The integrated approach to facilitating student achievement undertaken by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) is described. The goal of SEDL's Programmatic Theme on Facilitating Student Achievement is to contribute to the improvement of programs and activities in the Southwestern Region for teaching reading, writing, and…

Since 1983 the Migrant Education Program Evaluation (MEPE) has collected data about migrant children in summer programs throughout the state of Illinois. Testing is done during the summer months with migrant students in grades 3, 5, and 7. Preliminary screening identifies students who are limited-English speakers, and they are excluded from…

This is the fifth in a series of six monographs developed to help local educators use and report Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test results. An organized plan facilitates the important task of reporting test results to the school board quickly and accurately. This monograph gives one approach that enables the staff to take the…

This document presents more useful statewide testing as a rationale for a revision to the California Assessment Program (CAP). A brief description of the revision procedures, and an illustrative outline of the skills and concepts covered by CAP are included. Approximately 270 districts and counties participated in the test development process to…

This handbook contains suggestions for the use of results from the New Mexico High School Proficiencies Examination (NMHSPE) and describes procedures for developing programs and planning intervention strategies. The information and guidelines will facilitate administrative action for program improvement through integration of the NMHSPE results…

The Kindergarten Assessment Project test to provide diagnostic instructional information to the teacher on individual student cognitive skills in Communication Arts and Number Understanding is presented. The criterion-referenced test cuts across the domains of social-affective functioning, perceptual-psychomotor functioning, and cognitive-language…

This paper examined the status of assessment of writing as it is currently performed in the United States. All fifty states and the District of Columbia responded to a survey requesting information on their testing programs. Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia were found to assess writing on the statewide level, and eight states were in…

Before using the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) for teacher certification, states are required to conduct a state-wide validity study. This paper describes approaches used in 35 studies for 18 states to establish (NTE) content validity through curriculum and job relatedness and to establish minimum performance standards. (BS)

Designing a remediation program to meet students' needs involves finding out what a student knows and needs to know. An online testing program, such as eduTest, may provide the answers. This test is a versatile instrument that offers benchmark tests, grade specific tests, and strand tests in the four content areas for grades K through 8. The…

This analysis addresses two important questions regarding appropriate uses of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) statewide average test score comparisons. First is whether NAEP state test score averages provide meaningful and valid comparisons of the relative educational quality or proficiency of specific states. The other…

This document provides an overview of the history and current uses of student testing in California and a brief summary of some of the issues on the debate over assessment. In recent years, student testing has increasingly become a high-stakes enterprise in California. Today, policymakers are looking anew at various forms of testing to measure how…

This guide is designed to give the student helpful information about Arizona's Instrument To Measure the Standards (AIMS) for grade 3. The guide provides examples of the type of questions students see on AIMS and explains how items are scored. It does not teach what the student needs to know to do well on AIMS, but it will help the student know…

This guide is designed to give the student helpful information about Arizona's Instrument To Measure the Standards (AIMS) for grade 5. The guide provides examples of the type of questions students see on AIMS and explains how items are scored. It does not teach what the student needs to know to do well on AIMS, but it will help the student know…

Results are presented from a study of portfolio use for large-scale assessment in the Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) public schools that are more encouraging for the use of this form of assessment than many other studies have been. Requirements for the psychometric integrity of portfolio assessment are discussed. (SLD)

This document tabulates extensive and detailed information about the assessment programs of each state. It is the third edition of the database and remains the single best source for information about the student assessments that states conduct. The database is compiled from a survey completed by state directors of assessment. The first section of…