This report provides an overview of the Oklahoma School Testing Program (OSTP) and summarizes students' average writing assessment scores from 1987 through 1993. In 1992, the Stanford Writing Assessment replaced the MAT-6 Writing Test as the instrument for measuring writing achievement for 7th and 10th graders in Oklahoma. Student papers were hand…

Northwest Guilford High School, Guilford County (North Carolina), is an essentially rural, largely white school that serves about 1,200 students from all socioeconomic levels. An evaluation was conducted of a heterogeneous grouping project involving students in a 2-year sequence of algebra for those who scored below the 40th percentile on a…

During 1989, Florida citizens, educators, and students engaged in an intensive discussion about the passing score standards for the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST), which were scheduled to increase in August 1989. There was concern that the higher requirements would result in failure rates, particularly among Black and English as a…

Whether teachers, in the absence of standardized test scores, can adequately identify students who require remedial services or are at risk of failing a literacy test was studied. During the 1987-88 school year 22 fourth-grade teachers were asked to identify which of 530 students of various ethnic backgrounds would score in the top or bottom…

This guide is designed to help classroom teachers implement the Alabama Course of Study: Mathematics K-12. It is inclusive also of the objectives tested by the Stanford Achievement Tests and the Alabama Basic Competency Tests. One characteristic of the curriculum guide is that it clearly states what students should learn in each grade level. These…

The public schools reform movement has led to a proliferation of minimum competency testing programs by states. At the 11th/12th grade level, the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS), mandated by Texas House Bill 72, is an exit exam, divided into two sections which measure minimum competencies in math and language skills.…

This research examined student demographic (gender, ethnicity, grades, and previous home economics experience) and geographic (rural/urban school locale and individual school) factors that may be related to performance on a statewide New Mexico achievement test under development in the home economics subject matter area of consumer education and…

On April 7, 1982, the Connecticut State Board of Education passed a resolution commending the work of the Professional Development Council and approving the recommendations contained in the report, "Recommendations for Ensuring Professional Competence." Pursuant to three recommendations from this report, an advisory committee was…

Results of the 1988 implementation of the Delaware Educational Assessment Program in 17 school districts are reported for use by state legislators. The report contains a description of the statewide testing program, state-level averages and analyses, and a listing of the averages by content area and grade level for each school and district and…

This study, focusing on 165 public elementary schools in Hawaii, examined the use of test scores as measures of curriculum effectiveness and identified context and input variables that may impact on these measures of effectiveness. Demographic characteristics and test data on approximately 12,000 third graders were used to obtain 165 school…

This study was begun in the Fall of 1985 to determine the long-term effects of retention in one of the six COOR Intermediate School District Areas (Roscommon, Michigan). The major focus is on academic achievement as measured by the California Achievement (CA) Test, which has been given to every kindergarten through eighth grade student in the…

A study was undertaken to examine psychometric properties of "La Prueba Riverside de Realizacion en Espanol" (PRRE) and the "Spanish Assessment of Basic Education" (SABE) when administered to a sample of limited-English-proficient students, grades 1 through 8. Spanish-language versions of both tests were used for the study.…

Pennsylvania's "Testing for Essential Learning and Literacy Skills" (TELLS) program was instituted during the 1984-85 school year, to identify reading and mathematics problems early in a student's school career. This document describes the intent and legislation behind TELLS, the implementation of the test, population tested, properties…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 titles include studies dealing with the following areas: the evaluation of student writing; the assessment of the communicative competence of kindergarten children; formulas for predicting high school reading achievement; an…

Concern was expressed for the possible effects of testing Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I students with norm-referenced tests that may be so difficult that many students will have scores in the chance range. The likelihood of such students obtaining equal scaled scores if they were tested with easier out-of-level tests was…