Reports the increase of the black-white scoring gap on the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). As race-sensitive college admissions decline, these scores present barriers to educational progress by Blacks in selective institutions. Explains the scoring gap noting why so few Blacks have top SAT scores and thus will be shut out of major universities…

Though high-stakes testing currently dominates educational policy, few studies examine the consequences of such testing for the teaching and learning of literature in secondary English classrooms. This study takes a multi-layered approach to specify how a high-stakes exam positioned students as readers of literary texts. Drawing on both critical…

Since the last "TESOL Quarterly" commemorative issue 15 years ago, there have been too many important developments in language testing and assessment for all of them to be discussed in a single article. Therefore, this article focuses on issues that we believe are integrally linked to pedagogic and curriculum concerns of English language teaching.…

Education names and classifies individuals. This result seems unavoidable. For example, some students will graduate, and some will not. Those who graduate will be "graduates"; those who do not graduate will be labeled otherwise. The only way to avoid such labeling is to fail to make distinctions of any kind. Yet education is rife with…

This volume contains an edited transcript of the Rockefeller Institute's October 29, 2007 symposium (Chicago, IL) entitled "Intergovernmental Approaches to Strengthen K-12 Accountability Systems" as well as a framework paper circulated in preparation for the symposium. The transcript begins with a list of the forty state and federal education…

This publication briefly describes the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment in geography. In early 1994, about 19,000 students in grades 4, 8, and 12 across the nation participated. This was the first comprehensive geography assessment by NAEP and will provide baseline data to measure future progress. Sample questions…

This paper contains two scenario-type assignments for students in a university tests and measurements class as well as a collection of materials developed by actual students in response to these assignments. An opening explanation argues that education students, often nearing the end of their program when they take the tests and measurement…

The differences in California Achievement Test (CAT) scores from 1990 to 1991 in seventh graders, currently enrolled in Albritton Junior High School in the Fort Bragg Schools, of deployed and nondeployed fathers were analyzed. CAT percentile scores from 1990 and 1991 (1991 being the year of "Desert Storm") were obtained in reading, math…

A study was performed at the College of the Canyons, in Valencia, California, to compare the perceptions of students in basic skills courses with those of their teachers regarding the appropriateness of the recommended course placement in English as a Second Language (ESL), basic English, and basic math. A 10-question student survey and a…

These proceedings present five papers and other highlights of a symposium held to stimulate efforts to provide continuity and support for children and families in transition from early childhood to early elementary school programs. These papers are included: (1) "Connecting with Preschools: How Our Schools Help (and Fail to Help) Entering…

Despite rising concerns about the mathematics and science achievement of U.S. students, a flood of evidence amassed over the past decade suggests that far too few students are receiving the high-quality education needed in these subjects either for careers or for basic citizenship. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)…

A handbook for graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Southern Mississippi is presented. General information is provided on GTA supervision, instructor absences, GTA obligations, the office and supplies, and the university's sexual harassment policy. A section on the first day of class covers: the…

Biased assessment instruments and practices can lead to over-representation of minority children in special education classes. This paper analyzes the amount of variance in Mexican-American achievement test scores attributable to sociocultural factors. Fifty learning disabled Mexican-American elementary school students completed the Peabody…

Proceedings of a conference on educational assessment are presented. A speech accompanying presentations of the 1987 Educational Testing Service Award for Distinguished Service to Measurement and a list of winners of that annual award from 1970 to 1987 are included. The nine papers provided include: (1) "How Assessment Can Best Serve Teaching and…

The Consortium for Institutional Effectiveness and Student Success in the Community College was established in 1988 to foster programs in support of the teaching and learning process, student retention and success strategies, and institutional effectiveness. Administered at Mt. Hood Community College (MHCC) in Oregon, the consortium currently has…