Based on telephone interviews with educational officials from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, an overview of the use and impact of standardized tests in the United States during the 1986-87 school year was developed. In addition to interviewing officials from all state departments of education, officials from 56 sample school districts…

Public policy and measurement community issues related to the use of standardized achievement tests for students in kindergarten through grade 12 are discussed, focusing on students and parents as the end-users of test data. The viewpoints expressed are based on 18 years of experience with test score interpretation. It is suggested that technical…

Information is provided on the characteristics of St. Louis Community College (SLCC) students and their general education and liberal arts knowledge. The first sections of the report provide information on the development and administration of the General Academic Assessment (GAA), an instrument containing representative items in the humanities,…

Information is provided on the characteristics and general education and liberal arts knowledge of students attending four community college districts: Los Angeles Community College District, Miami-Dade Community College District, St. Louis Community College, and the City Colleges of Chicago. The first sections of the report provide information on…

The statewide student assessment programs of the 15 member states of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in the 1987-88 school year are described. Individual summaries of the testing programs provide information on the types of tests used in the SREB states--Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi,…

Teachers' uses of and concerns with various assessment procedures were surveyed in the Parkrose School District, Portland, Oregon. All 229 district teachers and student service staff were asked to complete a questionnaire. A total of 211 questionnaires was returned for a response rate of 92%; however, all but one of the analyses were based on the…

In 1986, a total of 11 different populations involving more than 1000 schools and more than 20,000 students participated in the Second IEA Science Study (SISS). This digest discusses findings related to curricular patterns and student outcomes. Ratings were done at grades 5, 9, and 12, to ensure that the achievement tests reflected the science…

One of the clear findings of recent research on the learning of science has been that students who have completed science courses commonly use conceptions held before instruction to interpret natural phenomena. This paper reports on a study of conceptual change in mechanics with particular concern with the nature of student awareness of any…

Information about student achievement outcomes is presented, and tests for each outcome area are described. The tests are categorized according to knowledge objectives, skill objectives, and intellectual disposition. Knowledge objectives include comprehension of facts and principles within a particular discipline (specialized knowledge) or a broad…

This report provides a record of student achievement for the State of New York in the 1984-85 school year. It brings together a variety of achievement indicators with a clear focus on knowledge and higher-order skills. Three types of achievement data are presented. One consists of scores obtained on New York State (NYS) tests. These scores may be…

Containing the results of Oregon's second statewide analytical writing assessment, this document summarizes the procedures used to evaluate the writing skills of 4,567 eighth graders from 55 schools and analyzes the results. Following an introduction that includes comments from the scoring team, chapter 1 presents a brief history of writing…

Validity of the Ohio Vocational Education Achievement Test Program (OVEATP) was studied by determining the correlation between test scores and job placement rates, job success rates, wages, and curriculum content. Performance on the 2 tests in the OVEATP--a general ability test and 1 of 25 occupational tests--was found to be moderately correlated.…

In eight chapters, this document offers guidelines for school administrators on evaluating schools and school programs, based on a poll of administrators and consultants. The introduction discusses the purpose of evaluation, especially school improvement, and presents a list of evaluation standards. Chapter 1 outlines steps in evaluation planning,…

The use of national and campus tests/measures to assess student academic achievement is discussed, along with measurement of student attitudes and behavior, with attention to specific tests and testing programs. It is important for faculty to develop goals for student achievement and to determine whether a test fits a given college program or…

In this report, basic skills areas for three grade levels are covered, along with average grade equivalent scores on the California Achievement Tests for the 1981-1982 school year. Included are reading comprehension, language, and mathematics scores for grades 3, 5, and 8. The major findings from analyses of the statewide results indicate that…