The Massachusetts Basic Skills Testing Program, mandated by Chapter 188 of the Acts of 1985, seeks to identify students who have not mastered basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. Because the Massachusetts Department of Education does not mandate any post-test action, it has not been possible to prescribe any method of providing help…

State law requires that all certified professional personnel employed in Georgia school systems have their performance evaluated annually by trained evaluators. The Georgia School Counselor Evaluation Program (GSCEP) was designed to be used across all systems and schools for annual formative and summative evaluation purposes. The process used to…

This instructional training package introduces practitioners to methods for developing, validating, using, and reporting criterion-referenced tests. It provides a comprehensive presentation of criterion-referenced testing technology. The package emphasizes the most recent substantive and technological advances in the field that are both important…

The end-of-grade component of the North Carolina Testing Program was implemented in 1992-93 in response to state legislation. The end-of-grade tests emphasize higher-order thinking skills and the ability of students to solve real-life types of problems. These tests also reflect the higher standards set forth in national curriculum standards for…

The Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales (PKBS) is a behavioral rating instrument for use in evaluating social skills and problem behavior patterns of preschool- and kindergarten-aged children, aged three through six. It is a norm-referenced, standardized instrument developed specifically for use in assessing young children in a variety of…

Teacher attitudes toward the high school proficiency test were identified through a 15-question survey distributed to 39 secondary school teachers representing various demographic school populations. The subjects were selected from five graduate education classes and a small city high school. The median number of years of teaching experience was…

The papers in this collection reflect topics of major interest to members of the measurement and testing communities. Symposium 1, "Beyond the Wall Chart: Indicators and School Ranking," includes the following papers: (1) "What Our 17-Year-Olds Know: One District's Assessment" (L. D. Wilkinson and D. L. Galindo); (2)…

This publication introduces an assessment instrument to help programs implement management competencies. It discusses development of management competencies and describes the Management Competencies Assessment Instrument (MCAI) designed to help managers verify and validate their competencies and use the information for planning professional…

This publication identifies a set of recognized skills and knowledge areas possessed by effective professional development (PD) coordinators. It is designed to enable PD staff and their supervisors to think reflectively about their PD system, to identify how the system builds on the strengths of the coordinator and the PD staff, to identify where…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…

This document consists of the separately published test booklet, two student answer booklets, and test administration guide for Alberta's beginning-level French as a second language test. The student test booklet contains instructions, largely in English, and questions, largely in French, on aspects of daily life in and out of school. Three…

Standardized testing for large-scale assessment in Mississippi has changed to include both selected-response and performance-based formats for the past 3 academic years. The purpose of this followup study was to examine the perceptions of practicing teachers who belonged to a professional reading organization in the state with regard to this new…

In recent years a movement has developed at the high school level to address issues of cost and educational improvement through Proficiency-Based Credit Assessment (PBCA). With PBCA, students can receive credit by demonstrating their proficiency without actually taking a course. A national mail survey conducted by the Utah State Office of…

This document is a guide to the use of alternative assessments (surveys, interviews, observation measures, and performance samples) in a family literacy project. This resource guide focuses on using alternative approaches to identify learners' needs, determine learners' ongoing progress in meeting project objectives, ascertain overall success of…

The Standardized Tests of Achievement for Fiji (STAFs) were developed to measure skills and concepts of curriculum subjects for elementary schools. Two parallel tests were issued in early 1980 for Class-6 subjects (students in grade 6 of Fiji primary schools): (1) English Reading Comprehension; (2) English Listening Comprehension; (3) English…