Recommendations of the Study Group on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are summarized in this report. The report is then reviewed by the National Academy of Education. The recommendations are to: (1) maintain NAEP's continuity; (2) assess the core curriculum; (3) focus on transitional grades (4, 8, and 12) and sample…

A number of political issues are involved in educational testing and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Many school officials are disturbed by the number of tests administered and the information and instructional time lost; they are reluctant to accede to further voluntary testing programs which might duplicate current…

This guide is designed to help parents gain a better understanding of testing and its role in the education of their children. It answers the following questions: (1) What are standardized tests? (2) What do standardized test scores tell me about my child? (3) How are standardized test scores used? (4) What are the limitations of standardized…

This speech deals with the assumptions and approaches underlying educational assessment and suggests alternatives to standardized testing. It is proposed that the assumption that test items can be standardized is at the base of assessment problems; while there are standard mental functions which children develop, there are no standard items that…

The New York State Preliminary Competency Test in Reading is designed to measure a student's ability to understand written material of varying levels of difficulty. Results are used to evaluate a student's current level of achievement in reading and to indicate the extent of compensatory or remedial help which may be necessary to pass the final…

The University of Iowa has been involved with the development, implementation, and operation of computer-based test-item pools and a test construction and course management system titled IPSIM (Iowa's Item Pool System for Instructional Management), originally devised for a freshman medical course in the Pathology Department of the College of…

Six current issues in the use of tests are examined in this paper. Are the tests used in education valid? In general and to a reasonably satisfactory extent they are. Is the emphasis these tests place on cognitive achievements a serious limitation? Because of the basic and pervasive role of cognition in human affairs, and in the absence of any…

This report updates and summarizes what is known from research on the effects of test accommodations for students with disabilities and also provides direction to the design of critically needed future research on accommodations. A review was conducted of 46 empirical research studies on accommodations published from 1999 through 2001. The…

The purpose of this digest is to summarize major portions of the literature on assessment in counseling and therapy. In this collection of 32 digests, assessment is used to refer to assessment of clients as well as evaluations of program and counselor effectiveness. Recognized professionals have written about topics that are grouped into nine…

Large-scale assessment programs rely on teachers to administer the tests and to interpret and communicate the results. Consequently, it is important that teachers have up-to-date knowledge about the testing programs. Education Departments' web sites are ideal tools for communicating such information to teachers. The web sites of Education…

Since 1959, ACT has collected and reported data on students' academic readiness for college. Because becoming ready for college is a process that occurs throughout elementary and secondary education, measuring academic performance over time in the context of college readiness provides meaningful and compelling information about the college…

Students from six countries--Australia, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States--recalled the extent to which their best or worst professors used various forms of communication that have been associated with effective teaching. Across cultures, best professors were perceived to employ more nonverbal expressiveness, relaxed movement,…

The findings from this qualified phenomenological research study involved 20 secondary general education teachers who taught inclusion classes. The research study investigated the lived experiences and perceptions of teachers through in-depth interviews and using a modified van Kaam method of data analysis, Atlas.ti 6 software, and Microsoft Excel…

Educators are concerned about the loss of instructional time resulting from student suspension. The right to obtain a free appropriate public education must be balanced with the myriad of discipline and school safety issues. The loss of instructional time due to disciplinary sanctions negatively impacts student achievement, possibly resulting in…

This report compares state math and reading proficiency scores in grades 4 and 8 to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) basic scores for the period of 2005 to 2009. The study found that scores on state tests and NAEP have increased in most states with sufficient data. Also included with the report are profiles for the 23 states that…