The nature of percentile ranks scores is explored using concrete heuristic examples. It is explained why arithmetic operations require measurement on equal-interval scales, and that percentile ranks are not measured on equal-interval scales and therefore may not be added or averaged. The consequences of inappropriately adding percentile ranks are…

This brochure describes the state of Washington's efforts to improve its educational program and to ensure that the state's young people are receiving the knowledge and skills they will need in the 21st century. In 1993, Washington established a Commission on Student Learning to work toward four educational goals. These goals call for students to:…

This report is part of a multi-year project to examine the effects of standards-based assessment reform on schools and classrooms. During the past year, the project investigated school and classroom effects of assessment reforms in the state of Kentucky, a state that has been at the forefront of the standards-based assessment movement. This report…

The thesis of this paper is that achievement tests have changed their primary function from serving as indicators of educational accomplishments to becoming instruments of educational policy, and have thus come to be regarded as effective means of altering educational achievement and productivity. This assertion is explored by using examples of…

In the fall of 1988, a stratified sample of courses at City, Mesa, and Miramar colleges in the San Diego Community College District (California) were surveyed as part of a skills assessment research project. For classes into which students were placed on the basis of assessment test scores (in English writing and reading, and mathematics), student…

Language testing historians have tended to ignore a significant period in the evolution of language tests, the years 1883-1929. In the earliest years, testing focused on knowledge about, not of, the language and reflected the teaching of Latin and Greek more than that of living languages. Grammatical formalism and translation were emphasized, and…

Schools that are concerned with evaluating their programs need more than just the average scaled assessment scores from standardized tests. To help schools, the Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program produces school and district reports that contain the stories behind the averages. These reports describe the kind of students who took the…

Five years of state test results for Pennsylvania are examined, focusing on differences among elementary schools in which a majority of students do not master basic learning skills. Data are provided for 1,505 elementary schools in about 500 districts. The largest learning problems occur in about 10% of the schools; these schools have been…

This paper contends that, apparently, the patterns of above-norm performance that J. Cannell (1987) reported exist, although the extremity of his "Lake Wobegon" effect is perhaps overstated. The use of outdated test norms and other practices has been identified as a partial explanation for the reporting of "above-average"…

The way in which the partial credit model is being used in one large education system to analyze performance on standard assessment tasks undertaken by all students in their final year of high school is described. The assessment tasks include investigative projects, laboratory tasks, worked problems, drawings and studio work, essays, and…

The model for student assessment and placement described in this report was developed by the Learning Assessment Retention Consortium (LARC), a year-old network of 17 northern California colleges organized to examine problems related to assessment and to implement specific action plans. The report begins by citing statistics on the increasing…

A study evaluated the effectiveness of pretesting infantry soldiers scheduled to take written Skill Qualification Tests (SQT) in order to determine their training needs prior to official testing. During the study, researchers developed and field-tested a pretest for the SQT that was based on the 11B1 Infantryman Soldier's Manual and the 1980 SQT…

This study guide was specifically designed for individuals preparing to take the Georgia Teacher Certification Test (TCT) in art. It contains content objectives for the TCT in art and a list of references, organized to correspond to the six individual subareas of the test. These areas include: (1) elements and principles of art; (2) drawing and…

This study guide is designed as an aid to individuals taking the Georgia Teacher Certification Test (TCT) in communicative arts. Learning objectives are described for: (1) logical reasoning; (2) research; (3) written composition; (4) language; (5) communications media and careers; (6) literature; (7) reading; and (8) oral communications. Following…

This study guide is specifically designed for individuals preparing to take the Georgia Teacher Certification Test (TCT) in mathematics. The test covers seven subareas: (1) sets, numbers, numeration, operations, etc.; (2) geometry; (3) algebra; (4) trigonometry; (5) analysis and calculus; (6) probability and logic; and (7) measurement, relations,…