Beginning with the 2020/21 school year, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) began an ongoing effort to collect and analyze literacy screening assessment data from schools and districts participating in certain state grants to inform improvement efforts. Grantee schools and districts that provide literacy…

Knowing relevant information about students entering the higher education (HE) system is becoming increasingly important, thus enabling higher education institutions (HEIs) to design effective studentcentred support programmes. Therefore, HEIs should ascertain all relevant information about their students before the commencement of the academic…

This technical report provides detailed information regarding the technical, statistical, and measurement attributes of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) for the Grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics 2018 Operational Tests. This report includes information about test content and test development, item (i.e., individual…

This technical report provides detailed information regarding the technical, statistical, and measurement attributes of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) for the Grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics 2017 Operational Tests. This report includes information about test content and test development, item (i.e., individual…

This article has three goals. The first goal is to clarify the role that the consequences of test score use play in validity judgments by reviewing the role that modern writers on validity have ascribed for consequences in supporting validity judgments. The second goal is to summarize current views on who is responsible for collecting evidence of…

This manuscript describes the development and testing of an Internet-based cost survey that was designed by the authors for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC) to capture the costs of school-based health programs. The intent of the survey was twofold. First, the survey was designed to collect comprehensive data on costs in a…

Good reforms can have harmful results if equity effects are ignored. As California implements its accountability system, certain questions must be addressed concerning the system's data use, measurement features (consistency, meaningfulness, achievement growth, achievement gaps among groups), instructional improvement focus, incentives for…

The Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales (CTSPC), a version of the well-established Conflict Tactics Scales, was developed to improve its ability to obtain data on physical and psychological child maltreatment. The conceptual and methodological approaches used to develop the CTSPC are described and psychometric data, including reliability,…

The author, an executive director of Assessment and Accountability for the Poway Unified School District, relates how their school district implemented an assessment program with practical applications to teaching and learning. Rather than being yet another burden on teachers or a local report card on schools, the district's goal was to define…

Twelfth-grade students in Ohio who have passed all the sections of the ninth-grade proficiency tests take the twelfth-grade tests. Beginning in 1995-96, these tests will include science, although science will not become a factor in earning a diploma until the year 2000. This fact sheet provides information about the Twelfth-grade Proficiency Test…

This report discusses the many issues that need to be considered as states and districts begin to design and implement alternate assessments, which are used for students with severe cognitive delays or multiple disabilities or students who require such significant accommodations that the validity of the test would be compromised. The report…

Since 1988, Vermont has been developing a state assessment program, the centerpiece of which is the student portfolio and "best pieces" drawn from it. The state's use of portfolio results will be limited to reporting aggregates, but within schools, teachers and principals may use the portfolios as they choose. The assessment program,…