New Mexico has established a system of student achievement assessment that consists of four coordinated testing programs. District and state results are given for these assessments. The Reading Assessment, consisting of a norm-referenced test and a criterion-referenced test, is used in grades 1 and 2 to assess student mastery of essential…

In 1988, the Delaware State legislature provided for the development of profile reports (PRs) on all full-time public high schools in the state. To determine the impact of the high school PRs, this study addressed the following: (1) public awareness of the PR program; (2) the percentage of the public that received a high school profile; (3) public…

The Council on School Performance Standards, appointed in February of 1989 by the Governor of Kentucky, was charged with finding out what students in Kentucky should know and be able to do, and with determining the best ways to assess student learning. The Council met with six groups: community leaders; employers; parents; school administrators;…

When the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was designed 20 years ago, comparisons among individual states or localities were not deemed desirable. Today, this lack of information to allow comparison is judged to be a serious weakness of the NAEP, and ways to allow comparisons are actively sought. The focus of this paper is to…

Some steps to identify an initial set of indicators and to develop alternative indicator systems are outlined for educational evaluation and illustrated through the example of a National Science Foundation (NSF) study of mathematics and science education. The first step is to conceptualize potential indicators to specify a comprehensive monitoring…

Three supplements to the main report (December 1987) of the Task Group on Assessment and Testing in the United Kingdom are presented. The first report, "Reactions to the Main Report," examines the chief issues raised in public reaction to the main report. The national reaction has been largely positive and supportive. It is reaffirmed…

New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) established a Task Force on Student Assessment in the spring of 1990, which was designed to: review available information on testing principles and practices; make recommendations for reform of testing; and communicate its findings to NYSUT members. Ten recommendations were made, centering on the necessity…

This paper reviews public testimony that was presented at the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) Regional Forums concerning recommendations by the six NEGP Resource Groups (RGPs). The RGP recommendations focus on ways of measuring/monitoring the nation's/states' progress toward meeting the President's and governors' six national education…

Patterns in general comments from public testimony and proposed future indicators (PFIs) presented at the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) Regional Forums concerning recommendations by the six NEGP Resource Groups (RGPs) are outlined. The RGP recommendations focus on ways of measuring/monitoring the nation's/states' progress toward meeting…

This guide provides members of the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) with the information they need to select the indicators for the first annual progress report (September, 1991) on the six national education goals. The guide is organized by the following six goal areas: readiness for school (Goal 1); high school completion (Goal 2); student…

Science process skills are described as a set of broadly transferable abilities, appropriate to all of the science disciplines and reflective of the true behavior of scientists. While science process skills have gained wide acceptance as an integral part of the science curricula, the development of valid and reliable instruments to assess those…

This report represents a first step in a voluntary cooperative effort among Federal and State governments and education associations to: identify the most critical needs for education policy information; assess the present capacity of the national statistical system to address these needs; and provide broad direction for system improvements.…

This document provides an overview of the "Guide To Improving the National Education Data System," the first publication of the newly created National Forum on Education Statistics. The 36 recommendations for improving the nation's elementary and secondary education statistics system that are outlined in the Guide are summarized. This…

This report analyses six current educational reform proposals: (1) "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform" (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983); (2) "Action for Excellence" (Task Force on Education for Economic Growth of the Education Commission of the States, 1983); (3) "The Twentieth Century Fund Task Force…

The report describes the Appalachian College Assessment Project, which developed a consortium to assess cooperatively the outcomes of the general education programs of a group of private liberal arts colleges in central Appalachia. Evaluation methods included a freshman/senior essay, the Academic Profile, the Pace College Student Experiences…