Provides an overview of the recently developed state accountability system for public elementary and secondary schools in Rhode Island. Discusses accountability systems as technologies of social control and considers the costs, benefits, uncertainties, and necessary tensions associated with accountability systems. (Author/SLD)

Describes a "mistake" on the newly developed Illinois State Achievement Test for Third Grade reading comprehension involving the substitution of illustrations of a White family for the African-American family members in a story. Tells the story of how a group of third-graders discovered the mistake and the reactions and events which took…

Considers the guide on high-stakes testing issued by the federal Office for Civil Rights, including the controversy which ensued upon release of the first draft, changes in the subsequent version, and the issue of differences in educational achievement among ethnic and racial groups of which differences in standardized test scores may be…

Evaluated the contribution of rule, exemplar, fragment, and episodic knowledge in artificial grammar learning using memorization versus hypothesis testing training tasks in 5 experiments involving a total of 163 college students. There was no evidence that memorization led to abstraction of rules or encoding of whole exemplars. Results support an…

Investigated language functioning in a group of 89 children diagnosed with autism. Children were administered a battery of standardized language tests, tapping phonological, lexical, and higher-order language abilities. Among children with autism, there was significant heterogeneity in their language skills, although across all the children,…

Discusses how online programs are using new strategies of testing, both to teach students and to prove that distance education works; however, some educators question their efficacy. (EV)

Reports results of a study that was designed to empirically verify a system dynamics model that represents the relationship between dialog and structure as they relate to transactional distance and distance education. Topics discussed include discourse analysis; other variables relating to transactional distance; developing a prototype; and future…

Describes a laboratory study that examined the extent to which group gender composition affected group brainstorming performance in a computerized group support system (GSS) environment. Theory and research related to group gender composition and GSS is reviewed, and results indicate that gender composition did not affect group brainstorming…

Discusses various aspects of standardization and testing in science education and their effects on students and on reform efforts. Argues that science educators need to begin to question the system and their practices with regard to testing and need to be willing to act on the answers they find. Contains 10 references. (JRH)

Two studies with 80 5- and 8-year olds found that initial recognition tests elevated children's false-memory responses on delayed tests, and that false-memory creation exceeded true-memory inoculation in 5- and 8-year olds, producing net loss of accuracy over time. (MDM)

In choosing language testing alternatives appropriate for their language education contexts, language teachers need to keep in mind the purposeful nature of language assessment. Purposeful language assessment involves focusing what is to be accomplished by language assessment, specifying intended uses of language tests, selecting appropriate…

Summarizes research related to humor in testing and presents new evidence on the effectiveness of humor in constructed-response items. Findings from a survey at Johns Hopkins University's School of Nursing indicated that students feel that humor makes a difference in their test performance. Describes specific strategies for using humor in tests.…

Surveys 354 nationally certified school psychologists on the perceived usefulness of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) in general and profile analysis in particular. Practitioners rated the WISC-III as very useful for determining diagnosis and educational placement, but less useful for developing instructional strategies…

Tests Kaufman's hypothesis that WISC-III Freedom from Distractibility and Processing Speed scores will be lower than those from corresponding factors (i.e., Verbal Comprehension) when children display inappropriate test-taking behaviors. This hypothesis was not supported. Encourages clinicians to rely on behavioral indices other than WISC-III…

General aspects of vocabulary testing are briefly discussed, and a new type of test that aims at testing very high levels of second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge is analyzed and investigated. (Author/VWL)