Three political scientists, three historians, three social studies professors (higher education), and seven secondary school teachers of social studies or history were interviewed. Focus was on assessing key concepts in the subjects' disciplines and what concepts should be taught and tested for at the high school level, with a view toward…

Using tests to reform education is not a new concept. National and state education policies reflect confidence in the power of assessment to encourage school improvement. New understandings of the nature and context of student learning are shifting the movement away from traditional multiple-choice tests to alternative assessments. The emphasis is…

The predictive validities of criteria for entrance into a teacher education program were studied, based on the hypothesis that criterion specificity is positively related to the predictive validity of the selection measure. Subjects (N=512) were drawn from approximately 1,200 students in the teacher education program of a small California state…

Student learning is the bottom line for nearly all efforts to establish a national test system. Major efforts in this area are summarized in this paper. The various efforts seem to move ahead independently, but some common ideas include: (1) creating a national assessment system rather than a single test; (2) developing more than multiple-choice…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) focuses on providing information on what demographic subgroups of America's students know and can do. Because the NAEP does not report for individual students, it could be classified by some students as a low-risk test. Consequently, some students may lack proper motivation for giving their…

The Capacity Building Alternatives Program, an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title VII-funded project in its first year of operation functioned at 8 schools, serving 139 students of limited English proficiency whose home language was Albanian, Chinese, Haitian, Polish, Russian, or Serbo-Croatian. Students targeted showed an achievement…

A study was conducted to determine the perspectives of two-year college faculty and students regarding the teaching and learning of literacy. Specifically, the study examined participants' definitions, personal values, and experiences related to literacy instruction/acquisition. Data were gathered from interviews with 12 faculty members and 12…

A resource is presented for those who work in bilingual education and who are involved in test selection. Initial information is provided regarding tests that might be used for student identification, placement and diagnosis, progress monitoring, exiting decisions, and program evaluation purposes. No endorsement or recommendation is implied and no…

A genuine concern for the condition of education in the United States has led to misuse of standardized tests to measure teacher quality. The tests have been used for purposes of admission, advancement, merit, graduation, and certification contrary to research findings and test developer guidelines. The current use of tests has resulted in…

In April 1989, the Women's Program Forum of the Ford Foundation sponsored a seminar that examined the current debates and future directions surrounding the issue of gender bias in testing, with particular attention to the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). This booklet provides a transcript of the proceedings of the forum. P. Rosser's presentation of…

Policymakers adopt basic skills tests as admission requirements for programs of teacher education to increase the accuracy of admissions and, ultimately, to increase the competence of the teaching force. The tests are regarded as an independent measure of student academic competence. A multiple regression study of the incremental predictive…

A project in Thailand to develop domain-referenced English language tests for use with Thai secondary and college students is described. The first phase consisted of developing standardized tests for listening, speaking, reading, and writing based on existing syllabuses, determining the common levels of English proficiency in those domains, and…

One aspect of the development of a performance assessment is addressed--the field testing of the tasks. In a performance-based assessment, the tasks must allow each examinee a fair and equal opportunity to give the best possible demonstration of his or her ability, and must elicit a performance sample that enables scorers to evaluate each examinee…

Designed to assist community college practitioners in understanding and utilizing standardized test results for making instructional, guidance, and administrative decisions, this three-part guidebook examines the uses of test results, the evaluation of standardized tests, and procedures for interpreting test scores. Section I discusses the…

Covering the most important aspects of assessing adult basic readers, this collection of articles is introduced by a discussion of the purpose of resource books for adult education. The first article then examines the rationale for assessing reading ability and stresses the importance of purpose and design in assessment. The second article reviews…