In recent years a movement has developed at the high school level to address issues of cost and educational improvement through Proficiency-Based Credit Assessment (PBCA). With PBCA, students can receive credit by demonstrating their proficiency without actually taking a course. A national mail survey conducted by the Utah State Office of…

Educational testing is at a decisive moment, as the issue of standardized testing has become one of the most hotly debated education issues of the decade. The accuracy and relevance of standardized tests have been questioned by many researchers, evidenced in the 20-year report of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. There is general…

This document is a guide to the use of alternative assessments (surveys, interviews, observation measures, and performance samples) in a family literacy project. This resource guide focuses on using alternative approaches to identify learners' needs, determine learners' ongoing progress in meeting project objectives, ascertain overall success of…

In January 1992, the National Council on Education Standards and Testing (NCEST) issued a report "Raising Standards for American Education," which called for the establishment of a national system of educational standards and assessments as a basis for comprehensive reform of U.S. education. This statement is a facsimile of the written…

Dissertations are an important component of the effort to generate knowledge. Thus, dissertation quality may be seen by accreditation and coordinating-board reviewers as a noteworthy reflection on the quality of doctoral programs themselves. The present study reviews methodological errors within Ph.D. dissertations. The illustrative errors are…

To comply with the new U.S. Department of Education Ability-To-Benefit policy, schools need to select tests on the Secretary's approved list. The pertinent aspects of 22 approved tests are individually summarized. The test reviews are based on examinations of the test publishers' technical documentation and the tests. Information provided in the…

The effects of standardized testing on instruction were studied in two school districts with high-stakes testing. The present study was part of a larger research project concerned with the effect of testing on instruction and student learning. A total of 360 teachers in grades 3, 5, and 6 in approximately 100 schools in two districts answered a…

English and Spanish versions of a guide to testing reform are presented. The guide explains alternatives to standardized testing for educational assessment and shows how these new methods of evaluation will improve education. Standardized tests are used for an increasing number of purposes in the school system, but there is no proof that their use…

The test manual for the Secondary Level English Proficiency (SLEP) test has been prepared for teachers, counselors, and others responsible for interpreting SLEP test scores. The SLEP is designed to assess the proficiency in English of students entering grades 7 through 12 whose native language is not English. As a test of understanding written and…

Some of the major findings of CSE's (Center for the Study of Evaluation) Test Use in Schools Project are synthesized and interpreted. The Project incorporated fieldwork and survey techniques to answer questions about the kinds of tests teachers administer in their classrooms, the kinds of information teachers need from tests to make decisions…

Standardized tests often produce results that are inaccurate, inconsistent, and biased against minority, female, and low-income students. Such tests shift control and authority into the hands of the unregulated testing industry and can undermine school achievement by narrowing the curriculum, frustrating teachers, and driving students out of…

A study was conducted to examine the feasibility of using scores on the districts' standardized norm-referenced tests (NRTs) to predict performance on Florida's State Student Assessment Tests (SSAT) at grades 3, 5, and 8, and on the SSAT-I and SSAT-II given in grade 10. Specific questions about the use of district scores were addressed in a study…

Since the mid-1960s, the use of objective testing in education, and multiple-choice tests in particular, has increased dramatically in the Netherlands. Since the founding of the Dutch National Institute for Educational Measurement in 1968, the construction of many achievement tests has been concentrated there. This general changeover from…

This study on secondary education in the Soviet Union examines characteristics of the various kinds of secondary schools--general secondary education, secondary education, secondary specialized education, and vocational education--and aspects of the Soviet examination system. The first section on general secondary education provides information…

The process of development of tests for teacher certification in Tennessee is described. In response to the Tennessee Comprehensive Education Reform Act of 1984 requiring the use of tests for individuals seeking initial teacher licensure, the Department of Education identified 12 areas of teacher endorsement for which no currently validated and…