from standardized tests. This paper provides support for the contention that portfolio assessments do…

The School of Education and Professional Studies at Central Connecticut State University was funded to improve student achievement through school-based reform and to enhance the preparation of teachers who work in urban schools. The vehicle for enacting these goals was the creation of professional development schools near the university. One…

The development of national minimum educational standards for the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) began in 1988 with the deliberations of a national task force that created performance expectations in a number of subjects. In 1988 the development of nationally standardized tests reflecting these standards began. This document presents the…

Statewide information contained in the school report cards released over the last 6 years in Illinois are summarized, with a focus on trends for selected indicators. Some vignettes have been included to reflect the more human aspects of the data presented in the graphs. Between 1986 and 1991 student enrollment, after declining, increased in 1991,…

Like many states, California has included a literacy screen, the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST), in the requirements that aspiring teachers must meet. In a state where demographic data indicate an increasing ethnic diversity among elementary and secondary student populations and an imminent teacher shortage that will be…

This newsletter issue describes a programmatic line of research to develop and standardize a test battery of transition skills (employment and independent living skills) for adolescents and young adults (ages 14 to 25) who are deaf. The newsletter first discusses the importance of assessment data to the transition process for persons who are deaf.…

The paradox of site-based school management with use of standardized tests or instructional management systems that restrict teacher choices was evident in one school district in North Carolina in which measurement of student success has centered on student performance on state-mandated tests. A study was conducted to see if students whose…

Since 1941, this book has been a standard textbook in educational measurement. As in the previous editions, the selection and treatment of topics were guided by the knowledge and skills that are necessary for the development of valid evaluation measures and the knowledge and competencies needed to interpret teacher-made and standardized tests.…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students in the United States know and can do in various academic subjects. The 1996 NAEP in mathematics assessed the current level of mathematical achievement as a mechanism for informing education reform. In 1996, 44…