creator: Clarke, Marguerite
0-5 of 5
An Agenda for Research on Educational Testing. NBETPP Statements, Volume 1, Number 1.
description- – The educational research agenda proposed by the National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy has five priorities. The first is monitoring the effects of state-level tests, including promotion and exit-level examinations, and teacher testing. The second priority is designing state systems for accountability that link technical possibilities with public policy issues. A third priority is understanding the role of tests in standards-based educational reform. This means investigating a possible connection between high stakes tests and student dropout rates. A fourth priority is understanding, and making clear, how standardized tests are used in college admissions. A final need is understanding the link between technology and testing. The national research agenda should establish the best uses of tests, study school system accountability, and consider the impact of new technologies on testing.
- – 2000-01-01
High Stakes Testing and High School Completion. NBETPP Statements, Volume 1, Number 3.
description- – This report examines how high stakes assessments affect dropout and high school completion rates. The focus is on five suggestive lines of evidence about this relationship. This evidence is drawn in part from studies done at Boston College or by researchers for the National Board on Educational Testing and Public Policy. The conclusion drawn is that high stakes testing programs are linked to decreased rates of high school completion. The evidence is mainly correlational, but it is suggestive enough to warrant further research to clarify the role of high stakes testing in decisions to drop out of school. The first evidence is from the era of minimum competency testing (MCT). There was no MCT in half of the 10 states with the lowest dropout rates, and the states with the highest dropout rates had MCT programs with standards set at least in part by the state. A second piece of evidence shows that in schools with proportionately more students of low socioeconomic status that used high stakes minimum competency tests, early dropout rates, between 8th and 10th grades, were 4 to 6 percentage points higher than in schools that were similar except for the high stakes test requirement. The third piece of evidence comes from high school graduation testing and dropouts in Florida. A more complex relationship is suggested by the fact that only for students with moderately good grades was a significant increase in dropping out associated with failure of the high school graduation test. A fourth line of evidence comes from the evolution of high stakes testing in Texas, where findings suggest that some high school sophomores dropped out of school because of the requirement of satisfactory performance on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. A final point is the relationship among high stakes testing, grade retention, and dropout rates. Research has generally suggested that grade retention makes students more likely to drop out. Interaction with graduation test requirements may result in increased numbers of dropouts.
- – Test Use
- – 2000-02-01
The Marketplace for Educational Testing. NBETPP Statements, Volume 2, Number 3.
description- – This paper considers the size of the marketplace for education testing. The discussion is focused on commercial standardized achievement tests produced for the elementary and secondary market, the"Elhi"market. A few testing companies now account for the bulk of the test sales in the Elhi market, but it is difficult to obtain exact figures on the size of the testing marketplace. Five indicators of indirect growth are examined: (1) number of state-mandated testing programs; (2) aggregate sales of tests; (3) revenues of four testing companies; (5) prices of test booklets, answer sheets, and scoring services; and (6) references to testing in the education literature. When all of these things are considered, it is evident that the test market is large and growing. The growth potential of the industry and the fact that it is largely unregulated mean that more attention must be paid to testing and the educational outcomes that result.
- – 2001-04-01
The Roles of Testing and Diversity in College Admissions.
description- – In order to understand the roles of test scores and diversity characteristics (including race and ethnicity) in the admission process, National Board researchers interviewed admissions directors who worked at selective public and private institutions are well as admissions consultants in the summer and fall of 1999. This report presents an overview of the roles that test scores and diversity characteristics play at the different stages of the admission process, as identified by the interviewees. The overarching theme is the variety of ways in which selective institutions use test score and diversity information, from tools for marketing and recruitment to information for admissions decision making to foci for support services on campus. Also presented are the strategies that interviewees identified for balancing the effects of these roles on the academic and racial/ethnic composition of the applicant, admitted, enrolled, and retained student body. The report also explores some of the options that colleges have in their use and interpretation of test score and diversity information, and it presents some suggestions about colleges might begin to think about the roles of test scores and diversity characteristics of the admission process. Appendixes contain two interview protocols.
- – Test Use
- – 2001-03-01
Perceived Effects of State-Mandated Testing Programs on Teaching and Learning: Findings from Interviews with Educators in Low-, Medium-, and High-Stakes States.
description- – The goal of this study was to identify the effects of state-level standards-based reform on teaching and learning, paying particular attention to the state test and associated stakes. On-site interviews were conducted with 360 educators (elementary, middle, and high school teachers) in 3 states (120 in each state) attaching different stakes to the test results. In Kansas, state test results were used to determine school accreditation but had no stakes for students. In Michigan, school accreditation was determined by student participation in and performance on the state test and students received an endorsed diploma and were eligible for college tuition credit if they scored above a certain level on the 11th grade tests. In Massachusetts, school ratings were based on the percentage of students in different performance categories and students, starting in 2003, had to pass the 10th grade test to graduate. No clear relationship was found between the level of the stakes attached to the state test and the influence of the state standards on classroom practice. Findings suggest that other factors are at least as important, if not more so, in terms of encouraging educators to align classroom curricula with these standards. At the same time, as the stakes attached to the test results increased, the test seemed to become the medium through which the standards were interpreted. Taken together, findings suggest that stakes are a powerful level for effecting change, but one whose effects are uncertain. A one-size-fits-all model of standards, tests, and accountability in not likely to bring about the greatest motivation and learning for all students. Three appendixes contain a grid describing state testing programs, the interview protocol, and the methodology.
- – 2003-01-01
0-5 of 5