The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between scores on the multiple-choice General Educational Development (GED) Writing Skills test and scores on holistically graded essays. Secondary purposes included the following: (1) examining the relationship of essay scores to scores on the multiple-choice GED Reading Skills…

This report presents the 1983-84 summary achievement profiles of the 82 Portland, Oregon, elementary schools for use by school staffs, administrators, and the community for planning, goal setting, and evaluation. The profiles contain Portland Achievement Level Tests results plus data on the physical facility, school personnel, student enrollment,…

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was examined for instances in which the item performance of examinees with comparable scores differed according to their native languages. A chi-square procedure, sensitive to deviations of less than ten percent from the expected frequencies of correct item responses across several language groups,…

The purpose of this released exercise set is to provide easy access to some exercises from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) second mathematics assessment, conducted in 1977-78. Part 1 of the text explains NAEP's assessment procedures and describes the documentation provided for the various kinds of exercises in the set. Part…

This document provides a brief review of the New York State Basic Competency Tests (BCT), Preliminary Competency Tests (PCT) and Regents Competency Tests (RCT), together with a summary of the results of the tests administered in New York City in Spring, 1979. Test requirements for 1979, 1980, and 1981 are outlined, as well as administrative…

Data presented in this report are the results of the special assessment of writing mechanics conducted during the 1978-79 school year by the Education Commission of the States (ECS) for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS). The purposes of the study were (1) to examine writing abilities of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students enrolled…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has focused attention on improving the academic achievement of all students, including more than 6 million students with disabilities and requires that all students be assessed. Students with disabilities may be included through accommodations, such as extended time, or alternate assessments, such as teacher…

This summary provides key findings about state, district, and school level performance on the TerraNova examinations (CTB/McGraw Hill) in Nevada in 1998-1999. The TerraNova tests are used to assess students in grades 4, 8, and 10 as stipulated by Nevada law. Within this summary, a description of performance as measured by national percentile…

This report examines issues in the scale-up of assessment software from the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). "Scale-up" is used in a metaphorical sense, meaning adding new assessment tools to CRESST's assessment software. During the past several years, CRESST has been developing and evaluating a…

Missouri is in the middle of the process of developing a performance-based assessment system, the Missouri Assessment Program, which is being developed to measure student progress toward the "Show-Me Standards" adopted by the State Board of Education in 1996. To achieve these standards, students must have a strong foundation of knowledge…

This briefing packet contains data on the school and district accountability results for Kentucky's state assessment system, the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System, for 1994-1995 through its last use in 1997-1998. The first section contains state and regional accountability indices by grade level, with number of students tested and…

This document examines the possible impact of a proposed standardization of placement scores for college English throughout the Connecticut Community College system. The 12 Connecticut community colleges use Accuplacer for placement into college English. Each college, however, uses different placement cut-off scores, and has varying structures of…

Testing organizations have recently been scrutinized because of the perception that affluent, white male students from the northeast are falsely claiming disabilities to gain extended time on standardized tests for college admission. In response to these assertions, the percentage of learning disabled test takers on the SAT I: Reasoning Test is…

Project GRAD is a non-profit prekindergarten through college reform initiative begun by James Ketelsen, a former CEO of Tenneco, to help students in high-poverty schools to gain the skills and then the financial assistance to go on to college. Success for All is a literacy strategy used by GRAD. Other programmatic components include GRAD…

A national survey of policies and procedures concerning college final examination scheduling found most have a formal schedule, most do not use an automated scheduling system or any priority when assigning examinations, more than half use "special" examination scheduling, and registrars or assistant registrars are most commonly…