| Standardized Tests |
Testing
Internet Sites:
• Food For Thought: The Effects of School Accountability Plans on School Nutrition
“Now that public schools can lose federal funding as a result of poor student performance on standardized tests, they have begun paying more attention to test scores.” This study examines the ways in which schools change their lunch menus on test days, and the effects of these changes on student test scores.
http://www.nber.org/digest/apr03/w9319.html
• Perceived Effects of State-Mandated Testing Programs on Teaching and Learning
These National Board Publications include Findings from a National Survey of Teachers, and Findings from Interviews with Educators in Low-, Medium-, and High-Stakes States.
http://www.bc.edu/research/nbetpp/reports.html
• Does it Matter With What I Write? Comparing Performance On Paper, Computer and Portable Writing Devices
From Current Issues in Education, “This study builds on three previous studies (Russell, 1999; Russell & Haney, 1997; Russell & Plati, 2001) to examine the effect of administering extended composition test items on paper, on computer, or on a portable writing device has on student performance.”
http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume5/number4/index.html
• The Impact of High Stakes Tests on Student Academic Performance (December 2002)
The purpose of this study from the Education Policy Studies Laboratory is to assess the effect of of high-stakes tests and high school exit examinations on academic achievement.
http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/EPRU/documents/EPSL-0211-126-EPRU.pdf
• Making Sense of Test-Based Accountability in Education
A RAND publication, “this book provides an overview of the major issues faced by those who develop, implement, and use test-based accountability systems, including a summary of the key technical considerations and a brief description of what is known about the impact of these systems.”
http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1554/
• State High School Exit Exams: A Baseline Report (2002)
From the Center on Education Policy, this report addresses four critical questions: Why are so many states adopting high school exit exams? What are the impacts of exit exams on students? What are exit exams like? What major challenges do states face in implementing exit exams?
http://www.cep-dc.org/pubs/statehighschoolexitexams2002/statehighschoolexitexams2002.pdf
• Testing Our Schools (Frontline)
“Can standardized achievement tests really measure the quality of a school? How does the intense pressure to raise test scores affect the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom? What are the challenges of setting academic standards in the first place? In “Testing Our Schools,” FRONTLINE and the PBS education series The Merrow Report take up these questions and others.”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/schools/
• Building Tests to Support Instruction and Accountability: A Guide for Policymakers (October 2001)
“The Commission on Instructionally Supportive Assessment…presents nine requirements for a new generation of statewide achievement tests.” This report is available in pdf.
http://www.aasa.org/issues_and_insights/assessment/Building_Tests.pdf
• Thinking About Tests and Testing: A Short Primer in “Assessment Literacy”
A short primer from the American Policy Youth Forum to ease confusion over tests and testing. Available as a pdf document.
http://www.aypf.org/publicatons/BraceyRep.pdf
• Parent’s Guide to Testing and Accountability
This guide from the National Education Association includes information on what tests can and cannot measure, questions to ask the school principal, and how to help children do well on tests.
http://www.nea.org/parents/testingguide.html
• What Every Parent Should Know About Testing
Information provided by the Educational Testing Service Network.
http://www.ets.org/pta2.html
• The Use of Tests as Part of High-Stakes Decision-Making for Students: A Resource Guide for Educators and Policy-Makers
“The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR has developed this resource guide in order to provide educators and policy-makers with a useful, practical tool to assist in their development and implementation of policies that involve the use of tests as part of decision-making that has high-stakes consequences for students.”
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OCR/archives/pdf/TestingResource.pdf
• High Stakes: Testing for Tracking, Promotion, and Graduation (1998)
This book “focuses on how testing is used in schools to make decisions about tracking and placement, promotion and retention, and awarding or withholding high school diplomas.” Available online as an html or pdf document from the National Academy Press.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/6336.html
• Reinventing Assessment: Speculations on the Future of Large-Scale Educational Testing (1998)
“Presents a scenario for the future of testing that divides into three generations of assessment distinguished by the purpose of testing, test format and content, test delivery location, and use of new technology.” Available as a pdf document.
ftp://ftp.ets.org/pub/res/reinvent.pdf
• Too Much Testing of the Wrong Kind; Too Little of the Right Kind in K-12 Education (1999)
“Reviews the development of K-12 standardized testing, the emerging role of testing in the standard-based reform movement, testing and school accountability, the proposal for a Voluntary National Test, and the case for high school exit examinations. Some promising testing practices are also discussed.” Available as a pdf document.
http://www.ets.org/research/pic/204928tmt.pdf
• ETSNet
Educational Testing Service Network. Information, practice questions, registration for GRE, GMAT, SAT, TOEFL, LSAT, teacher tests; information on financial aid, assessment, careers and jobs, and more.
Rosedale Road
Princeton, NJ 08541
Tel: 609/921-9000
http://www.ets.org