The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 904) raise the achievement expectations of all students, including students with disabilities. These requirements place new responsibilities on institutions of higher education and state educational agencies…

One of the objectives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is to promote standardization in the field of information handling, both in development of guidelines and standards and in the use and application of existing norms and standards. This teaching package on the standardization of information…

The research reported in this paper was conducted to gain information to guide the selection of standard setting procedures for use with polytomous items to set achievement levels on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessments in U.S. History and geography. Standard-setting procedures were evaluated to determine the relative…

Of concern to private and public schools in Russia is the evaluation of teachers and schools. The use of voluntary, nongovernmental peer evaluation using extant Western accreditation processes is one choice that is being used in several public and private schools in Russia. This system of peer evaluation and friendly criticism contrasts markedly…

The purpose of this brief is to draw from the findings of the 1990 Reform Up Close study of high school mathematics and science in six states by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education in order to: (1) characterize standard-setting policies in high school mathematics and science, (2) document the effects of these standard-setting policies…

This paper is an inquiry into standard setting as educational reform, stimulated by the emergence of projects and initiatives engaged in during the development of new standards. The publication is organized into five sections. The first section provides a brief discussion of the idea of a standard together with a definition that indicates the…

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) adopted mathematics achievement standards on May 11, 1991 that will be used to report results on the 1990 assessment of mathematics. NAEP achievement levels are descriptions, based on informed judgments, of what students should know and be able…

This report presents the results of an initial, iterative performance standards-setting (SS) task of a comprehensive on-the-job statewide teacher assessment system--the System for Teaching and Learning Assessment and Review (STAR). The 1990-91 STAR assesses and makes inferences about the quality of teaching and learning on sets of assessment…

Nedelsky (1954) has suggested a procedure for determining the minimum passing score on a multiple-choice test. In this procedure expert judges estimate the probable score of a minimally competent examinee. The technique does not refer to the students' performance data. The purposes of this paper are: (1) to introduce a modification to the Nedelsky…

The assignment of grades to students is discussed, and a grading process is recommended. The process begins with the separation of minimal and developmental objectives. Minimal objectives represent course outcomes that all students are expected to achieve; developmental objectives are more complex goals toward which students strive, but which few…

The increasing interest in oral proficiency during the past decade prompted Educational Testing Service (ETS) to undertake the development of the Test of Spoken English (TSE), a standardized test of speaking proficiency of non-native speakers of English. The test has been validated for the selection of non-native teaching assistants applying to…

Technical advances of the last 15 years in measurement theory and practice are described, notably criterion-referenced testing, item response theory, and computers and testing. Several remaining problems concerning the development and validation of credentialing examinations are also considered. (Author/LMO)

This document contains the analysis of the occupation of cabinetmaker, or joiner, that is accepted by the Canadian Council of Directors as the national standard for the occupation. The front matter preceding the analysis includes exploration of the development of the analysis, structure of the analysis, validation method, scope of the cabinetmaker…

The description of achievement levels is important to the process of reporting student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A process was designed to develop achievement level descriptions (ALDs) for writing and civics. To begin, focus groups were conducted in each of the four NAEP regions for both writing and…

Steps taken by various states and individual institutions to determine a minimum level of accomplishment among students and to define the basic components of a college education are outlined. These include curriculum evaluations, standards review, and testing. (JMF)