This guide provides information about the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) and Texas end-of-course examinations. It displays and explains examples of the TAAS and end-of-course standard and optional reports to assist school personnel in understanding and interpreting student performance data as required by the Texas Education Code. The…

The Texas Education Code required the commissioner of education to conduct a study to determine the need to expand the assessment system to include the assessment in grades 7 and 8 of limited English proficient (LEP) students whose primary language is Spanish and other students of limited English proficiency. This report presents the research…

The purpose of this document is to provide practical guidance and support for the design, development, and implementation of large-scale assessment systems that are grounded in research and best practice. Information is included about existing large-scale testing efforts, including national testing programs, state testing programs, and…

Results from a national survey of teachers are reported for five types of state testing programs, those with: (1) high stakes for districts, schools, or teachers, and students; (2) high stakes for districts, schools, and teachers, and moderate stakes for students; (3) high stakes for districts, schools, and teachers, and low stakes for students;…

The Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA) is New Jersey's test for fourth graders. It is designed to give the school information about how well students are achieving in the areas required by New Jersey's Core Curriculum Content Standards. This guide offers parents and students information about the ESPA. Parent information, which is…

Using data from state and academic reports, an independent committee of researchers has evaluated the Massachusetts Teacher Tests. Scores are found to be highly unreliable, and the tests are found to contain questionable content. Suspending use of the tests is recommended. (SLD)

The critique of the Massachusetts Teacher Tests by W. Haney and others points out some flaws in the tests but ignores the fact that the tests provide some useful information to guide teacher selection decisions. Calls for additional study of these teacher evaluation instruments. (SLD)

Describes the resistance of a nontraditional public high school, the Durant School, to the global changes that would destroy its local ecology. In this school, the partially successful fight against the imposition of state standards and mandated tests has been a fight to preserve the school's integrity, mission, and autonomy. (SLD)

In 1998 the Colorado State General Assembly passed a bill that revised the schedule for implementation of the Colorado Student Assessment Program of state assessments. During the 1998-99 school year, the state assessment was to include third-grade literacy, fourth-grade reading and writing, and seventh-grade reading and writing. The newsletters in…

This paper compares the decision-making strategies which have been incorporated in the Teacher Performance Assessment Instruments in Georgia and the Assessments of Performance in Teaching developed for use in South Carolina. Although both instruments are designed for use with beginning teachers, the decision-making structure of these two…

Project Basic is a program developed by the Maryland State Department of Education to assure that students attain basic skills in a variety of areas. Two levels of tests are given in grade 7 to monitor progress, and in grades 9 to 12 to determine whether each student has met the state minimum competency level. Students must pass the higher level…

The steady growth of state testing programs and its implications for the measurement community are discussed in terms of testing purposes (monitoring, accountability, and curriculum advancement) and test development, administration, and reporting. It is important that the measurement community address crucial issues to maintain its substantial…

This policy brief addresses the inclusion of English language learners (ELLs) in large-scale assessments and ELL assessment accommodations. The inclusion of ELL students creates specific accountability policy challenges. States differ in the students they include and their inclusion policies and accommodation practices, and, at present, inclusion…

This document consists of articles 1 through 25 published in the electronic journal Education Policy Analysis Archives for the year 2002: (1) Testing and Diversity in Postsecondary Education: The Case of California (Daniel Koretz, Michael Russell, Chingwei David Shin, Cathy Horn, and Kelly Shasby); (2) State-Mandated Testing and Teachers Beliefs…

This document is designed to show the connections between assessment tools available for primary and intermediate grades in the Kentucky public schools. Sections of the document outline the essential assessment tools and give information about how they support and mirror each other. These tools can be used to bridge the knowledge of primary and…