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.…

With new Common Core State Standards assessments in K12 mathematics due to be in use by the start of the 2014-2015 school year, many district administrators and teachers do not know what they should know about them now and are not taking steps they should be taking to prepare for them. While they are aware that the assessments are being developed,…

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…

Qatar has recently positioned itself to be a leader in education. Central to the country's efforts is the implementation of reforms to its K-12 education system. Central to the reform initiatives was the development of internationally benchmarked curriculum standards in four subjects: Arabic, English as a foreign language, mathematics, and…

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…

A standard-setting experiment was conducted in which one group of participants was instructed to refrain from discussing their recommended test standards and another group was requested to report the reasons underlying their recommendations. The procedures used were designed to induce convergence of recommendations, but did not require consensus.…

A structured Delphi procedure was used to secure the informed judgments of three types of adult participants (n=170) on appropriate standards for the North Carolina High School Competency Tests in Reading and Mathematics. The feasibility of the method and the amount of agreement between groups are discussed. (Author/PN)

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)

Steps taken by various states and individual institutions to determine a minimum level of accomplishment among students and to define the basic components of a college education are outlined. These include curriculum evaluations, standards review, and testing. (JMF)

This paper focuses on ways in which one state policy for improving education--standard-setting through testing mechanisms--affects the classroom teacher-learner relationship. That uniform policy-making is problematic is clear from observations of 43 Mid-Atlantic school district teachers. Responding to three types of standards, 45 percent found…

Practices and policies regarding graded assessment in vocational education and training (VET) in Australia were examined. Data were collected through a literature review; focus groups involving approximately 120 stakeholders in 5 states; interviews with 49 representatives of registered training organizations (RTOs); and surveys of RTOs, students,…