Accountability in education was implemented to improve poor learning outcomes by documenting and monitoring learning achievement results. In this process, external standardized achievement tests have played a central role, being the mechanism most frequently used to measure learning outcomes. However, several decades after its initial…

Described is a follow-up study to identify the objectives for science teaching measured by a sample of current editions of four standardized physics achievement tests. The methodology employed for the study is described. The findings of the study pointed to several changes. Among these were the attention given, at least by some of these tests, to…

The four parts of this report are: (1) the purposes of evaluation and reporting; (2) relationship to educational philosophy and methods of teaching, including historical development, present reporting practice and criticisms of these practices, and alternatives to conventional grading; (3) the best way to report student achievement; and (4)…

Results are summarized of research on a program instituting graded objectives and tests in French. The research project was conducted during the 1979-80 school year by the Language Teaching Council at York, England. Two experimental groups and two control groups were formed of students aged 13 and over. Pupils, parents, and teachers completed…

Clearly defined goals are described as the first component of a program evaluation. The goals of this booklet are: to demonstrate the need for clearly written statements of goals, outcomes, and objectives; to provide examples; to provide a method of deriving goals from already published materials; to demonstrate the relationship between writing…

The document discusses the decrease of student scores on the citizenship section of the statewide Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment (EQA). The document presents an overview of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education goals, describes behaviors that EQA measures, and provides sample questions for fifth, eighth, and eleventh-grade…

The manual contains instruction for behavioral assessment of developmentally disabled, moderately and severely retarded individuals. Each unit includes the following information: a goal statement, specific behavioral objectives, and approximate time required to read the unit and complete all the exercises. Among the topics discussed are task…

The uses and applications of testing in education and the implications of the Bakke decision are considered. Pluralism and diversity in education have convinced many observers that a different philosophy or theory of testing is needed. Alternative uses are sought in ways that would shift the aptitudes and general intelligence to skills and…

A project is described which developed a course outline, competencies, and learning modules for a course in classroom evaluation which will be offered as a part of the Wisconsin Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education (VTAE) Spiral Curriculum designed to meet VTAE teacher certification requirements. The procedures outlined involved an advisory…

A collection of papers on evaluation and testing in language learning and teaching for communicative competence includes: "Evaluation in Relation to Communicative Language Teaching" (Viljo Kohonen); "On Determining the Function and Quality of Language Tests" (Jan van Weeren); "On the Trail of Everyday Experience...The Individual Learner's…

The nature of educational accountability, seen as an organized, systematized process of self-evaluation, and a review of available standardized tests for foreign language programs are examined in this paper. Teacher accountability is seen to rely exclusively on the judgement of the teacher and administration within the school itself. The author…

The report of a survey of testing practices in the school systems of the state of Connecticut is presented. Completed at the end of the 1973-74 school year, the survey constituted the second phase of a planned series of inquiries into evaluation programs and procedures at the local level. The general purpose of the investigations is to provide…