The uses of a well-made standardized test are identified: as an assessment tool to help students identify their strengths, to improve learning programs, to help colleges select students, to gauge the learning of academic skills, and as an early warning system. (MLW)

Examined the attitudes of 360 students in grades 6 through 9 toward standardized achievement tests. Results showed scores on the Stanford Achievement Test were significantly related to students' perceptions of individual effort, test importance, and the use schools make of test results. (JAC)

This study researches the effects of examiner verbal utterances on the intelligence test scores of educable mentally retarded subjects. It assumes that examiner-examinee rapport is essential for accurate test results. Positive verbal statements by examiners do have a significant effect on test scores. (NG)

Presents the entire Advanced Placement Physics C Examination, intended to match the first two terms of a three-to-four term sequence of calculus-based physics courses for physical science or engineering majors. (MLH)

Dealing with flexibility--or its converse, the extent of standardization--is fundamental to alignment, assessment design, and interpretation of results in fully inclusive assessment systems. Highly standardized tests make it easier to compare (performances, students, and schools) across time and to common standards because certain conditions are…

This chapter discusses alternatives beyond traditional standardized tests or curriculum standards consisting of naive checklists of low-level facts and skills to operationally define educational goals in ways that provide direction for both instruction and accountability. Suggestions are drawn from physical and social sciences as well as from…

For this report, CEEP staff collected information on testing timelines, subjects, grade configurations, names, and SEA testing contacts. As with the 2003 report, discussion in this report is limited to the testing components of state assessment programs, such as Indiana's ISTEP+ program, used for compliance purposes with state and federal…

This article reports research conducted to describe the perceptions of mentor teachers in elementary schools who work with preservice teachers in local school-university partnerships. Teachers shared how their lives in elementary schools/classrooms have changed as a result of new standardized testing requirements. Results focus on how…

This issue includes the following articles: "New Rule Increases Flexibility for Students with Disabilities," which discusses a new provision of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) that will give local school districts greater flexibility in meeting the Act's requirement for educating students with disabilities; "The Three R's for Success.…

This book explores the serious destructive consequences of today's testing programs using actual test items to show what tests really measure and why they should not be used to evaluate school quality or teacher ability. The book also proposes more meaningful ways to assess students and to meet the call for accountability in education. The…

A survey of school districts across the state of Illinois in 1999 focused on three dimensions of local assessment practices: (1) why districts give tests; (2) the tests they give; and (3) what they do with test results. Telephone interviews were conducted with district assessment coordinators or superintendents from 75 school districts, including…

This framework document describes the content and format of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessments of 1996, 2000, and 2003. Five content strands are discussed in the NAEP mathematics assessment: (1) number sense, properties, and operations; (2) measurement; (3) geometry and spatial sense; (4) data analysis,…

This Digest addresses two ways that classroom teachers can use the results of standardized tests: (1) to revise instruction for entire classes or courses; and (2) to develop specific intervention strategies for individual students. Test publishing companies typically provide classroom-level reports to enable teachers to see how a group of students…

This report from the WisKids Count project, instead of being the usual annual data book about an array of issues affecting children, is a collection of essays that take a critical look at the practice of standardized testing and the status of testing in Wisconsin. In the 2002-2001 school year, more than 250,000 Wisconsin children in public schools…

Voucher programs are intended to raise the academic achievement of students, but, unfortunately, so far the evidence suggests that Cleveland's voucher students perform no better than their counterparts in public schools.(Contains 1 table and a list of recommended readings.)