This brief overview of minimum competency testing and disabled high school students discusses: the inclusion or exclusion of handicapped students in minimum competency testing programs; approaches to accommodating the individual needs of handicapped students; and legal issues. Surveys of states that have mandated minimum competency tests indicate…

This ERIC Digest discusses implications derived from the final report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, "A Nation at Risk." The first implication is a motivational one for measurement specialists: it is an ego-booster. The report is replete with results yielded from various testing programs, the fruit of the…

These guidelines are provided to offer guidance to district and state policy makers and assessment directors concerning some issues of managing the development, administration, and use of performance assessments in large scale assessment programs. The term "performance assessment" is used for assessments that go beyond paper-and-pencil,…

Computerized adaptive tests (CATs) make it possible to estimate the ability of each student during the testing process. The computer presents items to students at the appropriate level, and students take different versions of the same test. Computerized testing increases the flexibility of test management in that: (1) tests are given on demand and…

Both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced interpretations of student, school, district, and state testing data can be improved by customizing the traditional norm-referenced test. Improvements that can be made include: (1) increasing the relevance of the test to the curriculum and (2) having greater confidence in the national comparative…