This brief is part of a four-part series examining the past, present, and future of modern school accountability systems. With the dual forces of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national call to action on racial inequity, the question of how we should measure and hold schools accountable for the impact they have on students is more urgent than ever.…

The 2018 Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) Summative technical report documents the processes and procedures implemented to support the Spring 2018 NSCAS Summative English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and Science assessments by NWEA under the supervision of the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE). The technical report…

Curriculum and its associated assessment are at the heart of educational systems worldwide. In light of perceived national educational stagnation or decline, as well as of performance in international league tables such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), countries have embarked on curriculum and assessment reforms. This is…

Over the past twenty years in performance testing a specific item type with distinguishing characteristics has arisen time and time again. It's been invented independently by dozens of test development teams. And yet this item type is not recognized in the research literature. This article is an invitation to investigate the item type, evaluate…

This technical report provides an overview of the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA), including a description of the purpose of the NYSAA, the processes utilized to develop and implement the NYSAA program, and Stakeholder involvement in those processes. The purpose of this report is to document the technical aspects of the 2013-14 NYSAA.…

Examination is an important tool for evaluating students learning outcome and require proper planning to meet high standards. This paper therefore examines the processes leading to administration of face-to-face examination in distance education with focus on the National Open University of Nigeria. It highlighted some procedures such as test…

This article reviews the empirical literature on 9 topics about the modified Angoff standard-setting method that have been studied repeatedly in the literature, while taking into consideration the methodological warrant for the findings on the topics. It concludes that we can be reasonably confident about selecting the appropriate number of judges…

Every state in the United States, under the NCLB act, has set state standards and is testing all students in grades 3-8. Students are given printed questions to which they write answers with a pencil on an answer sheet. These written tests are usually given to determine the academic achievements of students. This paper traces the early history of…

Whether differences in the standards states have set can be explained by something other than regional differences is explored. In addition, a way in which standards can be compared is defined, and the standard of proficiency that seems to be widely shared across the country is illustrated. The Trial State Assessment (TSA) data from the National…

This special issue demonstrates the symmetry and rigor of probabilistic conjoint measurement in practical applications in education and other human sciences. Following the opening chapter introducing the theory, other chapters focus on conjoint measurement in testing and student evaluation, standard setting, and the study of behavior and attitude.…

Ten factors relevant to the standard-setting decision on important tests (i.e., high school diploma tests) are proposed as a basis for a standard-setting preparation program. It is suggested that, typically, those who set standards have had little or no experience and would benefit from formal preparation. (SLD)

DIALANG is an on-line language assessment system, which contains tests in 14 European languages and is based on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). It is the first major testing system that is oriented towards diagnosing language skills and providing feedback to users rather than certifying their proficiency. This article describes…

A process for setting standards that may be adapted by educators in a variety of settings for educational decision making is presented. In this process, which was used to set minimum standards in English for admission to a teacher education program at a large university, a number of trial standards were initially set utilizing a variety of…

Three approaches to setting the evaluation standards for testing pharmacy practice knowledge of pharmaceutical students are discussed and compared: relative standards; absolute standards; and a compromise approach using various sources of evaluation information. The application of the different approaches to a 120-item assessment previously…

This article explores issues involved in using assessments as a means of defining standards and encouraging efforts to meet them. It compares the European examination system with the present American testing system. It also considers issues that must be faced in defining learning domains in ways that do not encourage narrowly focused training on…