Recent years have produced a surge in interest in improving state assessment programs. Many states are designing new assessments. Much of this innovation is aimed at addressing longstanding areas of unhappiness with typical domain-sampled, end-of-year state assessments: States want to streamline assessment activities, enhance the instructional…

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) is the nation's oldest and largest urban school choice program, offering private-school scholarships to low-income students in the city of Milwaukee since 1990. In the early years of the program, voucher schools were not required to test their students, though many of them did so using nationally normed…

The Subcommittee on Truth in Testing of the Interim Joint Committee on Education was formed in response to Senate Resolution 43 of the 1982 Kentucky General Assembly. Its task was to study the questions regarding the effectiveness and equity of standardized testing, which has become an important part of the academic experience of public school…

This report contains replies to questionnaires sent to State legislatures, legislative service agencies, State school boards associations, and State offices of the NEA and the AFT asking for information on legislation and achievements in education. Information from the replies is supplemented by data acquired from reviews of newsletters,…

Today, in this country, there is widespread public support for educational testing, evidenced by the large amount of state minimum competency testing legislation, and recent public opinion surveys. Despite a basically favorable view of standardized testing, parents are concerned about the effects of test anxiety and poor test-taking skills on…

This article will argue that cost-benefit analysis persuasively demonstrates that truth-in-testing laws are socially and economically justified but often fall short of providing a comprehensive regulatory scheme adequate to correct the market dislocations generated by an unregulated testing industry. (Author)

The background out of which "truth in testing" legislation arose is reviewed in this report, which also describes existing state and federal testing legislation, details arguments raised in hearings on the legislation, analyzes the legal issues raised, and provides a framework for simplifying the arguments and gathering more information.…

The context of the debate over secure versus open testing is described, with particular emphasis on tests used for postsecondary or professional school admission. Recently introduced federal and state legislation on testing is also described. Four arguments in support of open testing are summarized: (1) fairness demands that tests be open; (2)…

Discussions at the National Consortium on Testing conference are summarized. Updates on recent and upcoming events are given by Jeff Schiller (National Institute of Education), Doug Whitney (American Council on Education), John Maxwell (National Council of Teachers of English), Dorianne Almann (National Science Teachers Association), Eric Gardner…

The first part of this report highlights what is required in the legislative language of statutes enacted by various States by identifying their specific characteristics in a series of tables. Discussion of these characteristics and comparisons and comments on omissions and trends are presented in the text. The second part of the report consists…

Examines factors contributing to increasing acceptance of and dependence on state and local educational testing. Factors examined include the accountability movement, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, National Assessment of Educational Progress, growth in statewide and local assessment, and minimum competency testing. (SM)

This looseleaf publication updates an earlier report. Some of the pages contain new laws enacted since the first report was completed. The report provides tables showing the status of accountability legislation as of the fall of 1972 and texts of the actual bills or laws in a State-by-State format. The facets of accountability that the laws cover…

Two reforms are suggested as ways to improve standardized testing. They are Truth-in-Testing legislation and the Golden Rule bias reduction principle. Test publishers, state departments of education, and colleges who administer tests are often reluctant to provide statistical data on test results. It is also difficult for researchers to see test…

Information is presented on standardized tests used at California undergraduate and graduate/professional schools for admission and placement purposes. The following four tests used at the undergraduate level are described: the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, the Scholastic Aptitude and College…

Two reports on the current status and future trends of state assessment programs are presented. Among the results summarized for 1977-1978 and also presented in chart form for the 41 states which administer testing programs are: 19 programs are mandated by state legislatures; 22 programs test all students in the grades or ages assessed;…