In setting performance standards for schoolchildren, the school system not only announces what students must know; it specifies what it presumes it can teach. Tests of competency should be merely a monitoring device to indicate whether the system is meeting its obligation to students. (Author)

This paper considers the implementation of Student Performance Standards (SPS) in Queensland, Australia, and their implications for teacher education. Student testing procedures in various Australian states and territories are described. A theoretical framework, grounded in Australian educational history, is elaborated for understanding the…

In response to eight questions concerning educational achievement, the National Academy of Education's Committee on Testing and Basic Skills cited four changes in school practices which have caused declines in writing skills and Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Those changes are a proliferation in courses with less rigorous intellectual standards;…