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QUALITY OF EDUCATION, 1977
7$ ~
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
EDUCATION, ARTS AND HUMANITIES
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
-UNITED STATES SENATE
NINETY-FIFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
EXAMINATION INTO THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION OF OUR
NATION'S STUDENTS AND MEANS OF IMPROVING COMPETENCY
IN BASIC SKILLS AT VARIOUS GRADE LEVELS
JULY 14, 27; AND SEPTEMBER 22, 1977
~UThERS LAW ~G11OOL U~F:ARY
CAMDEN, N. J. 08102
~DVERN M E~DOCU WtENJ
Printed for the use of the Committee on Human Resources
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
95-038 0 WASHINGTON: 1977
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COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
HARRISON A. `WILLIAMS, Ja., New Jersey, Chairman
JENNINGS RANDOLPH, West Virginia JACOB K. JAVITS, New York
CLAIBORNE FELL, Rhode Island RICHARD S SCHWEIKER,~pe~imsylvania
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts ROBERT T. STAFFORD, Ver~oit
GAYLORD NELSON, Wisconsin ` ORHIN G. HATCH, Utah
THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Missouri JOHN H. CHAFEE, Rhode Island
ALAN CRANSTON, California S. I. HAYAKAWA, California
WILLIAM D. HATHAWAY, Maine
DONALD W. RIEGLE, JR., Michigan
STEPHEN J. PARADISE, General Counsel and Staff Director
MARJORIE M. WHITTAKER, Chief Clerk
DON A. ZIMMERMAN, Minority Counsel
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, ARTS AND HUMANITIES
CLAIBORNE FELL, Rhode Island, Chairman
JENNINGS RANDOLPH, West Virginia ROBERT T. STAFFORD, Vermont
EDWARD M.KENNEDY, Massachusetts RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER, Pennsylvania
THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Missouri S. I. HAYAKAWA, California
HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, JR., New Jersey JACOB K. JAVITS, New York
(ex officio) (ex officio)
`JEAN S. FR0HLIcHER, Counsel
`SVEN R. GROENNINGS, Minority
(II)
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CONTENTS
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES
THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1977
Rickover, Adm. H. G., U.S. Navy, Energy Research and Development, Page
Commander for Nuclear Power 3
Berry, Dr. Mary, Assistant Secretary for Education, Education Division,
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 17
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1977
Turnbull, Dr. William W., president, Educational Testing Service, Prince-
ton, N.J 50
Forbes, Dr. Roy H., director, National Assessment of Educational
Progress 51
rTHUR5DAY SEPTEMBER 22, 1977
Wirtz, Willard, chairman, Advisory Panel on the Scholastic Aptitude Test
Score Decline, College Entrance Examination Board 310
STATEMENTS
Berry, Dr. Mary, Assistant Secretary for Education, Ethication Division,
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 17
Prepared statement 34
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N.J., William W. Turnbull, presi-
dent, piepared statement 74
Forbes, Dr. Roy H., director, National Assessment of Educational
Progress 51
Prepared statement 198
National Assessment of Educational Progress, Roy H. Forbes, director,
prepared statement 198
Rickover, Adm. H. G., U.S. Navy, Energy Research and Development,
Commander for Nuclear Power 3
Turnbull, Dr. William W., president, Educational Testing Service, Prince-
ton, N.J 50
Prepared statement 74
Wirtz, Willard, chairman. Advisory Panel on the Scholastic Aptitude Test
Score Decline, College Entrance Examination Board 310
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Articles, publications, etc.:
Basic Skills Assessment Around the Nation, from the Educational
Testing Service, Princeton, N.J.:
February 1977 91
June 1977 (Interim Update) 107
Bloomington Writing Assessment 1977, Bloomington Public Schools,
Bloomington, Minn 228
Characteristics of Eight Commonly Used, Nationally Normed Tests,
by G. Kasten Tailmadge and Christine P. Wood, RMC Research
Corporation, Mountain View, Calif., October 1976 139
Executive Summary of 1976-77 Massachusetts Statewide Educational
Assessment, bureau of research and assessment, Massachusetts
Department of Education, Boston, Mass 244
(III)
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National Survey on Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Science, and
Career Development, by the National Center for Education Statis-
tics, Denver, Cob 293
Report of New Tests and Services Designed to Assist Educational
Agencies in Title I Evaluation, by Educational Testing Service,
Princeton, N.J., July 1977 121
Rhode Island Statewide Assessment Program 1975-76, prepared by the
Rhode Island Department of Education 259
Six-year Improvement Plan for the Department of Testing, June 30,
1977, based on the Norfolk Public School Six-year Improvement
Plan 257
Study Traces Achievement Profiles, from National Assessment of Edu-
cational Progress Newsletter, April 1977 236
Washington Statewide Educational Assessment, Fall 1976, State Gen-
eral Report, Washington Department of Education 276
Communications to:
Pell, Hon. Claiborne, a U.S. Senator from the State of California,
from:
Becker, Richard, Instructional Media Production Services,
Brooklyn Center, Minn., July 16, 1977 303
Forbes, Roy H., director, National Assessment of Educational
Progress, Denver, Cob., Aug. 12, 1977 (with enclosures) 203
Jones, Jerome B., superintendent, Department of Public Schools,
Providence, R.I., September 14, 1977 320
Parkhurst, Rev. Donald R., Covington, Ky., July 26, 1977 305
Turnbull, William W., president, Educational Testing Service,
Princeton, N.J., Aug. 9, 1977 (with enclosures) 161
Wallworth, Mrs. John, Hot Springs National Park, Ark., July 27,
1977 306
Zacharias, Jerrolcl R., Education Development Center, Newton,
Mass., September 15, 1977 323
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QUALITY OF EDUCATION, 1977
THURSDAy, JULY 14, 1977
U.S. SENATE,
SUBCOMMITrEE ON EDUCATION,
ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES
OF THE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES,
Wa.s/iington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., in room
1318, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Claiborne Pell (chair-
man of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Senators Pell, Schweiker, and Hayakawa.
Senator PELL. The Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humani-
ties will come to order.
One of the issues involving education which is of concern to all of
us, particularly those of us who are parents, as every, recent opinion
poll has shown, is the nagging issue of educational quality. Parents are
convinced that their children are simply not learning. Whether this is
true or not, this is the common perception-that today's students are
achieving less than those of preceding generations.
There are many alarming indications that students simply do not
read, write, or add and subtract as well as they used to.
Vice Adm. James D. Watkins, Chief of Naval Personnel, recently
complained that illiteracy among young Americans has become so
widespread that the Navy is finding it difficult to secure recruits who
can read well enough to function. Having been a seaman second class
myself, once upon a time, I know that that does not take a tremendous
amount of reading and writing. He said that the Navy is now required.
to conduct remedial reading courses, to teach recruits to read at the
sixth grade level, so that they can understand urgent warnings.
There are other signals that the public is becoming concerned about
low achievement. Today's Washington Post reports that the District
of Columbia School Board voted unanimously last night to impose
minimum achievement standards for both high school graduation and
for promotion from grade to grade. Such standards would be enforced
by a citywide testing program-and I congratulate the District School
Board on this step.
However, it is unclear when such tests or standards would go into
effect. The State of Virginia voted to enforce graduation requirements,
but was then forced to postpone their effectiveness until 1984. Mary-
land has adopted a set of minimum reading standards, but there is
simply no mechanism to enforce them. Throughout the Nation, nine
States have voted to have minimum competency requirements as a
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condition for graduation from high school, but so far such standards
have been put into effect only in Arizona.
This is a problem of tremendous concern. It may or may not be one
with which the Federal Government can deal. However, this hearing
is intended to explore both the problem and potential solutions-
Federal, State, and local. It marks the first hearing in a series that this
subcommittee will be conducting in the area of elementary and second-
ary education, leading up to the reauthorization of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act.
It is a particular pleasure to have as our first witness today, Admiral
Rickover, the well-known father of our nuclear-powered Navy. We are
all well aware of Admiral Rickover's outstanding achievements in
developing the world's first nuclear-powered submarine and the first
civilian electric utility nuclear-powered generation station in
Pennsylvania.
For more than a quarter of a century, he has been in charge of the
naval nuclear propulsion program, responsible not only for the design
and construction of the nuclear-powered plants of our naval warships,
but also for selection and training of the crews that operate them. He
interviews all the officers assigned to these nuclear ships and selects
them personally. An example of this excellent selection is the fact that
many years ago, he selected a young lieutenant, Jimmy Carter, who has
since been selected for a far more responsible job by the American
people. Officers and enlisted men undergo an exhaustive training
program in his nuclear power schools.
We of this subcommittee are particularly grateful to him for his
contributions in the field of education. In the era of Sputnik, it was
Admiral Rickover who focused the Nation's attention on the short-
comings in this Nation's educational system-shortcomings which
contributed substantially to the technological gap between this Nation
and the Soviet Union in this particular field.
As usual, he is not one to skip his homework. He has written three
fine books on education: "Education and Freedom," "Swiss Schools
and Ours: Why Theirs Are Better," and "American Education-A
National Failure."
Many professional educators have attacked Admiral Rickover's
views as an unwarranted intrusion into their domain. Yet, few would
deny that he has probably done as much to spur educational reform
as any other national figure. In this regard, he has spurred this
subcommittee.
Some years ago, he proposed legislation calling for increased quality
in our Nation's schools. I introduced this bill, which was cosponsored
by Senator Cooper. Part of its provisions became law, but alas, were
never implemented by the executive branch, then under another
administration.
Today we are faced with trying problems in education. It is the
function of this subcommittee to maintain oversight of the education
function. This is what we have in mind.
It is ~n honor to have you with us. Admiral. If you would start off,
I would be delighted. Later on, I look forward to introducing Dr.
Berry, and then we can have dialog back and forth.
Admiral Rickover, you may lead off.
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STATEMENT OP ADM. H. G. RICKOVER, U.S. NAVY, ENERGY
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, COMMANDER POR~ NUCLEAR
POWER
Admiral RICKOVER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm sure you realize that you are out of step with the educational
establishment in praising me. This could cause you to fall out of favor
with the educationists. However, since they depend on Congress for
a considerable portion of their funds, I expect your ostracism would
be short lived.
~T will now proceed with my prepared statement.
Thank you for the opportunity to present my views on American
education to this distinguished committee.
In my search for people capable of meeting the demands of the
naval nuclear propulsion program, I have had a unique opportunity
to judge the products of our schools. Over the last three decades, I have
interviewed thousands of top graduates of our colleges and the Naval
Academy in search of young people with intelligence, integrity, and
initiative. In these people, I look not so much for technical com-
petence-we will teach them that-but for the ability *to think for
themselves, to understand the basic principles of the courses they have
taken, and to speak clearly. From what I have seen, our schools are
not providing a good education.
The heart of any civilization is its education. Of the glories of
ancient Greece, none was greater than Plato's Academy. Of all that
the Middle Ages created, nothing was greater than the universities.
Of the spirit of the Renaissance,, it is humanism that is its greatest
legacy. We will be tomorrow what our schools are today.
Our future citizens are now students in elementary and secondary
schools. We have a right as well as a duty to ask how well the schools,
teachers, administrators, and parents are meeting their responsibility.
Several signs warn us that our educational system is falling behind
the needs of our society.
In the midsixties scores of college entrance examinations began to
decline. The drop is revealed in the scores for the scholastic aptitude
tests, which are the entrance examinations required by most colleges.
The American College Tests, the Minnesota Scholastic Achievement
Test and the Iowa. Tests of Educational Development show a similar
trend.
The reasons are complex and are still being studied. Possibly the
drop does not reflect a real diminution in student-learning skills.
Perhaps it is because the number of students taking the tests have
greatly increased. Perhaps poorer students have been urged to take
the tests so as to gain admission to college. However, there is other
evidence of the need for improvement of our educational process.
Last year, the private higher education annual report found ". .
an appalling decline in the preparation of newly admitted students
in reading, writing, and mathematics." The National Assessment of
Educational Progress, a federally financed organization, recently
studied writing samples of 7,500 students. Only a tenth of the 9-year-
olds, a third of the 13-year-olds and half the 17-year-olds could
organize ideas on paper. Most wrote random sentences. In 1975 the
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University of California reported that 75 percent of the State's best
high school graduates failed a nationally used English composition
test. They could not express themselves, choose the right word to com-
plete a thought, or organize their writing.
My own experience, based on the results of interviews I have con-
ducted of over 12,000 graduates from some 130 different colleges and
universities over the past 30 years, confirms that there is a serious
problem. Certain impressions emerge from these interviews. For ex-
ample, although a student's record may show that he has taken a
variety of courses with impressive titles, his basic knowledge of funda-
mentals has declined markedly in relation to his counterpart of 15
years ago. It is not uncommon for me to interview a recent graduate
from a "good" college who has received a masters degree in mathe-
matics but who is incapable of solving a 10th grade algebra problem.
I have interviewed students receiving a bachelors degree in electrical
engineering who do riot know the difference between alternating and
direct current. I could recite case after case, not only in engineering,
mathematics~ and science, but in history~ foreign language, economics
and other fields, where the students could not discuss even the funda-
mentals of their disciplines. Yet each of these students honestly be-
lieved that he had done well in school and had learned what was
expected of him.
This is a tragedy. To further emphasize the severity of the problem,
you should recognize that I only interview students with relatively
high standings in their schools.
The problem is not confined to the colleges. In the nuclear program,
I am also responsible for training enlisted personnel. Within the past
5 years, I have been compelled to incorporate a remedial "prenuclear
power school" because of the increasing attrition due to academic
failures. I now teach courses in the basics of mathematics, physics
and chemistry to enlisted students before they enter the nuclear power
school. Here again, remember that we only accept into the nuclear
program those enlisted men of the highest mental caliber. All must
have high school diplomas. You can appreciate the problem faced
by the rest of the Navy in attempting to train personnel of lesser
ability to handle the complex equipment now in use.
Outside of the nuclear program, the Navy, in my opinion, has fallen
prey to the siren of easy education. Today, for a number of reasons,
the Navy uses the so-called "self-pace" method of teaching. The
student can proceed at his own pace using programed lesson plans
with no meaningful checks along the way to determine how much he
has learned. When he thinks he has learned a given lesson he takes
a single test and then proceeds to the next lesson. Often the answers
*are supplied on the same page as the questions. After going through
the required number of lessons, lie then graduates himself and pro-
ceeds to a ship. To illustrate the absurdity of the situation, there are
examples where a foreign student, who could not read or write English,
~uccessfully passed the course. . .
Before we put too much blame on the Navy or think this is lust a
Navy problem, let me remind you that this method of teaching was
not devised by the Navy itself. The Navy sought "expert" advice from
recognized educators throughout the United States-educators who
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have been and are shaping the educational methods of our elementary
schools, high schools and colleges. These are the so-called experts.
Unfortunately, they never have to use the products of their efforts,
and I think even if they did, they could not recognize the difference.
If their system is a failure, they blame ethnic background, unhappy
homelife or poor motivation.
Only some of the elementary and secondary students will go on
to college, but nearly all will become voters. How well prepared are
they to exercise the rights, responsibilities and obligations of citizen-
ship?
The erosion of elementary and secondary education is undermining
our institutions of higher education. Faced with an increasing number
of freshmen who cannot write coherent sentences or handle simple
arithmetic, more and more colleges and universities are forced to offer
remedial courses. Many college professors state that students are not
as well prepared as they were a few years ago. What a waste it is for
universities to have to teach fundamentals that should have been
mastered earlier. They have, however, brought the problem on them-
selves. Instead of refusing admittance to unqualified students, they
continue to offer remedial courses in record numbers in order to main-
tain enrollment.
The effectiveness of such remedial courses remains a big question.
In the words of one English department head at a major university:
It is a breathtakingly difficult assignment to undo the failure of a lifetime
in one or two academic terms.
This statement contains a profound truth. The years of youth are
precious-a unique time when the mind is at its freshest and most
inquisitive. If it is dulled, it may never recover the sharp edge of
eagerness and enthusiasm.
Some parts of the education establishment seem to discount the
decline in test scores. Some educators have questioned whether the
national test score averages should be made available to the public.
Others assert that standardized tests are a violation of human and
civil rights and that they discriminate against minorities and poor
readers.
Did you hear that, Dr. Berry?
Di. BERRY. I heard it.
Admiral Rici~ovnji. Tests of this sort are not intended to measure
a student's value as a person, but to measure the extent of his knowl-
edge and the quality of his work. Parents have a right and a need to
know where their children stand academically. Similarly, the public
has a right and need to know how their schools and school districts
~tand in relation to the national and regional averages in relation to
previous test results. The abolition of tests or the failure to disclose
test scores would be a violation of these rights.
Unfortunately, the preponderance of data collected on education
is used to measure what resources we invest in our edu~ation system,
rather than what it has acomplished. Those statistics which purport
to measure our return on investment, do so primarily in quantitative
terms such as a number of desks filled or diplomas awarded. Stand-
ardized tests, while not perfect. are one of the few measures that can
give us some qualitative indication of what our children are learning
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and how well our schools are doing their job. Yet many educators
emphasize other statistics which have nothing to do with the quality
of education.
Grade inflation is a particularly pernicious result of declining
standards in education. The decline in academic skills shown by
achievement test scores is masked to a. large ext.ent by the fact that
students nationwide are receiving higher grades. At many colleges,
three quarters of the grades given are A's or B's. Grade inflation at
high school appears to be just as prevalent. The high school diploma
and the college degree have been cheapened to the point where often-
times they no longer stand for recognition of academic achievement.
This situation of "grade creep" has actually forced me to conduct
examinations of students that come from outstanding colleges. You
would be shocked, Mr. Chairman, to see the dispa.r~y between the
results of these examine tions and the official grade transcripts. We can
no longer rely on oflicial records from even the top 100 colleges in this
country. These schools are perpetrating a great fraud on the students
and on the public, by seldom failing anyone. Without a proper educa-
tion, these students are going to fail later on in life anyway. Better
that they find out the truth now, rather than in the cold harsh world,
where there are no inflated scores.
A tragic. example of grade inflation occurred here in Washington
last year. Despite a nearly straight A average, the valedictorian of
a. lii~h school foiled to meet the entrance requirements of a local uni-
versity. His college board examination scores were but half of what
the university expected. One official speculated that, since discipline
is such a major problem in the District schools," * * * a nice kid might
have his grades inflated. * * ~" In any event, the result could only have
been a crushing disappointment to the boy and his parents. They were
deluded into thinking he was getting a good education; they were
defrauded.
Can you imagine what that poor boy-who has been lauded through-
out his school career-thinks now of society and the people who al-
lowed him to be defrauded in this way?
I don't believe that the Office of Education has ever publicly
acknowledged the grade inflation phenomenon. Perhaps they are too
busy with the business of handing out grants. I wouldn't be surprised,
though, if someday they fund a million dollar study to determine why
that boy failed. I could tell them for free; so could the boy. I suggest
that his teachers be given the same kind of examination the boy had
to go through to find out how they would do. I think they would prob-
ably do worse. In fact, I think they would probably learn from him.
When a teacher says he. learns from his students-it is probably true.
Any teacher who says that probably does learn from his students.
In another case, a Long Island, N.Y., high school graduate brought
suit against the school system for "educational malpractice." He al-
leged he w-as not taught enough reading and writing to get and hold a
decent job. In evidence was his high school transcript, showing that
he was promoted from grade to grade, despite a consistent record of
failing marks. For example, he wAs admitted to senior English with-
out ever having passed either sophomore or junior English. I'm sure
you remember the famous case of the high school student who couldn't
read his diploma.
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Much has been written about grade inflation, but it is an effect rather
than a cause. It is the inevitable result of restructuring courses and
methods of teaching to demand less work on the part of the students.
Where demands are low, students get higher grades than they earn.
When I interview a candidate who does not seem to know much
about the subjects he has studied, I frequently find he is the product
of an educational process which contains few comprehensive lesson
plans detailing on a day-to-day basis, what the student must read or
learn; where lie is given a general outline of the entire course and
told to proceed at will; where the few tests given cover but broad
aspects of the material; or where grades are primarily based on
student participation in class.
There will always be those few students who, for whatever reason,
will excel and will, on their own, master the subject. They do this
in spite of the system rather than because of it. In many cases, the
teacher is more an umpire than a teacher; he is not required nor ex-
pected to know much. In due deference to Dr. Berry, I use "he" in its
generic sense, because there isn't time to use the term "lie or she." I
think of "he". as a member of the human race and I hope no Ms. in
this room is offended by that generalization.
Dr. BERRY. There are more "she's" than "he's."
Admiral RICKOvER. Yes; there are more "she's" than "lie's" ap-
parently, there are not as many attractive women as there are men,
because there are many more unmarried women than there are un-
married men.
[Laughter.]
Senator PELL. Women live longer than men.
Admiral RICKOVER. Sir?
Senator PELL. Women live longer-that's why we have more of
them, which helps account for that.
Admiral RICKOVER. They do this in spite. of the system rather than
because of it.
[Laughter.]
Senator PELL. All right.
Admiral RICKOVER. In many cases, the teacher is more an umpire
than a teacher. He is not required nor expected to know much. As
long as he can "relate" to the students, he is doing his job. From all
of this evolves grade inflation. But the problem is more fundamental.
The student has not learned, but has been led to believe that he has
mastered the course because he has done what the system calls for.
He is happy; the teacher is happy; the school is happy; the parents
are happy. Only society is unhappy.
Parents and students must accept the unpleasant fact that today's
awards and diplomas do not necessarily imply academic achievement.
Grade inflation, far from helping students, robs them of a proper
education; too late, they discover how little they really learned. Ac-
cepting a diploma without an education makes no more sense than
getting vaccinated and not finding out if the vaccination took. A
person who believes he is safely vaccinated, but is not, is a danger to
himself and to others.
In an address to the Washington area~ graduating classes of 1977,
the Rev. Jesse Jackson made a similar point. He cautioned that
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accepting a diploma without an education makes no more sense than
paying for a shopping cart full of groceries and leaving the store
with just the receipt. If our educational system is to be improved,
parents and students must view education as the pursuit of knowl-
edge and the development of essential skills such as reading, writing,
and the ability to reason-not simply the pursuit of grades and
diplomas.
The problem of functional illiteracy is growing at a time when
technology demands special care. Recent Navy experience illustrates
this problem. The Chief of Naval Personnel recently disclosed that
we are having trouble finding recruits who read well enough to do
their job. He cited the example of a sailor who, because he could
not read instructions, caused $250,000 in damage to a diesel engine
by attempting to make repairs based solely on illustrations in the
manual. As a result of the increasing number of high school grad-
uates who cannot read adequately, the Navy now requires many of
its recruits to enroll in a 6-week remedial course aimed at raising
their reading ability to the sixth grade leveL
Senator PELL. I believe that in order to give adequate time
Admiral RloKovrjt. Sir?
Senator PELL. In order to give adequate time to hea.r Dr. Berry
and then go on to some various questions, I hope we might be able
to digest the remaining two-thirds of your statement.
Admiral RICK0vER. Sir, I would like to digest my statement, but
I'm afraid I would have diarrhea if I did. [Laughter.~f There are other
indications of the severity of the reading problem. This year saw the
publication of a new magazine aimed specifically at junior high school
students who are able to read only at the. second grade level.
In answer to your question, Mr. Chairman, I have devoted a great
deal of time to the preparation of this statement and I believe I
have a message that should be of value, not only to your committee,
but to anyone else in this country who is interested in education,
so I would hope you would pardon me, sir, for continuing with my
statement. But I will shorten it where I can.
The publisher established a subscription goal of 350,000 for the
new magazine. He already has in circulation a magazine geared to
high school students who read at the fourth to sixth grade level.
Parents share in the responsibility for inadequacies in our chil-
dren's academic skill. They do not spend enough time with their
child nor show sufficient interest in his school work. Further, many
parents have come to distrust their own ability to gauge whether
their children are receiving a proper education. Confronted by a
strange educational program and unfamiliar jargon, many have
come to believe that only professional educators can judge how well
a child is doing in school.
Other parents subscribe to the belief, common in our wealthy
society, that any problem can be solved if only enough money is
spent, yet the~ amount spent throughout the. Nation for ~irimary
and secondary schools between 1960 and 1973 went up by 199 per-
cent. Consequently, our educational system is replete with monu-
ments of this philosophy of "money cures all" elaborate school
buildings; instructional media, for which we pay three times as
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much as for textbooks; and calculators for children who do not
even know arithmetic. But, the education of our youth is something
that requires personal dedication and a substantial investment of
time, not just. money.
Television has contributed greatly to the decline in the reading
and writing skills of the child. Studies have shown that high school
seniors have spent more of their lives in front of television than
inside the classroom. Parents are derelict in allowing their children
to become slaves of television. They watch television along with
their children and thereby give parental approbation to the values
that television transmits. Worse, some parents use television as an
electronic babysitter.
The television set is definitely inferior to the book as a means
of education. `Watching is passive; reading is active. Television is
nonstop, giving the viewer no time to think; he is rushed from one
scene to the next~. A book allows a person to stop, reflect, to turn back
to a remembered passage-months or even years after the first' read-
ing. A `book can encourage imagination and independent thought.
Television, however, frequently leaves children with a false image
of the real world. Television `is conditioning them to think that any
problem can be resolved in a half-hour; or if difficult, perhaps an
hour. It tends to shorten the attention spans of children, making the
hard work of learning appea.r even more tedious when compared with
the entertainment-oriented television. It fails to develop critical
and analytical thought-qualities which we have prized throughout
our history. Its primary purpose appears to be to make consumers of
grownups and children.
By the way, Mr. Chairma.n, I thought you might ask me what I
would do as an immediate step to improve this education of our chil-
dren.
Senator PELL. I will ask you after you have finished your testimony
and then Dr. Berry finishes hers.
Admiral RICKOVER. Yes, sir.
Senator PELL. She will have equal time.
Admiral RIOKOvER. Changes in society have played a part in the
deterioration of the quality of education. But I believe the primary
blame for the decline rests squarely on the educational establishment.
Many educators would have us believe that the. schools themselves
have played no part in the decline of student ability. Self-deception is
particularly rife in educational research.
In 1965, the Coleman report, typical of many similar studies fi-
nanced by the U.S. Office of Education, came to the startling conclu-
sion that the socioeconomic status of a child's classmates was a more
profound influence on his achievement than his teacher. This conclu-
sion was astonishing because the offspring of countless uneducated
immigrants today occupy leading positions in business, the profes-
sions, public life, and the arts. Yet., influential educators, intellectuals,
journalists, legislators, administrators, and judges quickly and un-
critically accepted this hypothesis.
Coleman's finding became the rationale for many efforts to require
more racially balanced schools, and resulted in vast expenditures of
PAGENO="0014"
10
public funds, political and racial arguments, and dislocations in school
systems. Later investigation showed the data to have been misinter-
preted and incorrectly evaluated. After years of support for and
identification with the policy of mandatory racial balance as an edu-
cational goal, Coleman, in 1975, subsequent to criticism of his thesis,
changed his position. He not only dissociated himself from the legal
and political decisions engendered by his report, but admitted that
schools did, perhaps, make a difference in the achievement of children.
Left to their own designs, educators, in the name of innovation,
have made it possible for many students to avoid courses that would
provide a solid grounding in the basic academic subjects of reading,
writing, and mathematics. Studies have documented declines in enroll-
ment in basic academic courses. In some cases, courses in basic skills
have been supplanted by electives or extracurricular activity. In
others, the total number of instructional hours per school year has
declined.
In an effort to instill more relevance in education, many schools
have invested substantial resources in programs which seem directed
more toward providing amusement than toward developing children's
ability to sort facts and make intelligent decisions. Couched in the
unintelligible jargon of systems analysis and other pseudosciences,
these programs place a high priority on freedom of choice in course
selection without first insuring that the choices are structured to meet
academic needs.
Much experimentation has focused on ways to give the student
greater opportunity for "creativity." The ends to which this policy is
taken are absurd. One school superintendent forbade the use of coloring
books on the grounds that they force pupils to confine their artistic
efforts within fixed lines. Another superintendent of a big city school
system felt that since children were allowed to be creative at home, they
should be allowed to be creative at school. The resultant milling around
of children in the schools led to chaos. This was a predictable result,
since most children are not competent to decide what is in their own
best interest or how much creative freedom they should enjoy.
This drift in educational thinking strikes at the very basis and fabric
of society. Schools are fostering attitudes in students that ill prepare
them for the harsh realities of the world. Take the idea that learning
must be easy and preferably entertaining. This idea is cruel to the child
and dangerous to society, for children grow up believing that they need
not struggle to excel.
The Germans have a good word to express ediication-"geschun-
den"-used in the same sense as beating a horse. This applies to the
education of young children. You can't let them along. In a way, they
are still like little animals who have to be trained. Every mother knows
that children need firm guidance, but the educationists don't seem to
grasp t.his fact.
In the attempt to make learning fun, and I believe to make them-
selves popular, many teachers and administrators have deemphasized
discipline. thought, and work habits, and stressed creativity, individ-
uality, and "feeling," to the detriment of academic achievement. What
this means in teaching English, for example, is the turning away from
PAGENO="0015"
11
serious reading and closely reasoned writing. Students, especially at
the high school level, are led to believe that oral and written expression
need no real effort. Feelings are often placed ahead of language as the
primary tool of expression. In consequence, students are cheated; they
do not face the difficulties inherent in good writing, and do not develop
the ability to write well. This approach may free instructors from
tedious grading of papers and themes, however, it does not develop the
necessary skills. After all, good writing is as difficult as dragging a
heavy load of stone on a hot day under a low bridge.
One of the truths of life is that if you want to influence others, it is
not enough to know a subiect; you must also be able to express what
you know. This is what makes the ability to write clearly a most valu-
able skill. But many students simply do not value writing skill in a
world that is predominantly technical. Teachers who hold gram-
matical achievement in small esteem reinforce this notion.
The "learning is easy" movement has also affected mathematics. In
the late 1950's, "new math" was hailed as a revolutionary new method
of teaching a subject that generations of children had found "distaste-
ful" or "not fun." By abolishing the systematic progression from
arithmetic through algebra and geometry, new math was supposed to
make it easy for children to understand and enjoy mathematics. The
results were predictable. The money spent in training teachers in the
new math and rewriting textbooks was largely wasted. Millions of
young Americans have learned something of sets, variables, and binary
operations. But many have failed to learn the arithmetic needed to
balance checkbooks or figure income taxes, and most have a poor
foundation from which to move to higher mathematics, physics, and
engineering.
There is a passage. in the Talmud that reads: "The world is upheld
by children who study." Learning can be interesting, rewarding, and
exciting, but it requires effort. It is work! No learning takes place,
just as no ditch gets dug, without work. Mental sweat is required of
the student who would acquire the skills, concepts, and information
necessary to master a course. Preaching the doctrine that learning
should be easy implies that society has an obligation to make life easy,
and promotes an already far too prevalent attitude against work. If
our goal is to entertain our children, we can do so far more cheaply
than by sending them to schools. Playgrounds would suffice.
Despite growing disenchantment by many parents, teachers, and
students with undisciplined learning and experimentation, these pro-
grams continue to receive strong support from educational leaders.
The new head of the U.S. Office of Education recently spoke of alter-
native educational approaches for high school students, contending
that children today "are more sophisticated." He attributed their ear-
lier maturation to television and other factors. From my experience,
many of today's students are academically immature and unsophis-
ticated.
"Alternative educational approaches," as they are called, should not
detract from a school's primary mission of educating students in the
basic skills. The following teacher's note on a report card, as it ap-
peared in the Georgia Education Digest, best expresses this point:
"Alvin excels in initiative, group integration, responsiveness, and ac-
tivity participation. Now, if he would only learn to read and write."
PAGENO="0016"
12
Teachers share in the blame for the condition of our schools today.
If students had no teaching machines or visual aids, no buildings,
counselors or administrators, they would still learn if they had com-
petent teachers. As a group, today's graduates destined for teaching
positions do not possess a solid academic background. Some education-
ists hold the fallacious belief that expertise in classroom management
can supplant knowledge. While classroom management, discipline, and
presentation are important, they are no substitute for competence in
the subject being taught. In Europe, teachers are required to know
the subject matter. Those teaching above the elementary level have
advanced degrees in their field. But, in this country, teachers are often
not required to have a mastery of a subject they teach.
What many States consider as important qualifications are the num-
ber of education courses in teaching techniques-not competence or
skill in subject matter. Restrictive State laws promote this view. In
tod~iy~s climate, a smart prospective teacher will avoid an advanced
degree because the higher salary it commands makes it more difficult
to get a job.
One publisher of science materials for junior and senior high schools
touted his product as follows:
"And it does not require specific subject background on the part of
the Earth science teacher." In other words, the teacher does not need
to know much Earth science in order to use these teaching materials.
But, this problem is more widespread: foreign languages are taught
in many high schools by those not fluent in them; geometry and algebra
j~y those who know little mathematics. Most English teachers are
literature majors who resent teaching writing skills or who are ufl-
qualified to teach them.
Studies have shown that, on the average prospective teachers ex-
hibit the lowest academic ability of any major group in higher educa-
tion. One study revealed the startling fact that, in terms of high school
ačademic performance, teachers ranked above only one other group-
that composed of students who dropped out of college with failing
marks. This conclusion is supported by the Educational Testing Serv-
ice which found that those taking the Graduate Record Exarninati~n
in the field of education consistently made lower scores than those in
any other field.
Low ability, combined with second-rate training, means that many
students finishing teacher education programs are not competent to
teach. For instance, one Florida county, in l976~ found that one-third
of the applicants for teaching jobs failed an eighth grade level general
knowledge test. Confronted with such evidence, the State's Board of
Regents decided to require professional competency tests before a
prospective teacher can graduate from a State university.
When unqualified people are admitted to the teaching ranks, their
incompetency either goes unnoticed because of~ inadequate teacher
performance measures. or, once discovered, the incompetent teacher
is protected from removal by tenure. Today the laws are so restrictive
in most States that superintendents and school boards seldom even try
to dismiss incompetents. In a 23-year period, Cleveland. Ohio's, largest
school system managed to dismiss only one tenured teacher. Over a
2-year period ending in March 1975. there were only 14 tenured teach-
ers dismissed in the entire State of California.
PAGENO="0017"
13
A rare exception occurred in April of this year when the school
board in Goochland County, Va. fired an elementary school teacher
on grounds of incompetence because of her atrocious grammar. The
teacher, a veteran of 12 years in the Goochiand school system, was
dismissed after a parent complained about the grammar in a third-
and fourth-grade social studies guide the teacher had prepared for
her students.
Among the questions the teacher had prepared were these, repro-
duced verbatim: "What did the sculpture told the archeologists?"
"Why did the Maya sailed to other ports?" "How many names did
each Maya had ?" "The grammar was atrocious," the school superin-
tendent said: "I would just assume a college graduate wouldn't have
this sort of weakness."
With that comment, the superintendent hit upon the fundamental
weakness in our approach to education in this country. We have all
assumed that the $120 billion we spent in 1975 and all sums before
it is resulting in well-educated children.
To attract intelligent teachers, schools need to make teaching pro-
fessional. Although many teachers are incompetent and probably paid
more than they deserve, teachers' pay in general is not sufficiently
high to attract topflight people to the profession. Labor agreements
between school districts and teachers effectively rule out remuneration
based on merit.. Extra stipends are payable for coaching or extra-
curricular activities but not for classroom performance. Ideally, there
should be a merit pay system or other means of recognizing excellence
in teaching. The reward of watching young minds develop is not
always enough to sustain lifetime dedication to teaching.
Pay, however, does not guarantee performance.
In the Federal Government and in private industry, there are many
examples of people who, although well paid, do not perform to their
capacity. However, parents can encourage schools to provide condi-
tions more conducive to professional teaching. For example, at the
high school level, because the teacher himself must handle large
amounts of the clerical and administrative workload, there are great
pressures on teachers to simplify tests and grading, minimize assign-
ments, and avoid written work. It is not surprising in these circum-
stances that true and false examinations or multiple choice tests tend
to replace the written assignments so essential to the development of
writing and reasoning skills. How many teachers are willing to devise
comprehensive tests and assigi~ments when the.y must draft., type, and
reproduce then-i essentially on their own time? The availability of
administrative and clerical support for teachers would probably en-
hance the quality `of education a.nd teacher morale than the investment
of equivalent, funds in teacher salaries.
On-the-job evaluation and training of teachers by experienced and
competent supervisors is needed to rid our system of bad teaching.
School teachers are among the most unsupervised workers in society.
Many administrators never truly evaluate the teacher's performance
on the job. The notion of academic freedom-of doutbful applicability
to a high school-combined with the protection of tenure agree-
ments, often results in each teacher determining on his own what
subject matter should be taught and how it should be presented. My
95-038 0 - 77 - 2
PAGENO="0018"
14
experience has been that in any successful endeavor, those in charge
must involve themselves in the details of day-to-day operations. I
remember how a president of a California State university stood up
and involved himself in day-to-day operations during the student
unrest in the late 1960's.
Whom do you think I am talking about, Mr. Chairman? By the
way, he didn't use semantics on them, either. [Laughter.]
Senator HAYAKAWA. Oh, yes, I did. [Laughter.]
Admiral RICKOVER. The training of subordinates is one of the most
important functions a person in charge must perform. In many
schools, training of teachers consists only of granting them time off
to attend conventions and symposia and requiring that they period-
ically take college courses in subjects of interest to them. Even in
schools where adequate training and supervision exists, an incompetent
or uninterested teacher is so difficult to fire that administrators
frequently do not make the effort.
Academic programs must be better insulated from the unhealthy
side effects of athletic programs and extracurricular activities. Even
with the present surplus of teachers, the qualification to coach an
athletic team frequently outweighs academic qualifications in filling
teacher vacancies. Coaches or potential coaches, who may not be as
well qualified academically as other applicants, are often selected to
fill vacancies in such areas as social studies, mathematics, science, and
English. In one Virginia county, for example, staff reductions are
based on strict seniority with the most junior persons transferre.d
first. Principals may exempt athletic coaches and sponsors of certain
extracurricular activities from the practice, but excellence in the class-
room is not a basis for exemption. If communities desire better edu-
cation for their youth, academic consideration must be given prece-
dence over athletics and extracurricular activities. Good teachers are
essential to good education.
Over 2,300 years ago, Plato said:
I maintain that every one of us should seek out the best teacher he can find,
first for ourselves, and then for the youth, regardless of expense or anything.
This is good advice today.
* In this country, neither the names of educational insttutmflS, nor
their curricula, their diplomas, or degrees represent a definitive and
known standard of intellectual accomplishment. There are a number
of standardized achievement tests that show the relative standing of
students and schools against national norms, but not how much a child
knows in an absolute sense. It is small consolation to learn that you
know more than your contemporaries about swimming if none of you
can swim.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress, a government-
funded organization~ is now testing how much students actually know
of various subjects and at various ~rade levels. But these tests are con-
ducted on a statistical sampling basis and not given to all students.
Moreover, no one has attempted to define how much a child should
know at certain stages of his academic career.
Historically, powerful lobbying organizations and unions-such as
the National Education Association the American Association of
School Administrators, and the American Federation of Teachers-
PAGENO="0019"
15
have fought against efforts to measure the performance of teachers and
school systems. They prefer the present system in which it is impos-
sible to pinpoint responsibility.
By far, the most important deficiency of our educational system is
the absence of a professional tradition of self-correction. The scien-
tist has to provide the results of his work to colleagues. The mark of
any developed profession is the practice of correcting mistakes. But
the educational establishment has no means to perform this function.
The Office of Education will not do the job. One hundred and ten
years ago, Congress created the Department of Education and charged
it with broad responsibilities, including:
Collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress
of education in the several States and territories, diffusing such information
respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems,
and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the
establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote
the cause of education throughout the country.
Yet, in more than 100 years of existence, the Department of Educa-
tion-now the Office of Education-has failed to come to grips with
the need for proper accountability within the educational establish-
ment. In my opinion, the National Education Association and other
professional educators wield so much influence in the Office of Educa-
tion that it is unable to act objectively and in the public interest. The
burden thus falls on Congress and on this committee to act.
I recommend, Mr. Chairman, that you and perhaps your counter-
part in the House of Representatives appoint a panel of nationally
prominent persons in representative walks of life to develop national
scholastic standards.
The standards should consist of specific, minimum competancy re-
quirements for various levels-second grade, fourth grade, sixth grade,
and so on. In addition, there should be a formal system of tests to show
not only the relative standing of students and schools against national
norms but also whether students meet the minimum competency re-
quirements. This would provide a yardstick to measure academic per-
formance-a means of assessing achievement of individual students,
effectiveness of teachers, and overall academic attainment of schools.
Summaries of test results by school, district, and State would enable
parents and educators to measure where their schools stand relative
t.o the national standards and to other schools in the country. For the
first time, parents would have a means to hold teachers and schools
accountable for the quality of their work.
The States should be urged to adopt these standards and administer
examinations. However, if local authorities do not provide the service,
parents should be able to have their children tested against the na-
tional standards at Government expense.
Nothing in this proposal would violate the constitutional separation
of powers between Federal and State governments, nor counter our
tradition of local and State control of schools. I envisage the render-
ing of a service, not regulation in any way, shape, or manner.
The creation of national scholastic standards is the minimum step
we must take. Lord Kelvin said:
When you can measure what you are speaking about * * * you know some-
thing about it; but when you cannot measure it, * * * your knowledge is of a
meager and unsatisfactory kind.
PAGENO="0020"
16
The need for national scholastic standards has been recognized by
some national leaders. For example, in 1963, President Kennedy be-
came interested in this proposal and asked for my recommendations.
I-Ic sent my proposal to the Commissioner of Education for study by
the Umvei'sity of Chicago and the Carnegie Foundation. The Presi-
dent kept me informed of their progress. This effort ended with his
untimely death. President Nixon. in his education message of March 3,
1970, also urged national standards as a means of measuring the effec-
tiveness Qf schools. Yet today we are no closer to having these
standards.
The American public is becoming aware that our educational system
needs correction. A poli taken in 1976 shows that, by a margin of
2 to 1, Americans are of the opinion that all students should be re-
qmred to pass ~i standard nationwide examination to qualify for a
high school diploma. A few States have made preliminary attempts
to set records. However, these efforts cannot substitute for national
standards.
Our States and Congress have been most generous in providing
funds for the educ.ation of our children. Our per capita expenditure
for education is greater than that. of any other country in the world.
But neither the States nor Congress has exercised adequate oversight
of how the money has been spent.
The impetus must come from Congress to see that national stand-
ards are set. Congress cannot rely on the Office of Education. If Con-
gress lives up to its responsibility and sees that standards are set, I
believe the public will demand their adoption by the education
community.
We would be wise to heed the words of Aristotle who said that the
chief concern of the lawgiver must be the education of the young.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This completes my statement.
Senator PELL. Thank you, Admiral Rickover, for the excellent and
strong and provocative statement. I must say that the legislation
Senator Cooper and I introduced in 1969, if my colleagues in the
Congress had a.pproved of it, would have done very much what you
said. It would have provided at least the option of a standard exam-
ination for all high school graduates, not a mandatory one for get.tng
a degree. But even that preliminary step I was unable to get through.
All that we could get through was councils set up at the national and
State level to improve the quality of education. These were never
implemented.
So I have been down this road with you and am disappointed at my
lack of success.
Admiral RICK0vER. So am I, sir.
I appreciate what you have done.
Senator PELL. I thought probably we would let Dr. Berry make her
statement first. Then we could talk to both witnesses, Senator Haya-
kawa, unless you have a statement you would like to make at this
time.
Senator HAYAKAWA. I would like to hear our next witness.
Senator PELL. All right.
Dr. Berry, would you proceed?
PAGENO="0021"
17
Dr. BERRY. All right.
Senator PELL. If I may add how delighted I am to have Dr. Berry,
who is the top Federal official responsible for education, the Assistant
Secretary of Education, who has beeii willing to come on the firing
line in this very sensitive subject, I hope that people in responsible
positions such as hers will continue to be on the firing line this way.
She is the former chancellor of the University of Colorado and for-
mer provost of behavioral and social sciences at the University of
Maryland. I am indeed happy to welcome her here and look forward
to hearing her proceed.
STATEMENT OF DR. MARY BERRY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR
EDUCATION, EDUCATION DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH,
EDUCATION, A~D WELFARE
Dr. BERRY. Thank you, Senator Pell and Senator Hayakawa.
It is a pleasure to appear before this subcommittee to discuss Ad-
miral Rickover's proposal-and you were quite correct, I am on the
firing line, as it turns out.
We share Admiral Rickover's concern about the quality of educa-
tion, and we are grateful for his efforts in the past and we know that
now-
Senator PELL. Excuse me. Can you hear in the back of the room?
[A chorus of noes.]
Senator PELL. Could you move the microphone a little closer?
OK. Thank you.
Dr. BERRY. I'll start over.
You were right, indeed. I am on the firing line.
I am pleased to appear before the subcommittee to discuss Admiral
Rickover's proposal. This hearing can be taken as a tribute to him and
the many years in which he has contributed to the national concern
for the quality of education. Increased public awareness of this central
issue is in part due to his efforts.
The Department and I are as concerned about the quality of educa-
tion as Admiral Rickover, and we are open to new ways of pui~uing
his goal of raising the intellectual level of every child in the country.
We will consider the specific proposals that he made today, as we
continue discussions in the Department on the means of improving
the quality of education for all children.
In the interest of time, I will not actually read my statement, but
I will simply address some of the points that he made, so that we
might have time, therefore, to-
Senator PELL. Then I will ask your permission and my colleagues'
permission to put your statement in full in the record. I have had a
chance to go over it. I think it is a fine statement, and it should be
included in full.
`Without objection, it will be incorporated into the record at the
conclusion of your testimony.
Dr. BERRY. Thank you.
First of all, we share the goal of achieving quality in education,
and in fact, I agree with most of the statement made by Admiral Rick-
over as he described the problems that exist in education today in the
country.
PAGENO="0022"
18
But there are problems when you try to reach solutions. First I
want to talk about what the problems are, and then I want to suggest
some things that we might be able to do to remedy them.
Everyone in the country wants better education. The principal
question is, what is better. We do not, in my opinion, have a national
consensus on what exactly every child in the country ought to learn
in every school system.
We might be able to do that in some areas where there is con-
sensus-for example on the need for reading and mathematics. But
there are a lot of other areas where different school systems teach
different things, by virtue of choices made in the community. The high
school curriculum in this country, for example, is diverse and special-
ized. So I do not think that in every area, even if we conceded to
the validity of examinations and tests, that we would be able to reach
a consensus about just exactly what it is that we should test to make
education better.
Second, I don't think there is any lack of enthusiasm or initiative
for educational reform in the country at this time. All wisdom, of
course, does not flow from the Federal Government or the Education
Division or even the Office of Education.
Educational reform is alive and well in all the States in this country,
as evidenced by the great interest that is being taken in it, and as
evidenced by the movement toward competency examinations that
you described at the outset, Senator Pell. So, we don't need to worry.
indeed, about citizens being concerned about this issue and taking
steps in their local communities to work with this issue.
I do believe that while there may be no constitutional issue raised
by the imposition of national standards on an optional basis, Admiral
Rickover's proposal may run counter to the notion of local control
and local agreement about what ought to be offered and about the
tests which ought to be made and the standards that ought to be
upheld in the local schools. Since the States are taking the problem
seriously. I am not sure that we ought at this time, to interfere.
The other point is that I am not sure that a system of national
examinations would encourage students to aspire to work harder or
make better grades. I'm not sure about that. It may be true for some
students. It may be true that, for example, the Office of Education's
Presidential scholars program which was instituted in 1964, is an
incentive for some students to work harder, so that they can be selected
for this program, which is an honor for them. But I am not sure that
it works for all students. Some students come from a culture that
makes them not interested in diplomas, just for the sake of diplomas,
or just because there are paper credentials that indicate that they have
somehow met a high standard. They may need a different kind of
motivation-for example, a lob might be a better motivation than a
certain kind of a diploma. I don't know what the answers are in this
situation, but I do know that there is a difference of opinion among
scholars about what, in fact, does motivate students.
The other point is that, certainly~ university admissions officers and
employers need to know which students are qualified. Testing may be
one way to tell whether they are qualified when they go into the job
market or go to the university. But qualifications do depend on a num-
PAGENO="0023"
19
ber of items and it is generally conceded or admitted by scholars who
work in this area, that test scores are not the only way to measure the
quaFfications of an individual. Tests are under general, attack by
scholars and researchers as the admiral conceded in his testimony.
If we could determine what the qualifications were in all cases, I
would be the first to recommend that we all insist that everyone at
least attempt to meet those standards and those qualifications. NIE,
the National Institute of Education, has a research program under
way at the present time to develop better methods of assessing stu-
dents and determining standards. We are not sure what we are test-
ing in all cases, and I think we would have to be sure before we were
to set up a national standard, which by virtue of its very existence,
would lead people to believe that there was validity, great validity
toit.
It is said that national examinations would tell lay people whether
their schools were `doing a good job or not. But there you have the
problem of validity again. Even if the tests were valid, the ability
of schools to influence what happens to students, depends on a number
of factors. One may be the ability of the students who enter the school.
A school that has very high standards and does a good job, may
have some very low ability or mediocre students who enter it, and in
spite of all the school does, they may end up making lower scores.
This does not necessarily mean that there is a fault with the teachers.
It also depends on the goal of the school-what is the particular school
trying to do; different schools may have different goals.
I am not saying that it is impossible to use test scores to evaluate
schools-I am just saying that these factors would have to be taken
into account if one were to head in this direction.
On the point of telling lay people about the condition of education
in the country, I think we do that already. We tell them, through the
national assessments, run by the National Center for Education Sta-
tistics, as the admiral pointed out. The national assessment tells people
about the condition of education in the country. They do this in a way
that is not regarded as intrusive by people in the States, because it
tells us what our young people know about certain coping skills, with-
out certifying local schools or without assessing or evaluating what-
ever it is that local people ought to be doing in their schools. It is true
that the national assessment uses a statistical sample. If the Appro-
priations Committee loved the National Center for Education statistics
as much as the Authorizing Committee does, we might have more
funding available and I'm sure we would be happy to test every per-
son in the country instead of using a statistical sample. But the na-
tional assessment's sample has been scientifically drawn. We think
that its results are accurate and that it does do a fine job in terms of
reporting on the knowledge possessed by persons at this time.
Another measure, of course, is to compare what we do in this
country-and the knowledge that is possessed by people who graduate
from our schools-with what goes on in other countries in the world.
The Department has funded a number of surveys in the last few
years comparing the achievement of students in this country with
other countries. The general conclusion that is reached from these
surveys is that when groups are basically alike in age, grade, and
PAGENO="0024"
20
representativeness of their respective popu'ations, there is with few
exceptions very little difference in performance between students of
one developed country and another. Included in that group of coun-
tries are some where they were very selective in terms of who goes
on to secondary school, for example, and other countries where they
were nonselective as we are. But there were no widespread and im-
portant differences, that were found in this particular survey.
Currently, the National Institute of Education is contributing to
the cost of planning a new survey in mathematics.
Now, all of this may seem to you, not to comport with the reality
of the concern about declining test scores and the state of education
in the country and may sound to you, like a defense of what presently
exists, but it is not. It is simply pointing out that if we are to move
to a proposal of this sort-and we will continue to examine it in the
Department-that we have to take care that whatever standards we
set are standards about which we can have agreement, and that we
will know what we are testing.
Now, how do we reach that position?
I think that we should find ways, through research and evaluation
and development, to determine what tests are supposed to tell us and
how we should go about using them. I think, for example, that it is
shocking that in the Federal Government, we spend about $10.8
billion on educational programs and only about one-half of 1 percent
of that amount for research and development. Since I have been in
Washington, everyone here, even people who run the programs, tell
me we are not really sure whether the programs do what they are
supposed to do or whether they are in fact helping education when
the evidence of decline is all around us. I think that we should con-
tinue the programs, but we ought to be willing to invest more money
in research and evaluation and then to disseminate the results of the
research in a way that they can be helpful to the people who must
rńn the schools.
I think we ought also to encourage the States in their efforts to find
ways to test competency. We ought to give them advice, technical
assistance-help them, encourage them-but we must remember that
they do have a responsibility to the great diversity of students in the
school population, and that they must find ways to effectively teach all
individuals. It would not be enough to simply fail people on corn-
pčtency tests or not give them a diploma and kick them out into the
streets. That would be a failure of responsibility on the educator's
part; it is their responsibilities to teach those who need teaching. We
ought to encourage them in that job.
We should recognize that a major problem for teachers is not know-
ing how to cope with those populations that they are teaching now.
Some of these populations, 50 or 100 years ago, would not have been
in school. Teachers need help in figuring out how to teach such groups.
I do most certainly a~rree that to have a student accept a diploma
without an education is futile, useless, and self-defeating. We ought to
do something about it.
What we can do is to develop more knowledge and information,
disseminate this information and eive more help to those people in the
States, who are concerned about the issue.
PAGENO="0025"
21
So, we are concerned; we worry about the quality of education. I am
concerned. We will evaluate the Admiral's proposal as well as others
as we go along, but I did want to raise these caveats as we pursue the
discussion.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Senator PELL. Madam, thank you very much, indeed.
I have several questions that I want to ask and I will then turn to
my colleague. Then I'll come back to more of my own questions.
First, addressing Admiral Rickover, what would be your recom-
mendation in regard to television? How should we handle this
problem?
I agree with you that it is the opiate of the masses.
Admiral RICKOvER. Well, I will discuss it primarily from the stand-
point of the education of children, because children are the most
valuable asset we have.
If I were a parent, I would take a hammer in my right hand, or if
I was left-handed, I would take the hammer in my left hand, and
swing at the television tube and hit it. That would be the best thing
we could do for the education of American children.
Dr. BERRY. I would not agree with that. [Laughter.]
Admiral IRIcK0vER. I'm sure you wouldn't. [Laughter.]
Dr. BERRY. I happened to be present at a meeting with the "Presi-
dential Scholars" who are the gifted and talented kids that I just
talked about. We were at the White House and the President made
a statement to them, which was one of the most eloquent statements I
have heard, on the subject of television, when he was asked the
same question that you have just asked.
His response-and I agree with his response-not because he is the
President, but because of what he said-which is that television has
been a great learning tool. It has brought a kind of culture and
civilization-albeit popular culture, to people in places where they
would never have known about the realities of some of the things
that exist in the world, if there had been no television.
The problem with television is its use in promoting educational
values. So I would think that we~ need to work on changing
approaches in programing and finding ways to use television as a
tool to educate people, as opposed to getting rid of it.
Senator PELL. Dr. Berry I agree with you that television could
be used from some good program the way it is used in foreign and
European countries.
But, do you think, on balance, that television, as it presently is,
with its present mix of programs, commercials and recommendations
to smoke or drink or whatever, may be-do you think that the
American people have gained more from television as it is today or
lost more
Dr. BERRY. In terms of the way it is today, I would think, on
balance, we have probably gained more.
That does not mean that we do not need reform-and I certainly
would support funding different programing approaches to be used
for an educational purpose.
But take for -example-depending on what side of the issue you
are on-and I know you are on the right side-the whole civil rights
PAGENO="0026"
22
movement. Television brought the people a view of something that
they would not have seen otherwise, and contributed greatly to the
development of a great social reform movement in this country.
In terms of building awareness among people, I think overall in the
last 20 years, there have been gains. However, those social gains have
to be balanced against most of what is on television, which is not
educational and which seems to me. to be valueless in terms of edu-
cating people. I would think, therefore, we would need to reform
that.
Senator PELL. Of course, before the Civil War, 110 years ago, they
fought about the cause of civil rights without the benefit of television
and radio.
Now, I would like to return to a statistic of Admiral Rickover's
when he mentioned that the quality of teachers as a group was less
than that of any other group, except those who dropped out of col-
lege, will you give me a citation for that?
Admiral RIcK0vEE. Yes, sir.
You will find it in Koerner's book.
Senator PELL. Whose book?
Admiral RICK0vER. Dr. Koerner. I will get the exact `title for you,
Mr. Chairman. [The title of the book is "The Miseducation of Ameri-
can Teachers," by James D. Koerner.]
Senator PELL. All right.
Admiral RICKOVER. May I comment further on television?
Senator PELL. Sure.
Admiral RICKOVER. Dr. Berry was talking about the efficacy of tele-
vision in a political content-about civil rights.
I understood that the question you asked me was about television
as it pertains to the education of our children. I restriced my answer
to this Specific area.
Television programing is determined `too much by profit to serve
as a useful educational tool. Although television occasionally includes
something of use to the children, its overall impact is detrimental to
their education.
Mr. Chairman, I am saddened by Dr. Berry's testimony. I have
great respect for Dr. Berry and I'm sure she has good intentions. But
*to paraphrase a well-known passage in the Bible: The voice is the
voice of Dr. Berry, but the words are the words of the U.S. Office of
Education.
,`As a result, she sounds like a typical bureaucrat talking: "We know
what to do-mother knows best" or, if somebody comes in with a new
idea, "we will consider it."
Furthermore, I was addressing my views on education to a com-
mittee of the Senate. riot to the U.S. Office of Education. Now I am
told that the U.S. Office of Education will consider my proposal. I
would never have the temerity or lack of wisdom to approach the
Office of Education with my recommendations for improving educa-
tion. I know what kind of "consideration" my ideas would receive.
[Laughter.]
Admiral RicicovEn. On a daily basis, I am engaged in serious work,
on which the survival of people depends, on which the fate of the
United States may depend.
PAGENO="0027"
23
Can you imagine, Mr. Chairman, that if anyone comes `to me with
an idea, I would not listen to them?
I welcome ideas from both inside and outside my organization. My
work is being `done all day long by a series of heated arguments and
discussions in which each person must prove the validity of hi's ideas
and not hide behind the authority of his office. Nature knows no rank.
Dr. BERRY. If I may respond to the admiral, Senator Pell-
Senator PELL. All right.
Dr. BERRY. I think I did point out that when I said we would con-
sider the proposal, that we will. The Office of Education, by the grace
of Senator Peli and others, is only one agency in the Education Divi-
sion of HEW. And when I said we would consider it, I meant that I
would consider it., the staff of my office would consider it, NIE would
consider it, the Secretary would consider it; we would all consider it,
and not just the. Office of Education.
Second, we certainly do not think all wisdom resides in the Federal
Government or that we in fact know what to do. Precisely, the point
of my testimony was that I share your views about the problem, but I
don't know precisely what to do. I was simply pointing out some of
the problems with some of the ideas that had been proposed, and said
that as we looked at this, we would try to figure out ways to resolve
those problems.
Admiral RIcKOvi~R. I do agree that all wisdom does not reside in the
Office of Education. I certainly agree with that.
[Laughter.]
Senator PELL. Well, I would follow up that with a question.
Why didn't the Office of Education or HEW-and you do not bear
the burdens of previous predecessors-but for all the years that you
have had a portion of my legislation in effect, a portion that sets up
a council on quality in education, it has never been implemented and is
not yet implemented. As far as I know, there is no intention of im-
plementing it on the part of this administration.
Dr. BERRY. I wouldn't say t.hat there is no intention to implement it
on the part of this administration.
Senator PELL. I am delighted to hear that.
Do you think-I'm serious-do you think it has a chance of being
implemented?
Dr. BEuRY. I will look at it and I will respond, and yes, it does have
a chance if it is still law.
Senator PELL. Thank you.
Because it is law-it is part B, section 541 of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act, and it is like the whale's `legs tucked in from
the original bill, which called for this optional test.
I would be very interested in your response to this question.
Dr. BERRY. Yes.
I will respond.
Senator PELL. One thing that concerned me, Dr. Berry, in your
statement, and that is your thought that local schools, or a school
board, should have the basic decision of what they are going to know.
Are there not certain common elements that every educated person
should have, that is, the ability to read, to express himself gram-
matically in writing, and to do adding and subtracting and simple
PAGENO="0028"
24
division? Couldn't these elements-these are the oniy elements that I
am talking about-be the subject of some kind of national test?
Dr. BERRY. Well-
Senator PELL. Let me finish that thought.
Do you imagine anybody having a high school diploma who does
not possess these elementary or these basic elements-and I'm not
talking about other things such as chemistry or foreign language,
ballroom dancing or how to cook-home economics. These three would
have to be, I would think, part of the arsenal-the weapons in the
arsenal of any young person going forth in life today.
Dr. BERRY. I would agree with you.
Perhaps I didn't make myself clear.
I think there is consensus about some matters, for example, that
those three subjects you mentioned are subjects where we should have
competency. I think there are other areas where there is no consensus
or where there may not be. a consensus. In respect to those areas, I think
there ought to be local control.
On the issue of the reading and the mathematical skiUs, where there
is some consensus-and we~ would all agree that people need to have
these skills-the problem for me is trying to figure out exactly how
to capture those competencies, what the tests ought to be and how to
have everyone in every jurisdiction agree that they would like the
tests in a specific form.
I point out that the reason why-or one of the reasons why in those
States where such minimum competency exams have been legislated
the legislation has not been fully implemented, is that they are in-
volved in discussions about what kinds of tests to give, exactly what
should be in them, and how they can be sure that these tests will tell
them exactly what they want to know. In that regard, I think our
role ought to be to give the States advice, encourage them, and I1elp
them. But the very confusion and the delay in implementing these
exams is an expression of the concern about making sure that the tests
accurately reflect what they want to be learned, what everyone agrees
shou'd be learned, and finally that they are fair to all students.
Senator PELL. But wouldn't it be possible for you to design, purely,
on an optional basis, so that only on applicaton could the tests be
mailed out, a test that contains these elements? Surely there should
be no argument about the arithmetic portions of the test. I can't be-
lieve that there should be a difference in the requirement between
Illinois to Florida to Rhode Island to California. You could add into
that, I would think, grammatical sentences-the question would be
"What are these sentences about?" There must be some common de-
nominators that you could have grammatical sentences from-"I went
down to the Safeway and bought two of this and two of that," and
express yourself that way.
And finally, from the viewpoint of comprehension, I agree that
the comprehension of a middle income youngster will be about differ-
ent subjects than the youngster from the ghetto area of the city. So
we should avoid questions to the middle income youngster like, "What
do you do if you see rats in the living room" and the youngster in
the ghetto area, "What do you do with a tulle dress" or something.
There must be some way that you, with the NIE, could devise some-
thing of that sort.
PAGENO="0029"
25
Dr. BERRY. Perhaps one could do that-what you suggested.
Senator PELL. Why didn't they do it?
Why don't they have it available?
Dr. BERRY. Perhaps we will.
The way the Federal Government has operated in the past on these
issues is to wait to see what each State has developed and to come
up with some composite kind of view describing what the States are
doing.
I don't disagree with you. I think that it should be possible.
Senator PELL. It should be available on an optional basis.
I think this would start a motion that there would then be one or
two or three local school boards in California or Rhode Island, that
would say, "Let's try this". Because they tried it on an optional
basis, other schools in the same area, in the spirit of competition,
will want to do the same thing. You would then be doing what the
Federal Government should be doing for education, doing it on a
voluntary basis, and just having it available.
And we in the Congress and those in the educational field would
go around the country making speeches to local groups to try this
test and see what the results of it are. I think this would, in turn, help.
But, I would defer now, to the one educator on our committee,
former President Hayakawa, and would be very interested in his
comments and questions.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I believe, Dr. Berry, that these tests already do exist and they have
existed for a long, long time. There are tests in arithmetic that you
have to get through-for example, tests in addition that you have to
get through before you go on to multiplication. There are tests in
multiplication you have to go through in order to get to division;
then tests in division you have to go through in order to go to square
roots, and so on. All these tests exist-there is no question about what
they mean and what the right answers are, and it seems to me, on
the basis of a lot of cash spent on education, that the reason they are
not used, and I would like to check this against your experience, is
that teachers are determined that they shall not be used, because if
they are used, then "teacher A" will be shown to be clearly inferior
to "teacher B" and "teacher B" will be shown to be clearly inferior
to "teacher C." And then you have a basis for a classification, and
therefore, discriminatory treatment of the better teachers as opposed
to the worst teachers. And teachers are a solid union in defense of
their colleagues. And I have found that in every damn department
I have ever worked in and I find it appalling in this respect.
As a member of the English Department at San Francisco State,
I repeatedly tried to provide the department t.o agree on certain
standards of grammatical competence t.hat we should expect from
students before they pass freshman English. I could not get to first
base.
And-well, I do not need to put. in my own autobiography, but I
resigned, the year I got. my tenure the first time. because I thought it
was such a. miserable system, because once you get tenure, you are
involved in this system of mutual self-protection.
PAGENO="0030"
26
There really is no problem for the U.S. Office of Education or any-
body else to get together and say, "Look, this is what constitutes a
fifth grade education or this is what constitutes adequacy in arith-
metic, so you ca*n go on to algebra; this is how much algebra you have
to know before you go on to trigonometry; this is how much trigo-
nometry you have to know before you can go on to engineering, et
cetera." And these are all clearly established objective facts. And the
fact that there is not the same degree of objectivity in history or social
science `or English, this does not preclude any individual from de-
manding of any school system, those elementary requirements of being
able to write a simple English sentence or to add a column of figures.
You don't have to have a U.S. Office of Education to be able to
present and say the prices on a grocery list. You have gone and bought
the following things-now how much is that going to total up to?
And these are high school graduates who cannot add up the sum of a
grocery list, and I don't know why we have this hesitation by the
State boards of education, U.S. Boards of Education, city boards of
education to make this requirement.
Now what is wrong with our profession, Dr. Berry?
Dr. BERRY. I am not-
Senator HAYAKAWA. We have used all types of social statements,
saving that these people are deprived-
Dr. BERRY. Right.
Senator HAYAKAWA. But we never had that used on us. We were
everyday kids. We didn't speak English, some of us-but that didn't
excuse us one damn bit. We had to learn square roots when it came
time to learn square roots, and so on.
Dr. BERRY. Well, I would encourage, as you do, parents to insist
that their local school boards do, in fact, see to it that their children
are taught.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Dr. Berry, parents do insist on it, and those
who can afford to, find their insistence gets nowhere, so they took
them out and sent them to private schools, but those who cannot
afford it are stuck, with that conspiracy of mediocrity that constitutes
the damn teaching profession.
Dr. BERRY. Well, Senator, you are at liberty to say that and I am
not. [Laughter.]
Senator HAYAKAWA. Anyway, Mr. Chairman, the complete slug-
gishness, the immoveability of the educational system is something
over which I really despair. We will go over and over and over it
again, as it is Admiral Rickover's despair, I'm sure, and I really do
not know what to do about it. We cannot abolish the tenure system,
but I think that would be a first step. And what Admiral Rickover
says about teacher evaluation-if we had to-if teachers were also
grocers and they had to hire our own students as grocery clerks, we
would certainly improve our teaching methods. As it is now, grocers
have to teach arithmetic to their own clerks that they hire. And there
seems to be no system by means of which peer evaluation-and when
I became president of San Francisco State, I was shocked to learn
that when a department sent you a list of people to be promoted from
assistant professor to associate professor, the dean was supposed to
say OK and then the vice president for academic affairs was supposed
PAGENO="0031"
27
to say OK and the president was supposed to sign it and say OK. No
one reviewed that. Well, after I became president, I sent back eight
names and said I refused to sign this promotion recommendation. I
refuse to recommend it clearly and I say to stop it right there. My
God, all hell broke loose. [Laughter.]
All hell broke loose.
And there was a demonstration, there was chanting, there were
parades and delegations to my office-they did not have tenure-none
of these eight people had tenure. They did not deserve to be promoted
from assistant to associate professor. If I could have promoted them,
they would have had tenure. but I wanted to stop it right there. Even
before they had tenure, that self-protection goes on and this is the
way it is at the university and at the school system level.
When are we going to, as a teaching profession, say to our youn
teaching assistants or young instructors, "Look, you are not goo
enough, so go find a job somewhere else." We don't. We just take them
in and protect them for the rest of their lives.
Don't we?
Dr. BERRY. Yes.
Admiral RICK0vER. Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question?
Senator PELL. Please.
Admiral RICK0vER. First, I would like to say that, from what Sena-
tor Hayakawa said, I think he has read a book on semantics.
[Laughter.]
Admiral RICKOVER. Furthermore, I can now understand why the
parents of the State of California elected him and I think he has a
message for any aspiring politician today.
I would like to comment on one statement made by Dr. Berry, about
the comparison of education in America and foreign countries.
Dr. Berry, what percentage of illiteracy do you think there is in
Japan or in Norway or in Sweden?
What do you think?
Do you know what the figures are?
Dr. BERRY. Very low.
Admiral RICKOVER. You made a. positive statement that our-that
education in this country was just as good as anywhere else.
Dr. BERRY. But I-
Admiral RICKOVER. I should think in your position that you would
know the rate-
Dr. BERRY. But-
Admiral RICKOVER. What is the rate of illiteracy in this country?
Dr. BERRY. That is not that I said.
Admiral RICKOvER. What is the rate of illiteracy in the United
States? Do you know?
Dr. BERRY. First of all, very low.
Admiral RICKOVER. Very little? I don't understand the term "very
little." In engineering, I cannot use. such expressions as "significant"
and "very little."
Senator PELL. Let us take a very short pause here.
IA short recess.]
Senator PELL. Thank you.
PAGENO="0032"
28
I would ask that we state in the record at this point, the available
statistics-the staff will collect those on illiteracy.
Are we talking about functional illiteracy or full illiteracy?
Admiral RICK0vER. May I comment, sir?
Senator PELL. Right.
Admiral RIcKovER. We have about 20 percent. functional illiteracy
among adults in the United States. In Japan, they have far less than
1 percent. I think the last time they were looking for one illiterate in
Sweden, they could not find him. [Laughter.]
Since literacy is the entire foundation of education, I should think
that someone who is the senior education official for the Federal Gov-
ernment should know more about it than a naval officer.
Dr. BERRY. And I would rejoin by saying, that just as you
pointed out to me, to say "very little" is not mathematically precise,
to say that in Sweden, they could not find one is not that precise.
[Laughter.]
Dr. BERRY. But I did want to point out, Senator Pell, that the issue
of exactly how much illiteracy there is is not germane to the point
I made in my testimony. `The point I made is that when the student
groups are basically alike in age, grade, and representativeneSs of
their own respective national population there was very little differ-
ence in performance between the students from one developed coun-
try and another. And that is what I said.
But, I would be happy to provide more clarification and to check
the figures on illiteracy and all the rest of it.
Senator PELL. I would ask that the staff pull together from the
Library of Congress, the figures that are available through UNESCO,
of the 20 most technologically advanced nations in that regard.
I would think that in connection with the question of what system
of education-France is probably the most centralized system. There
you know at 11:15 on a Tuesday morning, exactly what every young-
ster is studying. I am not particularly recommending that system,
but certainly, France. is a country which has always produced many
diverse viewpoints and cultures.
I cannot help but recall the time of the Hungarian Revolution
of 1956, when I was in charge of the International Rescue Committee
operation. At the time, I remember that these Hungarian youngsters
who came to American schools, as soon as they had learned English, in
spite of having received their earlier education under the Communist
system, which obvously had drawbacks, were usually about 2 years
ahead of our own youngsters.
And the same thing applies, I notice, with yougsters coming out
of schools in Europe now. I have a nephew who finished school in
Scotland and jumped in as a sophomore~ when he went to college
here. I think that as a rule, at least in Western Europe, the average
education seems to be a litt1~ higher than it is with us.
Do we agree on that premise?
Dr. BERRY. I can only give you, again, the results of the survey,
and to say that-
Admiral RICK0vER. Mr. Chairman, I can comment on that question.
Dr. BERRY. I'm sure you can, Admiral.
PAGENO="0033"
29
[Laughter.]
Admiral RicicovEn. The educational level reached in Western Euro-
pean secondary schools is about equivalent to 2 years in a good Amen-
can college.
I wrote a book on Swiss education which the Swiss Government
considered to be the best book ever written by a foreigner on that
country's education.
Senator PELL. Probably the only one. [Laughter.]
Admiral RIcI~ovER. It is written in English, by the way. [Laughter.]
Every year they have an examination of all their graduates before
they all have, compulsory military service, and they are given a. long
examination, lasting several hours. I sat in on that examination,
although I was a foreigner. I heard the kind of questions that were
asked, and I was allowed to ask questions myself.
First, they all knew two foreign languages, aside from anything
else. It was marvelous to talk to those youngsters, and anyone who
can sit here and say that the graduates of our high schools are equal
to those of the. Western European high schools, simply does not know
what she is talking about.
Dr. BERRY. Tha.t is not what I said.
Senator PELL. Excuse me.
I think also we ought to keep in mind, the difference in our systems.
In Europe, the hoch schule-the gymnasium-only a portion of the
youngsters go to those schools. There, as you point out, they come
over considerably more advanced than ours, but t.he majority of
youngsters over there do not. go on. The majority of people in Switzer-
land as you imow-that are~ working-do not speak more t.han their
own Swiss-German or French. It is the educated gymnasium-hoch
schule graduates who speak more than one language.
I cannot tell you the number of times I have been in Switzerland
and found people there who don't know any language but German,
which I do not know.
Admiral RICKOVER. Yes, sir.
But I think you will find that a Europea.n graduate of 8 years
schooling knows much more. than his counterpart in the United States.
The other false statistic which is paraded around the. United States
is that about 40 percent of our students go to college and only about
5 percent in WTestern Europe. However, European universities are
really equivalent to our graduate schools, not our undergraduate col-
leges. I think you will find the enrollment in U.S. graduate schools
and European universities to be about the same.
Senator PELL. Why Admiral Rickover, would you have the Con-
gress establish the National Standards Committee rather than the
executive branch of the Government?
I do not really think of this as a congressional function, although I
realize you have been disillusioned by the Office of Education.
Admiral RICKOvER. When a captain of a submarine that demon-
strates two or three times, that lie is incompetent, we replace him. But
you cannot. replace the U.S. Office of Educat.ion.
As the witness-told you and as I stated previously, she was talkino'
for the Office of Education and not for herself. The Office of Educa~
tion will take your money and conduct many experiments, but they
95-038 0 - 77 - 3
PAGENO="0034"
30
are invaded by and obligated to the educational establishment, Senator
Hayakawa related his personal experience dealing with the educa-
tional establishment, which, I believe, corroborated what I said in
my testimony. Any fairly intelligent person can tell whether a witness.
is talking for himself or for his institution. The reason I get along
with Congress is that I have always told them what I really thought.
Until there is a drastic reorganization of the Office of Education,
with people with an entirely different viewpoint and philosophy, there
iS absolutely no use: in depending on them. I have to deal with real
things in this world. An atomic submarine either works or it does
not work. It has millions of parts, and if they do not work, it can sink
and its crew will perish. I am responsible for 117 operating nuclear
ships in the Navy-for their technical operation, for the operation
of their atomic powerp~ants. They all work. We have never had a
single radiation casualty in the equivalent of about 1,500 years of
operation. There is truth.
What can the Office of Education show for their efforts?
All they can show you is that they come out each year and ask for
more money for research. And that is just exactly what you were told
a short time ago-"Give us more money for research"-as if research
of the kind that they foster will ever do a~ damn thing for this country
or for the world for education. You know that as well as I do. You are
)ust being polite. I am not because I believe in telling the truth.
[Laughter.]
Senator PELL. If you could give us an idea, Admiral, of what the
elements are in the standardized test-
Admiral RICK0vER. Yes, sir.
I am glad you asked that question.
The elements would be very simple. Testing would cover the basic
subjects-reading, mathematics, and writing, and such other subjects,
which a nationally recognized group, not myself, would think that
an average grammar school or high school graduate should know.
I am not talking about music. I am talking about the things that an
American citizen should know to be a viable person in this economy.
When you see a statistic that half of the people in this country do
not know that there is an energy crisis, that should cause us to stop
and ask about the quality of our school system.
Senator PELL. Would not a voluntary test, a test that is available
at no cost to the taxpayer and school, on at least three of those
things-reading, writing and arithmetic, being available to high
schools on a voluntary basis be a step in the right direction?
Admiral RIOK0vER. Yes, sir.
Senator PELL. Just as public opinion supported Senator Hayakawa
in the last election, public opinion in the community would have these
tests be administered. If one school district did it, others would follow,
and follow and follow.
And would that not be a step in the right direction?
Admiral RlcKovin. Yes, sir.
Senator PELL. And along that line, should we not take some com-
fort from the expression of the Assistant Secretary, that she would-
I thought I detected that she would give serious thought to the idea
of making such a test available and having it marked by the NIE.
PAGENO="0035"
31
Dr. BERRY. Bight.
I did say that.
I said two things-I said that and I also said that, when I go back
to look at it, if the Council on the Quality of Education still exists in
the land, we will look into setting it up. I said two things.
Senator PELL. Out of this hearing, really, I think a considerable
amount of breakthroughs may be achieved.
One, if we do not anger Dr. Berry too much, we may find that a
voluntary test on the three areas-and I think, fairly, Admiral Rick-
over, we ought to settle for that, at the beginning-that that kind of
test would start being used, and that would be one real step along.
Admiral RICKOVER. That would be, sir.
This is the first admission in history by the U.S. Office of Educa-
tion, that someone other than a legal member of the educational es-
tablishment can have any worthwhile idea on education. So I am
very grateful for small favors.
However, I question that a test which is the entire responsibility of
the U.S. Office of Education will do the job. They are too closely
allied with the educational establishment and its big lobbying organi-
zations which have officially stated their opposition to standardized
testing.
Are you aware of that, Senator?
Senator PELL. Yes.
Admiral RICKOVER. They have said that testing is undemocratic
and some other word.
Senator PELL. Elitest is the word.
Admiral RICK0vER. Elitest is the word-right.
Dr. BEnny. Well, I would point out to Senator Pell and to the
Admiral, that the proposal is to have the NIE, the National Institute
of Education, handle the test, and not the Office of Education, if
that gives us any confidence.
Admiral RIOKOVER. Yes, but you finance that office, do you not?
Senator PELL. It comes under the Assistant Secretary, and for that
reason, her thoughts to this are worth a great deal.
A test like that would not cost too much to administer.
Could that be done out of your budget, administratively, or not?
Dr. BERRY. I do not know.
I dare not commit to that until I go back to look at it.
Senator PELL. I will do all I can as chairman of the authorizing
subcommittee to be supportive.
Dr. BERRY. Yes.
Senator PELL. I can be supportive in this direction, since I have the
capacity.
Senator HAYAKAWA. And I think it is very important that as this
idea moves forward, that nobody get credit for it, because the only
way an idea will really move is if everyone feels it is their idea.
Admiral RICKOVER. I must say that I cannot see the U.S. Office
of Education ever leading a campaign to educate our children.
Senator PELL. I disagree with you.
I have been working with them for some years. I have had my
disappointments, but I have never felt better than I do right now,
when I see this idea which we talked about 10 years ago, whith you
PAGENO="0036"
32
have been working on 20 or 30 years-that we have seen a little
motion here today and that is more than I have seen in 10 years.
Admiral RIcK0vER. Yes, sir.
You are correct.
This is the greatest accomplishment of.the U.S. Office of Education
in .110 years. [Laughter.]
Senator HAYAKAWA. Mr. Chairman, as is very clear, I have been
somewhat moved by the testimony given by the Admiral and by Dr.
Berry, and I would like to say something to you, Mary Berry, rather
than the spokesperson for the educational establishment.
You are now Assistant Secretary for Education. You are really the
top of the ladder insofar as the. whole educational establishment is
concerned. You do not have to pay any attention to them any more.
You are the boss. You are the top. You do not have. to yield to the
pressure of any American Federation of Teachers, Association of
Schoolmasters or anybody else. You can decide whether it is quality
and you can decide what is the top priority in education.
You know what education needs. You are a good citizen and a
conscientious worker and you can order them about and set the
directions.
And t.he admiral and I. I am afraid we have been giving you a
hard time, but there is nothing personal in it. It is just our deep con-
cern for education.
On top of all that, I have admired the way you have taken this
rough patch with good humor and with relaxation arid with con-
fidence in yourself. That is wonderful.
And since you do have that confidence in yourself, please go and
shake them around a bit, and insist upon some standards, because this
country is really shaping its foundations with its children, and they
are not getting the proper foundations in arithmetic or reading or
writing-and you are in a position t.o raise all hell about it. That is
your position, and I congratulate you on that position, and anytime
you want help from Admiral Rickover or me, by gosh, we will help
you.
Dr. BERRY. Well, I appreciate that, because as I go kicking them
around, I will need your help.
[Laughter.]
Admiral RIcKovr~n. You certainly will.
You will need it when you learn what a government bureaucracy is.
You will find out that many of your people will oppose you, but as
Senator Hayakawa said, you are the boss. Use your own conscience,
do what you think is right, and you will find out that there are many
people who will help you~ I'm sure that this committee will help you
if you try to do the right thing, and if there are people working for
you who do not want to carry out the mandate of Congress, then
you ought to fire them.
Senator HAYAKAWA. That's right.
Senator PELL. I would suggest that you try to get through reading,
writing, and arithmetic, and leave the other ones for subse.quent gen-
erations. I also thankyouvery much for your offer of taking another
look at the section in part D of the Elementary and Secondary Educa-
tion Act, and perhaps implementing it, bringing to effect the Council
on the Quality of Education.
PAGENO="0037"
33
Dr. BERRY. Thank you.
Senator PELL. I want to thank Admiral Rickover, particularly,
because I know how busy he is, and this is just one interest-an ap-
parently strong interest, but an outside interest from his main responsi-
bility, which is to keep our country safe and protected, and he does
that very well indeed.
Is there any closing statement that either of you would care to
make?
Dr. BERRY. No.
That is fine, thank you.
Admiral RICKOVER. Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a final
statement.
I realize that my colleague here has a very tough job. I don't
underestimate that at all, because I know these educationists from
personal experience. I very much appreciate your statesman-like work
in taking a situation and making something out of it. I think you have
got a fine way of getting this started. It is not important what the
first Eet of examination questions are. The most important thing is
establishing the concept that there will be somebody outside of the
educ:itional establishment that will develop these standards and tests.
And I think the finest thing that may come out of this is the dissocia-
tion of the Office of Education from all the other educationists. Per-
haps the office will not act independently. And I believe that is what
the committee wants, what the President wants, and what the people
want.
So I want to thank you very much. I think that this hearing may
be a far more significant meeting than any that you have held in a
long time.
Senator PELL. it is interesting, too, how the four of us engaged in
this dialog are from different parts of the country, different back-
grounds and we all have a certain commonality of viewpoint in this
regard.
Senator Hayakawa, do you want to state anything else?
Senator HAYAKAWA. Nothing more.
Senator PELL. Thank you all.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Berry follows:]
PAGENO="0038"
34
FOR R~~E~SE UP~ DC~IV~Y
STA1~NI' BY
DR. MARY F. B~RY
~ASSISTANT S~ARY FOR EDOCATI~N
~XATI12~ DIVISION
~ ~TH, ~X~ION, AND ~t$ARE
B~ORE ~HE
SUB~4D~T~ ON ~ ARES, AND HUMANITIES
C~~1IT!~ ON ~N ~
UNI~ STATES S~TE
JULY 14, 1977
- 10:00 a.zn.
Dr. Berry is accaz~ariied by:
William A. Blakey, Depity Assistant Seoretary for Legislation
(~ation), D~
PAGENO="0039"
35
fr~ ~haixxnan:
It is a pleasure to appear before this Sub~snittea to discuss
AdmiraL I~ickover' s proposal, which ~uld. set up a National Standards
C~tinittee and a national system of examinations for education. This
hearing can be taken as a tribute to Admiral Rickover, wto for many
years has cx~ntributed to a national concern for the quality of education.
Increased p~blic: awareness of this central issue is. in. part due to
his efforts.
PAGENO="0040"
36
2
~duiral Rickover offers as a priority goal for the United States
`to bring all our children to mrkedly higher intellectual levels, `~
especially in the sense of being able ~to think trore iritell,igently
about national issues. To pursue this goal, he suggests that Congress
s~uld set up a National Standards Caurtittee (1) to re~rt on the state
of ?znerican education and to find out if it is c~npetitive with cx,untries
of similar levels of culture and technology, and (2) to set up national
examinations which would serve as a national schelastic standard. This
standard would be high relative to these currently being pursued.
We agree with Adeiral Rickover's goal and ~ see, as he does, a
great i,ationai ouncern for the quality of education. In fact, ~o existing
programs in the Office of Education highlighting intellectual, excellence
are worthy of note. The Office of Gifted and Talented administers the
Presidential Schelars Program, first established in 1964, which annually
henors over 120 intellectuallY ac~nplished graduating high scheol seniors
fran all over the United States. There have been nearly 1700 Presidential
Sd~lars since the program's inception, all chosen for denonstrated
leadership, schelarsh.ip, ountribution to scheol and axuninity, and acc~t~lish-
n~nt in the arts, sciences and other fields of interest. In addition,
the Office of Gifted and Tal~ited in the last fiscal year funded 53
projects, with 68% of the $2.56 million budget targeted to strengthen state
efforts to serve the gifted and talented and provide quality education for
the gifted in kindergarten throngh the 12th grade. Projects range fran
PAGENO="0041"
37
3
those that seek to identify gifted and talented culturally diverse urban
youth through various prograns to those that search out gifted and talented
pre-schoolers in rural settings. Other projects are concentrated on
reaching and identifying gifted and talented of particular cultural groups,
incli.ding Hispanic, ?rerican Indian, and Appalachian children. Finally,
the National Thaining Institute on Gifted and Talented and the Policy
Fellows Program provide cpportunities for pe~le involved in the training
of leaders in gifted edt~ation. Clearly, this is only a beginning.
?~niral Rickover underscores the. nead for us to build upon this beginning.
and -.~ will consider his prc~osals seriously as discussions proceed in the
departh~it. ~ will also consider other ceans of responding to the concern
for quality.
PAGENO="0042"
38
4
One problan with Mxniral Rickover s proposal is that it is oriented
tc~ard those of relatively high ability. The Federal governrrent' s respon-
sibility is indeed to be concerned with, the education of all children,
and zroreover, to give special attention to children who have difficulty
learning or children who have not been given equal opportun.ity in the past.
~ be sure, a particular concern for the gifted is also appropriate, as
long as rreasures taken in their behalf do not have a detriire.ntal effect
on other children. In the foll~ing point-by-point analysis of the Rickover
proposal, wa see that a systen of national e~arninations could have such a
potentially negitive effect.
Point A - A large sector of the Acerican people wants better
edhoatign. Surely, Arrerican people do want a better education for
their children, but the question is whether they agree on what better
is. Or to be n~re precise, do they agree sufficiently to provide the
basis for a national set of examinations? In tents of content, well-
meaning and intelligent specialists and laymen aliae differ an what
changes should be made, particularly since stńents can cover only so
rtsch material during a given period of schooling. SaTe of the tradeoffs
currently at issue include math~atical reasoning vs. carputation; prob-
ability and statistics vs. other aspects off mathematics; literary
classics vs. everyday uses of English; creative writing vs. business or
canstxrer English; aural-oral approaches to foreign approaches vs. the
PAGENO="0043"
39
5
study of foreign literatures; ~AnErican history vs. the history of Europe~
Asia and other parts of the Third World; sore econanics or sociology vs.
other subjects; sore ~sphasis on trenual skills vs. the acad~nic subjects;
sore visual arts, rru.isic or physical edt~ati~n vs. other subjects; sore
~basis on issues of int~iate public concern such as envirorrrEntal
problens and cons~sr~r affairs vs. the study of acad~nic disciplines for
their intrinsic interest.
It might be possible to put together such a variety of exairdnations
as to serve all these different interests. E~,waver, a large niznber of
highly specialized examinations. s~~uld not provide a clearcut national
standard. The layperson ~uld still have difficulty in keeping track
of the exams and in keowing how they differ. Also, such examinations
might contribute to a ranch greater specialization in secondary school
than currently exists, a secial±zation which ireny ~uld consider pr&-
mature. The student who wants a broa~gener~l education might not be~ able
to ccznpete with specialized students ad any particular test. 5~gland' s
secondary education, which Admiral Rickover particularly admires and
which serves as the rrcdel for the proposed examination systan, has been
criticized for early specialization.
Point B Pe~1e find no one in goverrarent to carry out their wishes
for educational refarn. In fact, educational reforn is alive and,
depending on onet s point of view, well at all levels of goverrrrent. It
is particularly strong at the state level. Instead of establishing its
own standards for education, the Federal government might better help
the states establish standards and carry out their constitutional
PAGENO="0044"
40
6
responsibilities in their ~n way. This approach is particularly
a~ropriate since, as we suggested under Point A, above, people differ
in their views on the direction that refona should take~
Point C - This oroposal ~ld introduce a needed el~.nt of choice.
It would not be unconstitutional nor rir~ counter to our tradition of
local control. Ps±niral Rickover' s proposal n~y not be an unconstitutional
interference with states rights, but it appears to n.m counter to the
tradition of local control. If an e.m~mination is to be taken seriously
as attesting tO student ccrrpetence and as able to notivate students to do
better than they would have done without the test, then it is a test
which schools naist also take seriously. They mist prepare students for
such tests, and, in doing so, will have given up mmr.h of their authority
to detenirtine the ~jectives of education for thEnselves.
The ultinate effect of this proposal might well be to reduce student
choice. The trore an ei~nination is used for university admissions and
~iplo~nt, the irore it loses its voluntary character.
If one wishes to resort to the jud~nsnt of international opinion,
one finds that the sector of Pirericari education which is nost admired
outside the United States is the poatsecondary. It is notable that
this is the sector which allows for cost freedom of choice and which
is least subject to unifcucnity of standards. It cczr~rehends a great
PAGENO="0045"
41
7
diversity of standards with different institutions having different
goals and sat~hat different clienteles. Great private universities,
great state universities, snaller state and private colleges, world-
renc~ned institutes of technology, church-supported universities and
colleges, junior or camtunity colleges-all coexist and rreet in one way
or another the varied educaticn~l needs of the nation,
Point D -National examinations ~vuld encourage lackadaisical
students to aspire to higher aCadenic achievetent. Setting standards
and rewarding with diplasas will get children to ~rk with their minds.
~clining enrolj.ments in the core acadenic subjects, such as E~igllsh,
mathenatids, science, and foreign languages is a problan and may figure
i,n test-score declines. Hc~ever, it is not clear that this proposal
~uld redress the situation. If the tine-honored netivators
of standards and diplanas ~rked with all children, we ~uld have few
educational problens. They may ~rk wall with sane children fran
financially successful families who place a high value on education, but
there are indications fran various industrialized countries that these
notivators are not sufficient for many children and that, if wa want
higher achieverent arrcng such children, wa mast rely on researchers
and innovative practitioners to find new rreans. Standards are
particularly insufficient when the school is in sate sense foreign
to children as when the lute language differs fran that spoken in school.
PointE-University aduissions officers and esployers need to
huow what ana~licant!s scholastic qualifications actually are. Certify
ing qualifications :on a diplana ~nu1d save tine and noney. It is
questionable whether the notation of passing or not passing on a single
PAGENO="0046"
42
S
set of e~mminations can ever be a universally adequate indicator of
acadenic achievEt~nt. Other sources of infontation need to be taken
into account, for ~ a history of courses taken, grades received,
recxim~ndations fran teachers and anyth~.ng else that an a~licant
wishes to present in his or her favor. Pi3iniral Rickover `s statarents
sr~gest a much heavier reliance On tests than wa believe is warranted.
~ already have much experience with the college entraxice aptitnde
and achieverent e~mrns developed by the Educational Testing Service and
the ?irerican College Testing Program. These tests have been developed
with care and validated in terars of college perforrnar~pe. Yet like all
tests-essay, short-answar, oral, or multiple choice, they have been
the su~ject of much criticism. The New York Tines of May 1, 1977, con-
tained a special supplerent on the controversies over testing. A group
of sate fort! educational organizations, with the cooperation of educa-
tiaiai. refocrers such as Jerrold Zacharias, are banding together in the
National Consortium on Testing to search for alternatives to standardized
tests. The National Institute of Education has a research program to
develop better nethods of assessrrent. ~ will consider the Sickover
proposals as we learn xxre about the value of testing.
Given the present state of testing technology, the practice of
setting a single passing score is particularly suspect. In fact, it is
not clear how to set such scores wit~.it being arbitrary and unjustly
penalizing those whose scores are only slightly bel~i the cutoff. C~e
might set a cutoff such that only a specified percentage of st.idents
~uld pass, ~it it ~uld be difficult to justify such a percentage.
It ~x,uld be better to set a criterion in teinrrs of kri~iladge or skills
PAGENO="0047"
43
9
to be possessed, but for many tests there is at present no satisfactory
way to do this.
If one sin~ly wanted to select a group of high ability persons
to fill high status schools ~ ~ national e ~ations inigtit
fulfill this function wall. However, we nu2st recognize that such
tests could result in the unfair treata~nt of individuals whose
abilities, for varying reasons, might not be given ad~uate recognition
by the tests.
Point F - National examinations ~uld give laypersons the coans to
judge whether a ~school or college is doing its job. Unfortunately, tests
by the~iselves cannot be relied upon in this way. First, f~ users
weuld have sufficient 1o~ledge. of subject matter to canprehend fully the
significance of a varied set of examinations. Second, a school or
college may have goals which are not ad~uately.rep~esented in the
examination. Third ar~ cost ixrportant, stu~nts may score high or l~
on an examination for reasons other than the effectiveness of the
school. A school which attracts high ability students can have high
scoring graduatea even if the school's program is nediocre. Schools
which werk with students of l~er ability may have graduates who score
relatively lc~ even when the institution has greatly increased their
kx~zIedge.
Besides setting up national examinations, the carmittee established
by Congress weuld have the task of periodically reporting on the state
of ?zrerican education. Cur~entiy, reporting on Anerican education is a
PAGENO="0048"
44
10
mandate given tą the National Center for Education Statistics.
Through the Education Carrnission of the States, a consortium of state
goverrmrrentS, the Center funds the National sses~rent of Educational
Progress. National Asses~xEnt has the responsibility for testing the
ke~i1edqe of young p~1e in the United Stated without being responsible
- for certifying individuals and valuating schools. For this reason,
it avoids many of the prob1~tms which we have discussed above. In
addition, such a progran is econcxnical since it involves testing,
not all students, bet only a sample.
- ~~dmiral Rickover is particularly concerned with the standing
* of the United States in education relative to other countries with
similar levels of culture and technology. We can begin to answer this
üč~ticn by observing that ?marican schools and universities have
_prcved thmaselves capable of turning out large nun~ers of highly
qualified personnel, indeed too many in various areas for the labor
market easily to absorb. In sate fields a crisis of shortage in the
l950s has turned into a crisis of glut in the l970s. Nevertheless,
itmay still be that the education of persons with advanced degrees
is lacking in certain respec*s. ?ńmiral Rickover's concern for
~ality cannot be refuted by reference to quantity of graduates. Still
we believe that those deficiencies which exist are concentrated, not
amang students of high ability and rrctivation, but at~ng those who have
difficulty learning or adjusting to school.
To answer cmuestions about the crxrmpetence of ?2nerican children in
an international perspective9 the U.S. Office of Education, together
with foum~ation5 and other governments9 funded in the l960s and early
PAGENO="0049"
45
II
70s international surveys of educational achiev~rent. These surveys
were carried out by the International Association for the Evaluation
of Educational Achiev~it (~), a consortium of research institu-
tions in twenty-one Western, Catinunist and Third World countries.
Thus far, these sttzlies have dealt with nathenatics, science, reeding
cx~iprehension, literature, French and civic education. Although the
Soviet Union (nEntioned in particular by Pdmiral Rickover) did not
participate, we do have results for stedents at different age levels.
in such countries as ~igland, Scotland, Australia, Japan, Federal
Republic of Ger~ny., the Netherlands, S~en and Hungary.
Three ~iéssons fran these surveys are particularly relevant to the
~±nira]. Rickover proposal:
(1) It is very difficult to develop treasures which are equally
appropriate to different scheol systa!ns. The ~ tests cannot be said
to be equally appropriate to every country. The superior perfoz~nance
of the Japanese in science is partly explained by the fact that Japanese
stizients were nore likely to have been exposed to the tested material.
In niathenatics, the first subiect surveyed and a subject on which the
U.S. did relatively poorly, the tests have been criticized both for
appropriateness to the United States and for intrinsic problens in
sate of the itens. Nevertheless, the tEA tests retrain the only tests
designed specifically for cross-national analyses of data collected
fran national saoples. Thgether with associated questionnaires, they
provide a goed deal of insight into differences between national
systens of education.
95-038 0 - 77 - 4
PAGENO="0050"
46
12
(2) "When the student graips are basically alike in age, grade
and represeritativeness of. their respective national populations, there
is very little difference fin perfozirtancel between the students fran one
axintty or ax~ther within the set of `n~re developed' countries."
This conclusion is drawn by Alex Inkeles in a National Acadeny of
Education review of the si~subject survey. A few exceptions are
noted by Inkeles, including the high performance of Japan and. Hungary
in science and Thinania in French.
(3) Insofar as ~e cart tail. fran these data, high ability students
in nonselective systars of education are not disedvantagedin xxnparison
with high ability sb.idents in countries with selective systans.
(~.irrently, i~he ~ is planning a second survey in mathetiatics to see
ha~ mathanatics performance has changed since the early 60s, to assess
the consegaences of curriculi.In ±eforms in rrathanatics, and to study the
teaching of mathanatics in different countries. The National Institute
of Education has already contributed to the costs of planning this survey.
Further participation is being considered by N~ and N~ with a final
decision on funding to be made after review of the survey desi4i ~nd
caiparison With other research priorities. -.
PAGENO="0051"
47
13
~atever the aitccx~ of this particular survey, it is clear that
wa can 1ea~ fran other countries in our efforts to provide educational
~portunities that are second to none. We naist be oēčn to new ways of
pursuing ~ąniral Rickover' s goal of raising the intellectual level of
every child. We will consider his specific prq~osals as wa continue
discussions of treans of inproving the quality of education for all
d~ldren.
?i3mirai Rickover's idea s~re to focus on high ability children
to the likely and unfair disadvantage of these whe do less wall in
schcnl. It nay put n~re waight on testing than is warranted. Tests
are nc self-sufficient indicators of achievenent, notivators of st~ent
perfozinance, and r~sures of sctoOl quality. MDreover, even if one
could depend so heavily on testing, wa are not sure that national
e~xninations wauld be a~r~riate for our Federal systan. americans
want better education, but they do not all agree on what better ireans.
~t~fr differences in such natters nay best be r~iciled at the State
and local levels. ~dmiral Rickover has said that he has always "ji~1g&
pecple by whether or not they set thanselves a standard." We sheuld be
wary of setting standards that our citizens c~ould not set for theneelves.
PAGENO="0052"
48
Senator PELL. This hearing is in recess.
[Wliereupon, at 12 noon, the subcommittee was adjourned, subject
to the call of the Chair.]
PAGENO="0053"
QUALITY OF EDUCATION, 1977
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1977
U.S. SENATE,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, ARTS AND HUMANITIES
OF THE COMMIrrEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES,
TVa$hinqton, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice at 10 a.m., in room H-328,
U.S. Capitol, Senator Claiborne Pell (chairman of the subcommittee)
presiding.
Present: Senators Pell and Hayakawa.
Senator PELL. Good morning.
The Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities will come
to order.
Today marks the second day of hearings by this subcommittee into
the question of the quality of our Nation's students-do they learn
to read, write, and compute as well as did their predecessors?
Polls show that 65 percent of the parents of such students do not
believe that their children are receiving adequate instruction in basic
skills. If the national dissatisfaction is so widespread, it is of concern
to educators and legislators at all levels-Federal, State, and local.
The subcommittee heard testimony 2 weeks ago from Admiral Rick-
over, who suggested that one means of improving competency in basic
skills would be the creation of a national standardized test of reading,
writing, and computation, at various grade levels. Dr. Mary Berry,
Assistant Secretary for Education, agreed that such tests could be
useful to school districts to administer on an optional basis, so that
parents and school officials could measure their students' success
against agreed-upon standards of competency.
Today the subcommittee will hear from two experts in the field of
testing-Dr. William Turnbull, president of the Educational Testing
Service, and Dr. Roy Forbes, director of the National Assessment of
Educational Progress. Both witnesses have wide experience in the de-
velopme.nt and administration of tests to determine educational
competence.
I would hope that they would address their testimony to a number
of issues which the subcommittee must consider:
What is the actual situation regarding test scores and their apparent
decline?
What is the "state of the art" in testing today? Is it possible to have
non-culture-biased tests?
Is there a Federal role in developing and encouraging the voluntary
use of tests to measure competency in basic skills?
(49)
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I look forward to hearing the witnesses' answers to these and any
other questions that arise in the course of this hearing.
Dr. Turnbull, I believe you will lead off.
Dr. TURNBULL. Thank you.
In response to your invitation I have a prepared statement, with
various attachments, on the subject of attaining and surpassing mini-
mum standards of proficiency in the basic skills. The statement is
before you, in written form. I can summarize the main points briefly,
and will be glad to amplify or discuss any aspects of the topic which
you may wish me to.
Senator PELL. The statement will be inserted in full in the record,
together with the enclosures.
Dr. TURNBULL. Thank you.
STATEMENT OP DR. WILLIAM W. TURNBULL, PRESIDENT,
EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE, PRINCETON, N.L
Dr. TURNBULL. Mr. Chairman, in my opinion this is a time when it
is important to devote national attention, indeed Federal attention, to
basic skills, defined as reading, writing and mathematics. The timeli-
ness derives in part from the evidence which suggest that those skills
have declined among young people in recent years. Even had they not
declined as far as the average student is concerned, it is clear that too
many students are sadly lacking in the tools for further learning and
for full participating in American society.
People inside and outside of the educational community have been
painfully aware of the deficiency, and we now see a remarkable up-
surge in efforts to do something about it. In my fuller remarks I have
detailed a sampling of those efforts at State and local levels, and
further references are provided to the astonishing efforts at improve-
ment across the country.
In this climate there is opportunity and, I believe, a need, for educa-
tional leadership at the national level if the disparate efforts are to be
given focus and substance, and if they are to be provided the intellec-
tual and developmental resources they need to be effective and to avoid
needless duplication of effort.
Above all, we should recognize and build on the enthusiasm and
the good initiative to be found around the country..
I believe it is important that State and local districts set standards
expressed in real-life terms, detailing the basic competencies that
students need to attain. It is important also that they test the attain-
ments of their own students and measure the results against those
standards.
For reasons I have outlined, I do not believe that a Federal testing
program in the basic skills is either necessary or desirable. I do not
believe that federally-imposed performance standards to be applied
uniformly across the country are required; nor do I believe we
need a new, federally-sponsored set of tests of the basic skills; there are
many good ones already.
It has been suggested that the very difficult issues of "cultural bias,"
which I put in quotes, makes it: inappropriate to use the same test
of basic skills with students from various ethnic, economic, and social
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backgrounds. This, I think, is a false issue where most existing tests
are concerned, and is not a valid argument either for or against a new
national test. The reasons are outlined in my fuller statement.
Turning now to what a Federal role might usefully encompass in
supporting a decentralized effort, I would advocate a highly visible
program with Federal support, based on new legislation if necessary,
to do centrally those things that it would be redundant and inefficient
to do over and over again in separate State and local efforts. These
things include a wide range of activities to define the elements of
sound and workable programs, iii particular to make explicit the
skills to be measured, to show standards can be set in relation to
levels of performance; to describe how results can be reported to
teachers, to students, to parents, school boards, and the public; and
to provide the basis for comparing results between and among pro-
grams, especially those that use different tests.
The Federal role should be, further:
To provide a clearinghouse of information for States and districts,
with regardto programs under way or proposed.
To assess the Nation's progress in the basic skills over time.
And to encourage the improvement of instruction or the develop-
ment of new approaches to instruction which will address whatever
skill deficiencies are found. We need not only to define standards of
performance, but also to discover and promulgate the means to help
teachers help students to achieve those standards.
Finally, I have been explicit about a warning that we probably
will have to keep repeating, that is, that acquisition of basic skills,
especially minimum competencies, is a necessary preparation for edu-
cation, but it is far from a sufficient goal in either breadth or depth. A
Federal initiative that keeps that fact before educators and the public
would, I believe, serve the country well by rallying the best efforts
of our disparate system. There are not many times when people seem
so ready to move in pursuant of a shared educational purpose.
That concludes my brief summary.
Senator PELL. Thank you very much.
Dr. Forbes, do you wish to make your presentation now? Then we
can have a dialogue.
Dr. FORBES. Thank you.
I also have a very short statement, and I have provided the staff
with a packet of information which I would like the opportunity to
discuss at some point..
Senator PELL. That portion which is suitable for inclusion in the
record will be included, without objection.
STATEMENT OP DR. ROY H. FORBES, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL
ASSESSMENT OP EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
Dr. FORBES. My name is Roy H. Forbes. I am the director of the
National Assessment of Educational Progress, a project of the Na-
tional Center for Education Statistics, under contract to the Educa-
tion Commission of the States.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress was designed to
determine what skills, knowledge, and, attitudes are possessed by
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52
young Americans aged 9, 13, 16, and 26-35. More specifically, the prój-
ect reports the educational attainments of young Americans, and
monitors changes in those attainments-growth or decline-over
time. Each year national assessment assesses one or more `of the fol-
lowing learning areas: reading, writing, mathematics, science, citizen-
ship-social studies, career and occupational development, literature,
art and music.
Within each age group the data are presented by sex, region of the
country-the Northeast, Southeast, Central, and Western States-
racial data, that is, black and white, level of education of the parents,
and by the size and type of communities in which the students live.
Just recently, using special analytic techniques, we were able to report
the achievement level of Hispanic students in the country. As far as
we know, this is one of the very few sources of national data on His-
panic students.
Baseline data have been collected in all 10 of the learning areas
in the 8 years since the project's inception.
From the second assessment of science we were able to determine
that our American students, ages 9-13-tT-year-olds, had decreased
approximately 2 percentage points in their ability to respond cor-
rectly to science items.
From the second writing assessment we found that the 13- and 17-
year-olds, although maintaining ability in the mechanics of writing,
have declined in ability to write coherent paragraphs, or essays. They
have a tendency to write as they speak.
And from a special study of functional literacy we conducted for
the "Right to Read Effort," we determined we had a 2-percentage-
point increase in the ability of the 17-year-olds in school to respond
correctly to the most basic type of reading test. I should add, these
tests are rather simple, including items to determine the respondent's
ability to follow directions, read signs, and so forth.
For our total reading assessment for 13- and 17-year-olds we found
essentially there had been no over-all change. For the 9-year-old group
there had been a significant increase in reading ability.
National Assessment receives many requests for the results of each
assessment from people in local groups and States who wish to use
our materials.
The results of each assessment are shared with the States and local
agencies, with interested Federal agencies, commissions, and with
the general public.
*The reults from an assessment often spur additional interest. For
example, people at the University of Indiana are interested in follow-
ing up some of our information in the reading assessment by doing
additional analyses.
As part of our reporting policy, we release a portion of the items
we use in conducting the assessment. We find it helps people to
understand better the type of item asked of the student, and at the
same time makes those items and the method we use in an assessment
available to States and local agencies so they can use them in their
evaluation or assessment. For example. the States of Maine, Rhode
Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Minnesota, Louisiana,
and Hawaii have all used portions of the released mathematics items
as part of their State assessments. Now they are able to make corn-
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53
parisons between the way the students in those States perform with
the way in which the national sample and the sample in our four
reporting regions perform. The State of New Hampshire in a recent
assessment, used some of our citizenship items from the National
Assessment.
Because of the very large interest in writing today, the Blooming-
ton, Minn.; Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs, Cob.; Lincoln,
Nebr., Air Force Academy, Cob., and Dover, N.H., school districts
have used portions of the released writing materials to conduct their
own local assessments of writing. After completing local assessments,
they used the findings to plan and develop curricular improvements.
Another example of the way in which the materials have `been used
`for curricular improvement was a. series of articles in the "Arithmetic
Teacher." Each article took items from the first mathematics assess-
ment, examined how students responded incorrectly, and suggested
techniques teachers could use to correct the students' computational
and problem-solving deficiencies.
These are a few of the ways in which the data has been used by local
and State agencies.
The requests by State and local agencies for information, materials,
and services from National Assessment continue to increase. WTe receive
approximately 1,000 requests, per month, for assistance. These in-
creases are due, I believe, for the most part, to the desire for materials
with adequate reporting data that can be used for comparative pur-
poses, on an optional basis, by local and State agencies. Indeed, many
local agencies use National Assessment materials because of their com-
parative power.
Thus, the National Assessment of Educational Progress is attempt-
ing to meet these data needs of Federal, State, and local agencies.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator PELL. I thank both Dr. Turnbull and Dr. Forbes for the
fullness of their testimony in their written statement, and for their
testimony in person.
We are particularly, interested in the abstract of the results of these
tests that have been administered.
I notice, glancing at them-and I will read them later in greater
depth-you say the gap between teenage southeastern blacks and
whites narrowed. Does that mean the black scores were up or the white
scores went down?
Dr. FORBES. The best of all worlds: The white scores went up during
that period of time, but the black scores were going up faster, so the
gap was narrowed.
We have still a long way to go, I hasten to add. But I think we have
reason for optimism. If I remember correctly, the percentage point in-
crease for whites in the Southeast was around 1.2 percentage points,
and the black 9-year-old in the Southeast about 7.7 percentage points.
So we have both increases.
Senator PELL. I have been interested in the `subiect for at least 10
years or so, as you may know. I introduced legislation some years ago,
with Senator Cooper, calling for quality education, with optional tests
like the Regents Tests, across the country, and Councils for Quality
in Education. We lost the optional test; the council portion remained
in the legislation but was never implemented by the executive branch.
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54
Now as we look ahead maybe there will be less opposition.
My own thought, and I would like the reaction of each of you, is,
shouidn't t.here perhaps be an optional test for minimum standar4s,
not getting into anything complicated. Is there not some bias-proof
test that would )ust handle reading, writing, and arithmetic, that is,
whether you read with comprehension, whether you can write gram-
matically and correctly a paragraph, and whether you can do addition
and subtraction-that type of arithmetic which would more or less be
pre~umed to be under the belt of anybody who had a high school
diploma?
As we all know, many of the people receiving high school diplomas
now cannot meet these minimal criteria.
What is your reaction to that thought?
Dr. TURNBULL. From a technical standpoint what you suggest is
feasible. I see no difficulty in constructing such a test at different levels
of difficulty for earlier and later grades.
Senator PELL. My thought would be one simple test, one that would
be without cultural bias and would be really a minimum.
Dr. TtJRNBULL. That can be done in one sense; that is, a test of
minimum skills can indeed be developed; such tests have been devel-
oped in the past.
The issue of cultural bias in tests is, I think, one that would be
neither more nor less difficult in the case of a nationally sponsored
examination than in the case of the ones commonly used now..
It is very difficult to discuss this issue very usefully without defining
what "bias" consists of, because different people include different ele-
ments under that term. For example, suppose you have a student from
a home in which English is not spoken. On a test of basic skill in read-
ing English, clearly that student is not likely to do as well at a par-
ticular grade level as will a student at the same grade level who has
grown up in an English-speaking home.
Senator PELL. But that young person is going to have to make his
way in his working life in an English-speaking society and nation.
In order to get a high school diploma should lie not be able to meet
the requirements, whether his basic language is Thai or what have
you?
Dr. TURNBTJLL. I believe he should. Whether or not the test is biased
under those circumstances is a question that could be answered dif-
ferently by different people.
My feeling would be that such a test is a yardstick of the student's
ability to cope with reading in English. It purports to be no more,
certainly not a test of the person's mate capacity to read. He or she
might be fluent in another language, or perhaps not.
Another question sometimes regarded as a legitimate definition of
"b~ as" is whether the person has had an opportunity for the schooling
that would be available to most of. the majority-culture students.
Effective schooling is not equally available to all students across the
country.
If the test is seen as a yardstick of the person's developed profi-
ciencv, then I would not see any implication of bias in the test,
whether a national test or a test made under other auspices. However,
some people would, and I believe we have to be aware of that view
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55
if we are to sort out the various claims and counterclaims as to
whether bias exists or not. Itis a very slippery term.
Senator PELL. iDo you think availability-not mandatory require-
ment but availability__of such a test is a good idea or a poor idea?
Would you be for it or against it?
Dr. TURNBULL. I would be against it at the present time, on the
ground not that it would be a bad thing, but that it is unnecessary. I
believe there are a substantial number of adequate examinations al-
ready in substantial use in many places that have had long experience
with those particular measures, with what the results of them mean,
and that have built up a great deal of information about their own
State or local programs.
You did ask the question of whether a voluntary test would create
a problem.
Senator PELL. Yes.
Dr. TURNBULL. I think probably the answer is no, if it could be
held at that level. It would be one more test.
Senator PELL. My own proposal is completely for a voluntary test.
If it were available I think you would find more and more schools
would tend to use it. School X would use it, then school Y and school
Z would want to prove they are as good as school X. It has much to
do with the idea of the carrot and the stick. It would spread even-
tually.
I think if it were mandatory it would be undue influence of the
Federal Government. My proposal is for a voluntary test.
Would you be basically for such a thought, or against it?
Excuse me for pinning you down this way, but it helps us.
Dr. Tuiu~.uiur4L. I'd like to break my answer into two parts, if I
may:
I think the addition of well-made tests available to schools is an
idea to which I would take no exception whatsoever. The schools
ought to know, as fully as they know the content of present tests, the
content of the nationally normed tests sponsored by the U.S. Office
of Education. It might more directly meet the need of some State
and local school districts than any examination now available. That
would be all to the good.
My concern about existence of a federally sponsored test goes rather
to potential developments that could surround its availability and
use. If its use were to take on not only Federal approval and recom-
mendation-if we found it so strongly urged upon the schools that
they felt they ought to adopt it whether or not its content provided
a better fit to their curriculum content than other tests available-
I believe at that point it would be a disservice.
Senator PELL. The test I am talking about would not be one in social
studies or history, that sort of thing. It would be just in the very basic
tools, the elements, the Three R's-"Reading, `riting and `rithmetic"-
and nothing complicated like trigonometry, calculus, algebra; simple
arithmetic, which so many high school and college graduates are
deficient in now. The same as to writing a grammatical letter. And of
course comprehension.
Would you support that? That is all Tam talking about.
If you asked a question about agriculture of student at school in
Harlem, that would be a little difficult. But by the same token, if you
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56
asked a youngster in Kansas what you do inthe ca~ of a blackout, that
might be more difficult than the answer asked of the youngster in New
York.
So I am talking, really, about these elementary points.
Dr. TURNBULL. I understand. I think that does weigh on the side of
the utility of such a core test. I think even in the basic skills, as reading,
writing, and mathematics, you will find differences from place to place
as to what people believe should receive emphasis in teaching those
skills. That would be my only concern, sir. -
Senator PELL. Why would there by any difference in say arithmetic,
between that taught in the ghetto school in New York and in a farm
community in Kansas, as far as adding, subtracting, or division?
Dr. TURNBULL. I think as long as one conceives of the test content
as completely abstract rather than problems posed in various
terminology-
Senator PELL. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. We are not referring to
asking a youngster in New York how many rows of wheat can you
plow in a day, or something like that, but in abstract terms. The same
thing presumably, if you make it abstract, as I think you could ask in
reading comprehension.
Dr. TURNBtTLL. Certainly this can be done. Most tests do have the
problem to be solved embedded in enough context to give the student
a fuller concept of the nature of the task, of the issue involved in the
question.
However, I am not so concerned about the specific language as I am
about the definition of the elements that go into basic writing com-
petence, for example, or reading competency. Mathematics is a little
easier.
Senator PELL. Let me be specific: "Will you please write a paragraph
about any subject you wish, at least 100 words long?" Surely that
should be able to be done by a youngster anywhere. One could deter-
mine whether it was grammatical after it was written, whether it is
about plowing rows or riding the subway.
Dr. TUENBULL. I would strongly endorse that type of thing as part
of any program, if adopted, and in that case the difference would come
not in the question but in the standard applied in reading and grading.
Senator PELL. Purely grammatical, nothing to do with sociological
or ideological content. I am just talking about grammar.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Let me refine the question, and put it another
way.
Tam sorry to be late, but I lost my way.
Senator PELL. I apologize to everybody in the room. Some came in
late. This is not that this is not an open session or that we tried to
keep it secret; this was the only room available. It was nice of the
House, which is not always nice to the Senate, to let us have this
room. Otherwise we would be outside on the west front.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Leaving the question of grammar and its cor-
rectness, when I taught in engineering school (freshman students,
many students take engineering because they did badly in English in
high school, and are not enthusiastic, I would give them assignments
of the following kind, that is, assignments in which the student is
asked to give instructions on something that the other students in the
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57
class do not know about, whether it is making an omelet or changing
spark plugs on a four-cylinder Ford, whatever. And spelling, gram-
mar, did not matter, except if somebody else cannot carry out the
instructions then it is marked as an "F." If the person can carry out
the instructions, no matter how you spelled, it is an "A."
It was very interesting. Since then I have thought many times of
the functionalism of reading and writing, speaking in survival terms,
which is fashionable nowadays. You buy an electrical appliance, or
a television, or whatever you buy, and so many things come disassem-
- -- - bled for convenience in packaging, as soon as you get them home from
Sears you have to read a whole set of instructions on how t.o assemble
it.
Senator PELL. I never do it. I get my wife to do it.
Senator HAYAKAWA. You don't pass the reading test, either.
But there are tests of this kind which are functional, a matter of
survival. If people cannot read them their background doesn't matter;
to survive in this culture you have to be able to do this. These tests
are not culture-free, they are not free of bias, because if you read
only Chinese the machinery from Sears, Roebuck remains incompre-
hensible to you. But I don't see where there cannot be a uniform,
nationwide test for just that skill, and required no matter what your
language background.
You speak of coming from non-English-speaking homes. That is I,
too. And we had to learn to survive in an English-speaking culture.
My high school classmates in Winnipeg were Polish immigrant chil-
dren, Hungarian Jewish, Russian Jewish, spoke Yiddish at home. We
all had to learn to survive in English. Many had urban backgrounds,
many textbooks in Manitoba were written on the assumption of an
agricultural background.
When you say there are differences from place to place in the re-
quirements of accomplishment in English or arithmetic, tell me about
the difference between, say, North Dakota and Maryland in this
respect.
Dr. TURNBULL. Mr. Chairman, there is no one with whom I would
less enjoy trying conclusions on the matter of writing than Senator
Hayakawa.
But let me respond briefly. I don't believe geography is the principal
issue.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Suppose it is a social class. Does it matter what
social class you were brought up in when you have the job following
a recipe in a cookbook, or trying to give someone else instructions?
One of the communications problems I used to give students in engi-
neering school is suppose you are trying to communicate by telephone
to someone in a trapped submarine below as to what levers to push,
what to do to get out. How would you do it? And if the person in the
trapped submarine gets out alive you get an "A." If they perish, no
matter what your grammar, so forth, you get an "F."
Senator PELL. Admiral Rickover's analogy.
Senator HAYAKAWA. I think the whole objection to cultural bias in
tests is a result of reading more into the tests than was ever intended.
But if people read more than is intended, then what needs changing?
The tests, or the people who do that reading-in? I mean, if you take
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someone's temperature with a thermometer it says nothiiig about~ his
character, skin color, religion, his propensity to theft, or his honesty.
It just gives his temperature; that is all.
And these tests do not do more. If we can regard them as culturally
neutral, a test that says, in effect, the testee did not understand Eng-
lish, or the testee has not mastered sixth grade arithmetic, are these
not the same for all social classes, the same for all regions of the
United States?
Dr. FORBES. May I dive in?
Senator HAYAKAWA. Please.
Dr. FORBES. We try to be very careful, through our review and re-
porting processes, of cultural bias and the possibility of someone read-
ing into the test things that are not there. I think we have done a good
job of minimizing racial and economic bias interest items.
Senator PELL. Do you have any of these tests in your submission for
the record here?
Dr. FORBES. No. I can submit them.
Senator PELL. If they are not too long I would like them inserted in
the record.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Yes.
Dr. FORBES. Certainly.
I recall a review session with school people who questioned our use
of the words "vacuum cleaner" in an example. They said "Where we
are everybody calls it a "carpet sweeper." That is an easy fix, and we
try to use a term we think everybody uses, such as "refrigerator," tO
get the same type of knowledge we are after.
I think another responsibility we have in testing is to let people
know the steps we take in trying to be sure bias does not exist in the
test.
Further, we must make sure that as we report to the general public
we have all these limitations and caveats included, so they know this
is what we were trying to do and that we were not trying to use the
test to do two or three other things. I think review and report-
ing processes require continuous work. I do not think we will. ever
completely solve the problem of cultural bias, however, for the reasons
you have stated.
Senator HAYAKAWA. I don't think we should. Every test in English
is biased against Japanese or French. But what is wrong with that?
Every test in mathematics that I cannot pass-and most of them I
cannot-is biased against nonmathematicianS like me.
But is not the purpose of the test to weed them out?
Dr. TURNBULL. Exactly. I agree completely with the .approach you
just defined tO that issue. I believe cultural bias is a false issue, as I
have said in my introductory statement. It. is one that would be neither
helped nor hindered by a national test, because there are the same
issues vis-a-vis a~ national test as are present in the existing ones.
I have in mind the freely written expression of a student. If you
ask a student. to write a brief exnository passage exp'aining something
you do indeed have a question of the mechanics of his writing, spelling
errors, capitalization~ punctuation, so on. You have also questions
about how effectively he has expressed those ideas: Do the subjects and
verbs agree? There is also a problem of whether he has written to the
point or has essentially written on an irrelevant subject which is not
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necessarily a function of his ability to manage grammar, but it speaks
on the question of instructions for assembling what comes unassembled
from the Sears, Roebuck catalog. There is the question of whether he
or she strings together unrelated sentences or is really saying some-
thing. These questions go a little beyond the basics of a grammatical
set of words in sequence.
Different people put their emphasis on different components of such
production. The result is that if the same production by a student is
read by a number of different teachers, the quality rating assigned to
that production is likely to be very different from one teacher to an-
other. Largely thttt is because teachers look at different strengths, put
stress and value on different things.
Senator PELL. Were you through, Senator Hayakawa?
Senator HAYAKAWA. No; I am not.
Senator PELL. May I add. I am delighted that the only professional
educator in the Senate is with us on this committee, and can give a
great deal to it. I am just delighted that you are here, Senator.
Senator HAYAKAWA. This kind of essay assignment in which people
are asked to write 100 words on anything they please seems to me to
be, well, not a very legitimate test of anything very much.
Senator PELL. Why wouldn't it be a test of grammar? That is all
I am talking about, not context.
Senator HAYAKAWA. I never believed much in grammar, myself, be-
cause, in all seriousness, the important thing is the semantic content.
If I say to you "I am broke," "I am busted," "I am flat," "I am finaii-
cially embarrassed," "My assets are not in liquid condition," it doesn't
matter, you are not going to get paid anyway.
I always felt the actual value of the communication was important.
If I write instructions to you on where you find the eggs and how
to fry them, in the morning you come downstairs and find it on the
kitchen table and fry your eggs, who never fried them before, then
satisfactory communication has occurred, and it doesn't matter if my
spelling and paragraphing divisions are wrong, so forth.
I think of communication in functional terms, and I think that
kind of test can be devised. I think some do exist as prerequisite for
entering, for example, engineering school. And I would say grammar
tests are culturally biased, because there is no semantic difference be-
tween "I have no money" and "I ain't got no money." They refer to
the same objective situation. So I would not worry about that.
But I do worry about the ability of a person to describe an existing
state of affairs. Whether you talk about tomatoes or carburetors, what-
ever, if you can describe the situation so someone understands it and
follow directions and do the appropriate thing about it, that is func-
tional communication.
Dr. FORBES. We are at the present time planning an assessment in
writing to occur in 1978-79. My guess is that we will include an item
which asks a student to write instructions for people to follow. It is an
excellent idea, I think.
In my handout there is an item, in a blue folder, which was rep-
licated by a school system in Minnesota. The item shows a picture
of kangaroo jumping over a fence. The students are asked to look at
the picture for a while, and to write a short paragraph or short story
about ~what they thought was happening in the picture.
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60
Another example of a writing exercise, that got us in a little trouble
with some organizations, was one in which we said, "Some peoplebe-
heve a woman's place is in the home. Some people disagree with that."
You can see why we had some trouble. We asked the students to take
one side or the other and present their response with support for their
side of the argument. We were testing the ability of students to write
persuasively on their points of view, saying, "This is what I believe,
and this is why I believe it."
We already have in the military and in civil service and all sorts
of places, standard tests by which we evaluate people. I don't see why
there is an objection to our developing a federal standard by means
of which a parent can pick up the Federal standard and learn of it
and find out if a fourth grade child has actually learned fourth-grade
arithmetic, no matter in what part of the country. If the parent finds
his child is still at second-grade level he can raise hell with the school
system and ask what is wrong:
"The national standard for fourth grade accomplishment is this.
Here is my child at the second grade level. Why?"
We have then a basis for complaint against that school system.
Right now we get a lot of jive about different cultural standards,
development of personality, creativity, all sorts of things, but they do
not pay attention to the necessity of learning how to add figures, and
holding them to it.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Well, I would say that problems of that kind
of persuasive writing, argumentative writing, can really be deferred
while we work out., say, basic arithmetic, because that is something
on which objective standards exist, and the ability of a student to, say,
as I said in the previous hearing, know enough division to go on to
multiplication, know enough to go on to algebra; these are known
facts to any mathematics teacher. People can be, and are, tested on
them, and we need not worry about cultural bias, because the same
multiplication table holds good in Bayonne, N.J., or in California,
for all classes.
I don't know why there is any objection whatsover to formulation
of Federal standards which are offered as voluntary matters that
people may comply with or ignore, as they wish. I see no objection to
this kind of study being set up in arithmetic.
Certainly, obviously you do it for Army and Navy enlistment, and
grade people according to that, and put some people in some kinds of
occupations and trade programs, others you put in entirely different
kinds of training programs, because of their educational level, their
background, which fits them for another kind of duty, different from
others.
There is enormous consideratio~i involved in not holding them to it,
because we refuse to hold ghetto kids to these standards, and we say
poor kids have a background of 300 years of slavery, whatever. It
doesn't matter, they still have to function in this world and have to
know arithmetic and algebra, so on, just as a clerk in a grocery store.
Nevertheless we do send them out into the world unable to do these
things, and give them high school diplomas when they are still not
able to do arithmetic. We do it nbw to them. It is a dirty shame. We as
a profeEsion consciously do it to them. As a profession, we are resist-
ing formulation of standards that we need before wedo anything else.
PAGENO="0065"
61
I read your presentation before coming, and I still do not under-
stand why research is necessary to formulate different standards for 50
different States when there are so many things on which the 50 States,
and all other civilized nations, for that matter, agree.
In San Francisco every year we have an arithmetic grading test.
These Chinese kids from Hong Kong and Thailand who cannot speak
English, beat everybody else in the test.. So the whites and Japanese
and Jews and everybody else are appalled at the way the Chinese get
ahead of them when many of these kids don't even speak English.
Our Chinese immigrant kids are pretty weliprepared in some respects,
even if they cannot speak English.
Now, is it cultural bias against all the rest of the population, that
favors the Chinese? Not at all. It is just that we are not doing the
job in this country that they are doing in Hong Kong and Thailand,
in arithmetic.
Dr. TU~NBULL. I would like to respond, Mr. Chairman, by saying I
think that is an admirable statement of the issue on cultural bias, and
a conclusion with which I fully agree. If my statement conveyed a dif-
ferent impression I was not being clear in my own writing.
I did revise the summary statement which you may have seen, Dr.
Hayakawa, to read:
For reasons I have outlined, I do not believe that a federal `testing program in
the basic skills is either necessary or desirable. I do not believe that federally-im-
posed performance standards to be applied uniformly across the country are
required. Nor do I believe we need a new, federally-sponsored set of tests of the
basic skills. There are many good ones already.
It has been suggested that the thorny issue of "cultural bias" makes it inappro-
priate to use the same test of basic skills with students from various economic,
social and ethnic backgrounds. This is, I think, a false issue where most existing
tests are concerned and is not a valid argument either for or against a new
national test.
for exactly the reasons you outlined, `sir.
Senator HAYAKAWA. What is all this about "bias of opportunity,"
soon?
Dr. TURNBULL. If I may respond, it is my understanding from con-
versations prior to the hearing that the cultural-bias issue had been
raised as one having a material bearing on whether or not a program
in the basic skills, particularly a national test in the basic skills, would
be advisable.
My reason for addressing the topic was that it has been made an
issue. My conclusion on it is that it is a false issue and that those
"biases," those factors that are addressed, are irrelevant to whether or
not a person is able to function adequately in reading, writing, and
arithmetic.
Senator HAYAKAWA. I want to ask you about page 14 of your fuller
statement.'
The provision of "an affirmative declaration by the Congress and the
administration," so forth, that is fine.
But "the provision of funds for Federal help through the appro-
priate agencies within HEW and through additional appropriations
to be distributed on a State basis," what are those appropriations going
to be used for?
Dr. TURNBIJLL. In general, it should concentrate on those things that
should, for efficiency, be done centrally as a service to all States rather
95-038 0 - 77 - 5
PAGENO="0066"
62
than invented anew by each. Specifics might include: Developing
models of successful ways in which people have already approached
tasks such as defining the basic skill areas of concern and the elements
within the broad areas; deciding on the educational levels at which to
test, including adult.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Do you know about the University of Islam, in
Chicago-? It is not a university, at all. It is basically an elementary and
high school, conducted by the group that used to be known as the Black
Muslims; I think they have changed their name, Spending about a
quarter of the money spent by the Chicago public schools, they do
better on the average than the average for the whole public school
system of Chicago, because the Black Muslims are motivated by an
ideology and a strong desire to excel and a strong desire to master the
skills and learnings necessary to succeed in our kind of culture. The
record of t.hat Black Muslim school system is really an appalling
commentary on the rest of the school systems, all run by Ph. D.'s like
me, educational experts, so on.
Why is it that with one-quarter of the funding of the regular school
system they get such spectacular results?
Dr. T1JRNBULL. I feel strongly that that and other spectacular illus-
trations of success should be sought out and described and made fully
public in other places, so the results could be emulated. That would be
one thing I think the Federal Government could very usefully do in
this field, to be sure good efforts are recognized and widely dissemi-
nated.
I believe improving teaching, learning, and following models of this
kind if they apply elsewhere, as they probably would, is a highly. im-
portant Federal responsibility, because the Federal Government has a
purview that includes what is done in many communities around, the
country.
The other question, however, is how does one in a community set
standards as to what basic proficiency levels should be. That has been
well worked out in a number of areas, such as reading, trying to re-
late reading skills the student acquires in school to the real-life prob-
lems people have in attempting to get along in society. Those skills
include, for example, reading a loan agreement, reading a dictionary,
reading a tax `form-which may be beyond any of us-reading medi-
cine label's, directions, so on.
There has been a fairly extensive attempt made to determine what
those competencies a.re across levels of, say, adult functioning. I don't
think it is known to most State and local school districts that the re-
suits of those studies, funded under Federal auspices, are available
and can be translated into standards that can be applied to teaching
and learning going on in school districts around the country.
That is a role I believe the Federal Government could usefully ful-
fill: to make useful the research and development that has gone on to
date.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Let me say, Mr. Chairman, in my own educa-
tional experience I find, and have always found, that educational re-
`search has rarely meant a change of practices in the classroom, except
to divert attention away from the central job of teaching arithmetic,
or grammar, or whatever is to be taught.
PAGENO="0067"
63
I myself went through the public schools and high schools and
universities in Canada. One thing I remember vividly about the Ca-
nadian system is that there was an eighth-grade test covering all
subjects taught in the eighth grade, that one had to pass to get into
high school. But that eighth-grade test was uniform for the entire
Province of Maintoba, and if graduates of your elementary school did
badly in this the whole teaching staff of that school was on the
griddle: "What is the matter?" And you could not complain that
this was a rural school and you cannot be compared with high-class
schools in Winnipeg. There was no arguing back if you did not meas-
ure up to the rest of the Province in these areas of knowledge of arith-
metic, knowledge of grammar, knowledge of Canadian history or
civics, or whatever it was.
Now, this is a counsel of despair, in a way, because it runs counter to
so much American education, but having watched this system of volun-
tariness in education for so long, and seeing the declining standards
over the years, I am really quite unhappy about the way things go.
`Whenever you present a problem they tell you "We need research."
I was part of the research project on what should be undertaken in
English instruction in the high schools in the State of California. We
had lots of meetings, traveled a.t State expense, had a very good time,
and ultimately issued a report. I have never heard any evidence that
that report was ever read or acted upon.
So much of educational research takes exactly this form. It is some-
thing to keep teachers busy, it is an excuse for time off from one's
teaching, then you write this unreadable report that no one reads.
When you finish that you ask for another grant for another research
project, and you will be going another 2 years.
`Whereas, if you were to say, if the State won't do it, if at the Federal
level we say this is the kind of test in arithmetic that everybody in
this whole darned country ought to be able to pass in order to qualify
as a gradesehool graduate, or highschool graduate, or fifth-grade grad-
tiate, this puts the pressure on to say, "Look, shape up, this is where
we do."
If we want to establish universal literacy-and we do not have the
universal literacy Norway or Japan or France, for instance, has, we
don't come anywhere near it, I would like to see us developing toward
a national standard. If we cannot do it at the State level, make the
teachers shape up and stop doing research projects on that which is
already known, do it at the 5ta~e level.
Dr. TURNBTJLL. May I respond?
Senator PELL. Please.
Dr. TURNBULL. I am not about to take up cudgels for the utility 0±
all educational research. I think, however, the example of research I
gave is research that has been done but not translated into practical-
action alternatives for the State's to use.
My concern is exactly as you put it, that it was gathering dust on the
shelf, not being used. It is research directly applicable to the problem
before the States. I would like to see it taken one step further, to the
stage at which it would be useful.
If I believe the States would not do the job and had no interest in
it I might well make the same argument for a~ Federal set of stand-
ards-and-measurements system. The evidence we have gathered over
PAGENO="0068"
64
the past year is that almost every State in the Union has a problem
actively under development. I am concerned that those programs may
not be as well done as they should be done and can `be done. Not basic
research, but rather development activities at the national level can
be put at their service so they can do well what they will be doing
anyway. -
`Senator PELL. Thank you.
Senator HAYAKAWA. Thank you.
Senator PELL. For those who are here, the reason we do not have
full attendance at this subcommittee is that other members have very
busy schedules. I am presently scheduled to be attending six other
committee or subcommittee meetings this morning; we are all spread
very thin indeed.
I may have to recess this meeting for 5 or 10 minutes, because there
is another one that I have to be at for a few minutes.
Does Dr. Forbes have a response he could make to some of the ques-
tions posed by my colleague?
Dr. FORBES. I certainly agree with your conclusion about a lot of
educational research sitting on the shelf and never being used.
I have been most encouraged, in the last couple years since I have
been involved in National Assessment, by how States use National, As-
sessment. For example, the State of Maine replicated part of the Na-
tional Assessment, and Maine was able to identify an area of concern
with their French-speaking students. After this need was identified,
action was taken to implement a program to correct some of those
deficiencies.
The blue handout I mentioned, from Bloomington, Minn., contains
an example of a loca.l school system, parents and educators workin
together, able to create standards at the local level of what they shoul
expect their students to be able to do in writing. This school system
was able to replicate part of the National Assessment's writing assess-
ment and compare local results against national and regonal results
and against its standard. This school system identified shortcomings
and, as a conclusion, will address those shortcomings.
So there are a lot of individual examples of the way in which assess-
ment data may be used, and has been used, to correct or improve cur-
ricula., and to make changes in response to the needs that were identi-
fied.
These `assessment results are a small percentage of all research, but
I think we have some reason to be optimistic that perhaps we as re-
searche:rs are learning better how to prepare and report our data and
work closely with practitioners so it can be implemented.
On the matter of standards we do something very similar to the
ETS. The Education Commission of the States provides service to all
its member States by keeping them informed of all of the State legisla-
tion or State regulation being created in the whole minimal compe-
tency standards area; Forty-nine out of the 50-States have something
actively going on at the present time. This is relatively new; it has
occurred all in the last several years. The Education Commission of
the States is planning a series of regional conferences in the fall to
help the States have more information about these concerns, to know
what iQ available from the various States, and to have a chance to talk
with each other about their concerns with these problems, and issues.
PAGENO="0069"
65
`We at the Commission, the National Assessment project, and I per-
sonally, are quite encouraged that the States are taking an extremely
active role in this area.
We do have problems, however. One that continues to come to my
mind is that 13 percent of the 17-year-olds in school are functionally
illiterate. When you get into low socioeconomic areas it is about one
out of every five. So the need is there. The States have recognized the
need and are taking action.
I support the position Dr. Turnbull has stated. Standards should
be essentially a prerogative of the State or local education agency. `We
are seeing movement in that direction at the present time. If technical
assistance can be provided from the Federal level, we feel continuation
of the efforts of the National Assessment in having the national com-
parative data available, will enable the State systems to use this type of
information for comparison when they set standards for their local
and State assessments.
I guess, in summary, I feel it should be a State or local prerogative
to set standards, and since we see movement in that direction at the
present time we should give the agencies who have responsibility for
education in this country an opportunity to act.
Senator PELL. I have a series of questions I would like to ask. Per-
haps you could make your comments or answers short.
I want to be sure I underst.and the position of each of you.
You both oppose mandatory tests across the country. Is that correct?
Dr. FORBES. Yes.
Dr. T1JRNBULL. Yes.
Senator PELL. By the same token, you would be supportive of an op-
tional Federal test being available to be applied by a local educational
system if it wished. Would that be correct?
Dr. TURNBULL. I have some concern about answering yes to that
question. I believe the more options there are the. better. The problem,
in~ my mind, would be if the national test took on such an aura of re-
quirement, despite all efforts to t.he contrary, that people felt more or
less compelled to use it, against their belief that it provided a good
fit for their educational objectives. I would be concerned. And I would
prefer to leave a~ freer climate of choice in the schools than I believe
would be engendered by a national test, even though its voluntary
character were made as clear as one could.
Dr. FORBES. The National Assessment at the present time has a pooi
of items that contain t.he documentation for hOw to score as well as
how to administer, and all the national and regional data. That pool
contains almost 1,800. items at the present time. That information is
all available for local and State governments or education agencies to
use.
I guess it is a rather egotistical view, but I think the service is
presently being rende.red through the Nat.ional Assessment, a federally
funded project, and that the service is being made available to States
and locals. If they would like to make use of those items and the
methodology of National Assessment, then they have the information
with which to compare at. the national level. It needs some modifica-
tion-I hasten t.o put that qualifier in there-but I think the need is
presently being met.
PAGENO="0070"
66
Senator PELL. You would be supportive of the availability of op-
tional tests across the Nation? Why are you wiggling around on this?
Dr. FORBES. I would be supportive of the items being available for
optional use at the local level, but I encourage giving the locals the
opportunity to construct their own tests.
Senator PELL. I must ask your forebearance. I have to recess for
about 10 minutes; but we will be back in about 10 minutes.
[Whereupon, the subcommittee was recessed from 11:15 a.m~ to
11:25 a.m.]
Senator PELL. The subcommittee will come to order.
Dr. Forbes, you have in one of your reports, on "Writing," the
statement that:
In a survey of writing skills taken first in 1970 and repeated in 1974, National
Assessment found that, in 1974, students aged 13 and 17 used a simpler vocabu-
lary, wrote in a short, "primer-like" style and had more incoherent paragraphs
than their counterparts in school four years earlier. Only the 9.year-olds' papers.
showed an improvement, with the proportion of good writers rising in 1q74.
This would seem to indicate if they were truants and stayed away
from school they would have improved.
What is your explanation for the facts underlying this conclusion?
Dr. FORBES. We found similar things in the reading assessment,
Senator. We found improvement in the 9-year-old level and no im
provement at 13 and .17 year-olds, and a strong suggestion of a decline
in the 17-yea.r-olds in ability to infer from what they read.
The decline of science knowledge of the 13- and 17-year-olds was
greater than the 9-year-olds.
I don't think it is a funct.ion of staying in school, but what was not
happening in school when the 13- and 17-year-olds came through.
Based on my experience in a large city school system, in Louisville,
Ky., I know we are going to have results from the massive infusion of
Federal dollars, at the primary level, grades 1, 2, and 3, both in read-
ing and mathematics. So my guess is that-just a guess, not based on
National Assessment data-we are going to show benefits from the
programs, those programs implemented at the lower levels of school.
We do not have the same types of programs implemented at junior and
senior high schools. It is my guess that is the reason. Again, it is merely
a guess.
Senator PELL. I think the record of this hearing and the previous~
ones, when printed, will prove of interest to people across our country
when they turn to this subject of tests. That is why .1 am putting in
as much of the material you submitted as possible.
I have a series of questions I want to run through, and I think your
answers will be of significance to this dialog.
Dr. Forbes, with all of the information you have collected at Na-
tional Assessment you must have a~ pretty good handle on the status
of education in the United States.
Could you give us a summary of it as you see it today?
Is it improving? I gather from your remarks it is.
Is it improving as the race for increased knowledge in our tech-
nologically advancing society requires education and knowledge?
Dr. FORBES. I guess it would be nice if there were an easy yes and
no, and no up or down to the question.
Senator PELL. There will be more, later questions like that.
PAGENO="0071"
67
Dr. FORBES. Basically what I see occurring is increased ability
among the nine-year-olds for the most part, with the exception of
science. I think that can be explained because we probably peaked out
in science interest after Sputnik and National Assessment picked up
on the downward stream of that interest in collecting our data.
In the data we have collected on writing and reading, we have seen
improvement in the 9-year-old level. If we look at the 17-year-old
level, we see also an improvement in the students' abilities to handle
the most basic of reading tasks, that is, following or using an index
in a newspaper, or following directions,. reading signs, reading direc-
tions on a medicine bottle. In other words, 17-year-olds have improved
in their ability to perform very simple reading tasks.
At the same time, there is a suggestion of a decline in the ability
of those students to infer from what they have read. Students are
pretty well off when it comes to the most basic of the basics, but at
the level of making inferences from what is read, students have:
problems.
For certain groups of students that historically have performed
quite low in all our assessments, those problems still remain. For ex-
ample, the blacks in the Southeast, or in general, have performed at a
lower level on the tests than the white population. I think it is prob-
ably attributable directly to socioeconomics, but we are beginning to
see that gap start to close, which is quite encouraging. But the problem
is still there.
Thirteen percent of the 17-year-olds in school are functionally il-
literate. When one looks at students served by schools in the lower so-
cioeconomic areas, functional illiteracy goes up to 20 perent.
Senator PELL. Is it not basically economics, that determine these
results? You say the blacks have not done as well. Is that not because
of what the family income is, whether for blacks or whites? Has there
been a paralleling of the structure so you can say such a community,
predominantly black, did not do as well in the test, but you can also
point out that the income level of that community is much lower than
average?
Dr. FORBES. Yes. We report data for size and type of community in
which the students live, going from what we call high metropolitan,
the affluent areas of a metropolitan area, down to what we refer to as
low metropolitan area, where most of the families are either on wel-
fare or unemployed.
As one would suspect, those people in the lower socioeconomic strata
perform at the bottom.
Senator PELL. Skip socio and just say lower income. It is more fam-
ily income?
Dr. FORBES. Yes. The performance of those students is lower than
of. those from families with higher income. Included in the issue is
the matter of the parents' education. We ask the students what grades
their fathers and mothers completed. We are getting perceptions of
students rather than the actual fact; but it is their perception of the
educational level of the parents. Again, the lower amount of educa-
tion the parents have the lower the performance of the students.
Senator PELL. Have you ever attempted a correlation between how
many more years of schooling those children have than their parents?
PAGENO="0072"
68
If the average parent had say 5 years of education the average child
of that parent would have 7 or 8 or 9?
Dr. FORBES. We have not done that. We have the data that would
allow it.
Senator PELL. It would be interesting to be able to say across the
board: "On the average today youngsters have x years more schooling
than their parents."
Dr. FORBES. If we look at the data for a group, for example the
Hispanic students, as a group they score low, but there are Hispanic
students who score very high relative to all students.
It is not a matter of saying blacks or Hispanic score low. As a group,
more students from low-income, low-economic conditions score low,
but within the group there are students achieving at very high levels.
Senator PELL. Really depending on income. Rich Hispanic would
score higher than poor whites, wouldn't that be correct?
Dr. FORBES. Our sample is too small to draw that conclusion. I would
guess that is right.
Dr. TURNBULL. I believe, Senator, it is very important to remember
that within any group, such as Hispanic, among families of low in-
come, there will be some very high-scoring students.
Dr. Forbes is discussing, as he said, average performance rather
than saying one can indicate the performance of any individual ac-
cording to group classification.
Senator PELL. Do you include Portugese in the Hispanic group.
This is of great interest in my State. We have a large number.
Dr. FORBES. Frankly, the reporting of our Hispanic data included
many caveats and limitations. We collected data on heritage by visual
identification or by using someone familiar with the school system to
identify the nationality or cultural background of the students. We
were able to list students as being either Mexican-American, or
Puerto Rican, or others.
We have further broken it down now to pick up Cubans and Central
or South Americans.
We have not tried to pick up the Portugese population.
When we reported the data we had a sanwle large enough to report
the way the Hispanic in the Northeast and Western States performed.
Senator PELL. When the national assessment was first stated. I
remember, a lot of concern was expressed by the professional edu-
cators and the chief school officers that the effort would lead to a na-
tional curriculum and Federal control of education.
Has that concern disappeared?
If so. how did you manage to overcome those fears?
Dr. FORBES. The concern has not disappeared. I think the people
who were concerned remain very alert. Any time I have spoken with
groups and even started to suggest something that looks to anyone
like it would lead to a national. curriculum I get the question in a
hurry.
Senator PELL. So many of us walk on eggshells. We are pressing
you on the one side, and your constituency presses you on the other
side, as is true of so many issues. -
Dr. FORBES. National assessment is thought of as a somewhat quasi-
independent organization, tha.t is, one that is funded and supported
by the Federal Government but the project is not controlled by the
PAGENO="0073"
69
Federal Government. Therefore we have been able to establish an
acceptance at the State and local level, and it is kind of based on a
lot of mutual trust between the two.
We also provide the States and locals with a great deal of service.
If the State calls and wants to have some of our information or receive
tecimical assistance, we make it available very quickly.
So I think that concern is-it is quieter, would probably be the word
to describe it at this time. But the people remain alert..
Senator PELL. If you change your views and testimony here to that
suggested by Admiral Rickover when he was here earlier, that concern
would become very much alive, would it not?
Dr. FORBES. It would become very much alive. So politically there
is, I guess, reason for my carefully chosen words.
But I happen also to personally feel very strongly, coming from a
local school system background, that that is where I would like per-
formance standards set.
Senator PELL. You mentioned several examples of how States and
local districts use your data for comparison purposes. In this regard,
how many States have used National Assessment data for comparison
purposes?
Second, what other services do you offer to States and local
districts?
Dr. FORBES. I touched a little on the second question earlier.
With regard to the first question, at the present time there are ii~
States that have used our items and methods in replicating portions
of national assessments. Not all subject areas have been replicated,
I hasten to add.
At the present time we. have entered into negotiations with the State
of Michigan to possibly do a concurrent assessment in the career oc-
cupational development area. The list will continue to grow.
Senator PELL. I will ask that there be inserted in the record the 11
States, which I am glad include my own State.
In regard to the services you provide, you have touched on them.
Can you itemize-i, 2,3,4-any other services you have provided?
Dr. FORBES. I t.hink foremost would be the items I mentioned earlier.
Currently 1,800 items are available for local or State use. A state or
local agency can select from these items in developing assessments
unique to their programs.
In addition to making items available, and offering technical assist-
ance at the State level for replicating what we do in the National
Assessment, we send out a newsletter to State and local people at their
request. I think the latest issue was mailed to more than 30,000 people.
The newsletter keeps people current about what is going on with
National Assessment, and also what is happening in some of the State
assessment programs.
We run each year a conference for State assessment people. It is
held each spring. This year we had approximately 250 people from 42
of the States present. They exchanged ideas on what is happening at
the State level, or at the local level. Most at.tendees are State assess-
ment testing people, people from ot.her testing organizations, and local
agencies. Recently, some State legislators have attended.
Senator PELL. Have you had such a conference in Rhode Island?
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Dr. FORBES. No; this is held each year in Boulder, Cob. But people
from Rhode Island have participated.
We work closely with the State assessment people in Rhode Island.
Senator PELL. Has National Assessment established standards for
student performance?
In that regard, do you find it difficult to interpret your own data?
Dr. FORBES. No; we have not established national standards. That is
one of the things we previously touched on, and we have stayed away
from establishing standards for the reasons I have mentioned.
The objective of National Assessment is to monitor, at a national
level, what is going on in education. The primary purpose of the assess-
ment is to measure changes in student achievement over time so that
educators and government officials will know what progress is being
achieved in reaching the country's overall educational goals. This is
the service we are providing. I think this makes it all worthwhile.
Senator PELL. Why do you survey by age level rather than grade
level?
Dr. FORBES. When the National Assessment was designed in the mid-
1960's the question of age level versus grade level was wrestled
with for some time. States have age entrance requirements for first
grade; in some States students have to be 6 years old by October 15-
I believe this is the earliest-other States have a deadline as late as
March 31. So immediately you get into a problem of how maturity
affects the achievement. The designers of the project concluded it
would be best to go with age level assessment.
Starting with the data we collected last year, we have now started
reporting the grade within age data, and that makes it easier, then,
for States to compare.
An example, in the packet I handed out., was the Washington State
educational assessment; a replication of some of our items. We have
provided them with the grade and age data, and those are the data
they use to make comparisons.
Senator PELL. Your report uses data at the national and regional
level, but not at the State and local level. Why is that?
Dr. FORBES. When the program was designed there was the concern
that a national assessment could lead to a national curriculum with the
possibility of Federal takeover of the school system.
One of the compromises was to set up a design that would not report
State-level data. Therefore, no comparison between States would be
possible and the problem would be avoided.
At the present time we have seen a movement, however, toward some
interest in State-level data. The current president of the chief school
officers association, I think, has made statements in support of State-
level data..
From a project point of view, we would be willing to expand our
sample to provide State-level da.ta~ but I feel it should be on a vol-
irntary basis; if the States want to participate they should be allowed
to, always with the caveat that the dollars are available to do the
assessment.
Senator PELL. If the State wante.d to get data I guess the chief State
school officer, or the Senator from that State, could ask you for it.
could he not.?
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Dr. Foiuu~s. That is a tough one.
Senator PELL. Why?
Dr. FORBES. The sample size within any one State up to now is small
enough that it would not be representative of the State. So therefore
we have fears that the data could be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
We have been hesitant to provide any State-level data at any time and
up to this point we have not done that.
Senator PELL. How large is the sample in my State of Rhode Island,
which represents one-half of 1 percent of the total population?
Dr. FORBES. I don't have the exact figure.
Senator PELL. Roughly.
Dr. FORBES. I really do not know, sir.
Senator PELL. Would you submit that for the record? ~
Dr. FORBES. I certainly can.
Senator PELL. Thank you.
Another point you mentioned in your testimony was that in ghetto
schools, schools enrolling large numbers of the disadvantaged, there has
been a 4-percent improvement in reading ability in the past period of
time. Is this perhaps because we have focused our attention on prob-
lems there, with title I money?
Does this mean when we can identify the problem and focus on it one
sees immediate improvement-to be optimistic?
Dr. FORBES. I might disagree with "immediate."
From my experience at the local level, it took us a long time to learn
how effectively and efficiently to spend those dollars. I think we have
probably turned that corner as far as some of the primary reading and
math problems are concerned.
But if we tried to evaluate after we had been into the program for
3 to 6 years we probably would not have found many successes.
Senator PELL. You don't think title I is directly responsible for this
improvement, that without title I you would have found no change?
Dr. FORBES. Strictly a guess again, based on the data. I think title I
has been a very important element. But from a.. research evaluation
viewpoint I see no way to separate the. effects of title I from other
things. It is kind of a combination of everything, and being able to
place emphasis on, say, reading in the primary grade. Because. that
money was available and that could happen, I think we see a payoff.
Senator PELL. Thank you, Dr. Forbes.
Now, Dr. Turnbull, in your testimony you define the Federal role
as "describing a valid standard-setting process for States and local
districts."
Don't you think the Federal Government. mi~ht be able to go further
than this and even produce standards that the Federal Government it-
self could set?
Dr. TURNBULL. I think it might he very useful for the. Federal Gov-
erument to undertake such a. step~
I think the question would be whether those federally determined
standards should be made mandatory for application in all the States.
A model of how such steps should be undertaken would be a tremen-
dous advantage.
Senator PErr~. I am not pushing for mandatory tests, but ontional
tests, where the Federal Government. with its prestige. would make
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them available. Just as most people wear neckties if they are working
in an office occupation, so most school districts would tend, in the end,
probably to conform to it. However, there would be nothing manda-
tory about it.
t~r. TURNBULL. I was distinguishing between the standard at which
a student would have to perform to be judged adequate in basic skills,
which I believe could be usefully designed on a model basis at the na-
tional level, and the test on which the extent of the students develop-
ment would be measured.
In other words, the test would be analogous to a yardstick. A stand-
ard is how tall the person would have to be in order to be adjudged to
have had adequate nourishment.
As far as a national test is concerned, if one believes that it could
indeed be retained as an entirely voluntary, noncoercive activity, as I *
have said before, the addition of a national test as a model and an op-
tion I think would be an addition, a useful addition, to what is now.
available in the Nation.
I think whether one chooses to adopt or promote such a view or not
depends heavily on one's judgment as to the strength and pressure
that would build up behind the adoption of such an examination.
Senator PELL. If such examination could be made available not only
on a school-by-school basis but also students in the school itself could
apply to take the test, some would and some wouldn't?
Dr. TURNBTJLL. That would be possible, yes.
Senator PELL. In your prepared testimony you said youngsters
seemed to be about the same after 3 or 4 years of schooling now as they
were before.. Where the results seem to drift down is after that period.
How do you account for that?
Dr. TURNBULL. I am not sure. I think Dr. Forbes mentioned the
greater effort made in the earlier grades, which is a logical reason.
It is very hard to prove one thing is the sole cause o~ something else.
I believe I would also be a little concerned about being too definitive as
to the cause. I think two things may account for the decline in the later
years. The first may be simply the extension of more years of schooling
to a larger proportion of the age group. Some students who probably
would not have stayed in school through theupper grades a generation
ago now stay in school. I believe those who would have dropped out of
the school population are on the whole students of lesser academic
background. Therefore their dropping out in earlier years had the
effect of raising the averages.
That may not be all of the answer. It is one that is easiest to describe.
There may also be later effects in the schools of a changing curriculum,
moving away from as large a concentration as previously on the read-
ing and writing and arithmetic skills of students and toward the in-
clusion of different subjects.
Senator PELL. Can you give an example of how the Federal Govern-
ment could give technical assistance in order to provide comparability
among the different test scores?
Dr. TURNBULL. Yes; there is a model, which wouldn't be the only one.
Some years ago the Federal Government found schools were handi-
capped because they were not able to compare results of students who
had taken different kinds of widely available tests in reading, partic-
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ularly in the earlier grades. So it was impossible to make sense out of
the kinds of records that were available across the States in the field
of reading.
The Federal Government undertook a study to place the results on
third-grade reading teSts-a wide variety of tests-oii a single stand-
ard or scale so that the scores from the different tests could be entered
into a similar record and one could get a picture of how an entire
school district or entire State was doing, despite the fact that lOcal
option was retained in selecting particular examinations which the
different schools wanted to use.
That is an example. I think something could usefully be done in
other basic skills at other levels, such as the ninth grade.
Senator PELL. I thank you both for your patience.
I would like to see submitted in the record-you might like to submit
it later-the idea of each of you if you were asked for an optional te~t
on reading comprehension, writing, and arithmetic, your version, your
thought, of what such optional test would be, to prepare such a test.
We will put it in the record just as an idea that you have, not nailing
you to it, but as your thought. Just on those three things; not on
biology, or history, or any other subject-just the ability to compre-
hend a paragraph, write a paragraph grammatically, and simple
arithmetic.
You are going to submit for the record also, I think, Dr. Forbes, the
size of the sample in Rhode Island. I would be very interested in that,
and in anything else you care to submit.
We will keep the record open for 2 weeks for that.
Dr. FORBES. I will be glad to.
Senator PELL. I want this printed up, then, as quickly as possible,
because I believe these two hearings will make a very real contribution
to the mat:ter.
Dr. TURNBtTLL. We will be glad to submit that for your consideration.
* Senator PELL. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statements of Dr. Turnbull and Dr. Forbes along
with additional information for the hearing record follow:]
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STATEMENT BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, ARTS, AND HUMANITIES
COMMITTEE ON HUMMN RESOURCES
U. S. SENATE
PROFICIENCY IN BASIC SKILLS
~Ju1y 27, 1977
WASHINGTON, D.C.
William W. Turnbull, President
Educati onal Testi rig Servi ce
Princeton, N.J.
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Mr. Chairman:
It is a privilege to discuss with you the important and difficult
questions of basic skills, minimum standards in education, anu the
role that Federal initiatives might play in ensuring that people in
the United States are equipped with the competencies they need to
function successfully in this society.
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A. There is a need for national attention to basic skills
Perhaps the first question to ~e asked is whether or not there is a
problem. Is there a need for national attention to the basic skills and the
extent to which students are attaining them?
The answer, I believe, is `Yes." There is no doubt that there are
substantial numbers of students who pass through and graauate from our
secondary schools today without the skills in reading, writing, and mathe-
matics that they need both as a basis for further learning in all subjects
and as prerequisites for participating fully in the responsibilities,
opportunities and rewards that are integral to life in this country.
B. There has been a decline in basic skills
The belief is widespread that the situation now is significantly
worse than it was a generation ago: that the numbers of students whose
skills fall below any reasonable standard of adequacy is now suDstantially
greater.
The data on this point, although not all pointing in the same direction,
tend to suppo~'t the view that there has been a decline in skills. In one
sense, the fact of a decline is not the main issue, since if there are too
many people who lack essential skills we have a serious national problem
regardless of the trend. But if we are losing ground, as many think we are,
we had better know it and do something about it.
A widely reported assertion is that average scores on the Scholastic
Aptitude Test of the College Board, taken near the end of secondary school,
have been going down since l9b3. The reports are correct; tne scores have
declined. In 13 years to 1976, the SAT-Verbal Score made oy the average
student taking the test had gone down some 50 points, from `~7~ to 429, and
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the SAT-Mathematics score for the average student had declined ~y about 30
points, from 502 to 470. The reasons for the change are still under study
by a distinguished panel, chaired by Willard Wirtz, that expects to report
in another month. Meanwhile, the fact of the decline has been interpreted
by many people as evidence that the schools are no longer doing as good a
job as they did in the eariy sixties.
It is important to recognize that the SAT itself is not a test of basic
skills but rather of much more advanced academic ability. Moreover, the SAT
results should not be taken as a measure of the quality of the schools. The
test is intended to reflect abilities developed in a variety of settings, in
and out of school, rather than to mi rror the adequacy of the teachi ng and
the courses of study in secondary school. Moreover, the ranks of the
SAT-takers increased greatly over the period and some part of the dccli ne no
doubt reflects the fact that the young people taking it today include many
who would not have applied to college l years ago. Nonetheless, the
decline in scores may reflect, in part, school-related changes, and in any
case it is a challenging piece of information demanding attention. It is
generally consistent with results drawn from a variety of other national or
regional exams that show a downward drift In performance levels in recent
years at the high school level * The dec11 nes are less in the earl icr
grades, and in fact In the first three or four years of school the attainment
of pupils appears to be substantially the same as before.
Nonetheless, the evidence is convi nd ng that in the upper
grades there. Is a large enough number of students with deficiencies
In the~ basic skills to constitute a serious problem. And the flumber
Is probably growing. V
95-038 0 - 77 - 6
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C. There is widespread public concern
As is not unusual, th~~gntful people around the country, including many
educators, had been personally convinced for some time before the formal
evidence was in hand that the problem was real: the statistical evidence is
confirming a popular consensus already reached.
The reaction to the problem has, indeed, been remarkable. There is a
ferment and an impulse to action of a breadth anci intensity seldom seen In
education. It owes its force both to educators and to the general puolic,
is reflected in the media, and finds expression in demands for legislation,
often to require some form of test In the basic skills.
U. States and local school districts are taking action
Illustrative facts are emerging steadily:
--Forty-nine states are planning, now aeoating, or have enacted
resolutions or legislation on testing for competency or proficiency. Since
danuary of this year alone, Z3 states have introduced legislation. And
California, Florida, New York, and Oregon have begun this year to implement
their programs.
-~ A recent task force of the National Association of Secondary
School Principals called for the establishment of competency requirements
for high school graduation in communication skills, mathematics, and American
history.
-- The National School Boards Association polled its members and found
more than 75 percent belIeved schools shoula concentrate more heavily on the
three basic skills areas.
-- tiallup's latest annual poll of attitudes toward tne public schools
showed that 65 percent of the AmerIcan public now believe all high school
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students should ~e required to pass a nationwide examination prior to high
school graduation. In l95b, just after Sputnik, only 50 percent of the
public expressed support for such an exam.
-- The report on competency testing by the National Commission on
Education Statistics was based on an August 1976 survey conducted for the
National Institute of Education. At that time, five states -- accounting
for 25 percent of the nation's public school enrollment -- had competency-
based testing programs in operation. An additional 24 states were then
involved in some form of performance-based ecucational activities with
emphasis on basic skills. Three more have since become involved. In total,
the report stated more than 67 percent of the total puDlic school enrollment
in the Uniteu States is already involved in basic skills testing in one form
or another.
At the local level, the following examples could be multiplied many
times over to obtain a total picture:
-- In Denver, Colorado, a set of minimum competency tests for high
school graduation has been administered since l9b2. The tests cover
reading, spelling, math, and language mechanics. Remedial instruction
is provided for those who do not pass the tests. The state itself has not
mandated a test, but rather has set guidelines for the kind of test that
should be used for districts that want to implement a program.
-- Beginning In June, 1979, the Los Angeles Unified School District
will require its graduating seniors to pass the Senior high Assessment of
Reading Proficiency (SHARP) test in order to receive a aiploma. Students
will have up to four opportunities to pass the test. Reme~iial instruction
will be provided.
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-- In Duval County, Florida, a program testing for functional literacy
began with ninth grade students during this last academic year.
-- The Gary, Indiana, School System, as one of its system-wide proficiency
examinations in the basic skills of reading, writing, math, and oral communi-
cation, last fall had all ninth grade students write individual essays.
These were centrally graded by teachers in the system under arrangements
designed to insure comparability of the standards applied.
In short, the models for coping with this educational pi'oblem appear to
be almost as many and varied as the localities and levels of government in
which they are being developed. Those local perceptions that have helped
create a wide variety of approaches to educational issues and proolems
continue to lead to a broad array of methods to evaluate, diagnose, and
prescribe. An ETS report, Basic Skills Assessment Around the Nation,
provides a brief review of activities in states and local districts in this
area as of early this year. An update to this report, prepared this
week by the ETS Information Division, Is also appended.
Clearly, then, the issue of basic skills both deserves and is receiving
urgent attention~across the country. In this circumstance, is there any
need for FederaF involvement?
E. Federal involvement can hel~p
I believe the answer is that Federal action is needed. The question is
what form it should take.
The surge of local and state interest in children's education is an
asset of enormous value. We are seeing a genuine grass-roots movement. The
public has identified what it sees as a critical educational issue, and it
is right. If the energyand the desire for improvement now apparent can be
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given point and focus, and if the means of translating it into intelligent
action can be provided, the movement could mark a turning point of major
significance in education.
The principal need at the Federal level is, I believe, educational
leadership in delineating constructive alternative solutions: models of
what can be done and how. The second need is to dO some of the research and
to develop some of the techniques that will be needed for effective action.
The third need is the channeling of some funds, new or already appropriated,
toward this set of problems. In short, there is an opportunity to capitalize
on the enthusiasm and ideas already present and to make available the
resources that can be drawn upon to help make the efforts effective.
F. A Federal testing program is not needed now
Present conditions also suggest that Federal moves that are indeed
possible might be largely redundant and at worst counter-productive. There
is. for example, no evident need for a campaign to raise public awareness:
it has been raised. There is no apparent need for the creation of a Federal
program of testing for minimum competencies: there is already an array of
such programs in place or now being installed, with some variety that will
accomoodate to the differences in emphasis favored in different parts of the
country. Superimposing a national system, even a voluntary one, on a scene
of vigorous local and state initiatives already underway, would run the risk
of dulling the sense of immediate, close-at-hand need for cooperative
self-help that is powering the present movement. It would also raise,
unnecessarily, sensitive questions about the "intrusion" of Federal influence
in State and local prerogatives.
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The most difficult task in any program of testing for competency
is setting the level of accomplishment that will be judged "adequate.
While there is wide agreement in the educational community and among
members of the general public that reading, writing, and mathematics
are essential to the educational process, there is no consensus on the
questions "How much, for whom, where, and when?" It seems doubtful that
these questions are best answered by Federal intervention or fiat.
In order to implement a Federal standard or system of standards,
it might be deemed necessary to have an extensive support apparatus with
provisions for the development of new test forms, and perhaps for the
maintenance of security on existing forms. The impact of such a syste1~ on
the education community could be highly negative. A single national standard
also has the potential for leading to labels ("skilled" or "unskilled") on
diplomas, and perhaps on people, without the application of a set of teaching
methods and resources aimed at giving the individual student -- by teaching,
textbooks, and time -- the competencies that he or she lacked when the test
was taken. The latter responsibilities, of course, rest with the states and
localities.
A Federal role in describing a valid standard-setting process for
states and local districts could, however, be distinctly helpful - a point I
return to in Section H.
ii. Specially developed tests are not neecie4
If there is no need for a national testing program, may there still oe
a need for a new set of tests developed under Federal auspices? I believe
this is not the case. There is an ample supply of tests, their diversity is
a great strength in a pluralistic system, and their quality on the whole is
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good. In particular, I see no prospect that the problem of `cultural bias"
would be ameliorated by a Federal effort. Two of these points are expanded
below.
1. There are many tests already in widespread use
Test publishers, both profit-making and not-for-profit,
have been active in meeting the demand for tests of basic skills,
often accompanied by material to test a broader array of educational
attainments. The tests have been in particular demand for evaluating
programs funded under Title I of ESEA. The U. S. Office of Education
has sponsored a summary of the content of eight commonly used,
nationally normed tests, and the Region V Technical Assistance
Center, administered by ETS, has recently issued a one-page overview
(attached) of those tests and the latest developments with -regard
to each.
There is a proolem posed by lack of comparability among the
scores reported for the several tests, which use somewhat different
score reporting systems. Federal assistance in providing comparability,
which is technically feasible, would be distinctly useful.
2. Cultural factors would not be eliminated by a national test
It is my understanding that the question of the influence of
cultural factors on test scores may be of particular interest to
the Subcommittee, and properly so, because of the importance of
this matter in any consideration of national policy. Accordingly,
I shall treat the question at somewhat greater length than might
otherwise seem necessary. It is well documented that on the average,
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various cultural and other groups score less well on tests of.
school subjects, including basic skills, than do white middle-class
students. The lower-scoring groups include some ethnic minorities,
chilaren of the poor, children for whom English is a second
language, and persons with combinations of these and other background
conditions. In this context the question that must arise is
whether the lower average scores are attributable to bias in the
tests themselves. Much research has been devoted to this question --
and to important related concerns-- in recent years.
Over many decades people have tried to devise "culture
free" or "culturally fair" tests (for instance, Dy using problems
posed entirely in pictures) in the hope of reducing the differences
in performance between groups. The results have been discouraging
in two main respects:
a. the scores from the specially designed tests have proved to be
less relevant to educational attainment than those obtained
from conventional tests, and
b. the new tests have shown score differences between groups as
great as the differences on the tests they were designed to
replace.
It would appear that cultural factors permeate the exercise
of the intellect to a much greater degree than had been assumed by
those who hoped that changes in content, format, ormode of presen-
tation would wipe them out.
At the opposite extreme would stand tests developed without
attention to cultural bias, which could thus include questions
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particularly dependent on familiarity with a particular culture,
although such familiarity is irrelevant to the particular educational
skills being tested. These might be called `culture-saturated
questions. For many present-day tests in wide use, both editorial
and statistical steps have been taken to reduce or eliminate
such questions.
It is common practice in test editing to arrangefor critical
review of individual questions by minority-group members, and to
eliminate or revise any material found objectionable, or depending
on knowledge specific, to a particular culture.
Another check is provided by the statistical procedure
called `item analysis," which means analyzing the way a question
performs in the context of an actual examination. Item analysis is
a procedure in which the answers chosen by various subgroups of
students are analyzed to make sure the question is as easy, or as
difficult, as those who wrote it felt it would be. Item analysis
is generally first applied when questions are pretested (included
in an actual examination, but not counted as part of the final
score). As part of the item analysis a check is made to discover
questions that prove unusually difficult for minority students.
Such questions are typically eliminateci.
In these ways, questions representing the kind of "cultural
bias" that concerns most people--"culture saturated" questions--are
minimized.
Two further kinds of "cultural bias" remain in most tests,
however. One stems from the fact that questions on all widely used
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tests are phrased in standard English. This may be called "basic
language bias." A student whose experience has been gained in a
different idiom can be expected to be less at home with a test in
standard English, and to do less well on such a test than a student
of comparable basic ability who has grown up with standard English
as the medium of expression. This reality is especially important
for students from families where a language other than standard
English is spoken.
To charges that basic language "bias" exists in most tests,
the answer must ~e, "Yes, it does." Tests of basic skills measure
the ability of students to read standard English, to write it, and
to perform the calculations required to solve problems posea in
standard English.
It is of course quite possible to develop and give tests in
the students first language. This is now cione in many areas, such
as the Southwest, and the process can produce useful information
about a student's ability to cope when problems are posed in that
language. But it must be remembered that the student's ability to
solve word and number problems posed in the language of the majority
culture is of legitimate concern, since it shows whether or not she
or he is able to cope at a minimum competency level when proDlems
are posed in English. This is an important prerequisite either for
using basic skills as essential tools in further learning or for
applying them to successful adult living in the United States.
The third kind of bias is "bias of opportunity." It
is a fact that students in this country do not yet have an
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equal opportunity to learn. They may have gone to more or less
effective schools,. with more or less well-trained teachers,
with greater or lesser opportunity at home to expand their knowledge.
Opportunity is not yet equalized across all subgroups of the
population. Such "bias of opportunity" shows up in performance on
standardized tests.
Two possible approaches have been proposed in these circum-
stances. One would be to try somehow to give extra points on the
tests to students who had learned under adverse circumstances, so
that a score would be adjusted accordi ng to the educational handicaps
overcome by the student. Though this proposition has been given
considerable thought, and has had some research devoted to it, no
one yet knows how to do it. Moreover, there is a responsible
body of opinion to the effect that applying a variable yardstick
would be more confusing than helpful.
The other approach is to say, "The test score tells you how
well the student has mastered the skill in question. It does hot
tell you the obstacles he or she has overcome to attain that degree
of proficiency." If one is concerned with helping students develop
a level of skill necessary to get along in our complex society, it
is important to be able to measure attainment separately from the
question of how the learning was or was not acquired. When it is
found that a student needs help to bring a particular skill to at
least a minimum level, the educational job is to provide the
instruction required.
I have attached some sample test questions like those
now included in tests specifically designed to measure
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~asic skills. These materials have oeen reviewed for minority bias
and would probably be judged as unbiased oy most reviewers.
H. Federal help of specific kinds is needed to allow a decentralized
system to work well
Having indicated that I do not believe that certain Federal actions
would be helpful, although they have been put forward cogently by others, I
would like to return to the view expressed in Section F -- that Federal
involvement can help -- and propose several more specific actions for your
consideration.
1. An affirmative declaration by the Congress and the Administration
that the issue of basic skills is of national importance, is one in
which the public interest is strong and is an area to which Federal
actions should be devoted in support of State and local efforts.
2. The provision of funds for Federal help.through the appropriate
agencies within HEW and through additional appropriations to be
distributed on a state basis.
The help to be provided through USOE or NIE should be designed in close
consultation with the people who are trying to solve the problem at state
and local levels. In general, it should concentrate on those things that
should, for efficiency, be done centrally as a service to all states rather
than invented anew by each. Specifics might include:
- developing models of successful ways in which people have already
approached tasks such as
o defining the basic skill areas of concern and the elements
within the broad areas,
o deciding on the educational levels at which to test, including
adult,
PAGENO="0093"
89
-l 5..
o deciding how to select, from among the available tests, those
best suited to state or local needs,
o reporting results to teachers, students, parents, school
ooards, the public. (This might Include relating standards
of performance on the tests to real-life objectives of coping
at various levels of adequacy in American society.),
o devising techniques that can be used In setting minimum
standards for a community or state,
o developing teaching and learning programs to bring basic
skills at least to minimum acceptable standards, and integrating
them into the educational structure of a school district, and
o devising ways to provide training for teachers, aides
and others who will help students learn basic skills.
- providing information to allow results from different tests to be
expressed in comparable terms, to allow the information to be
brought together for larger units (e.g. states, regions, the
nation) and to minimize the likelihood that redundant testing will
* be required. A successful effort ("Anchor. Test Study") was
undertaken in reading at the elementary level a few years ago.
- provi di ng a clean nghouse of I nformati on aoout acti vi ties i n
progress around the country.
- designing a system to monitor progress nationally, overtime,
ip overcoming problems in the area of basic skills, and to
identify and encourage those practices that are most effective.
The last point deserves emphasis because of course the uncovering
of deficiencies in basic skills is a means, not an end. The end is provision
PAGENO="0094"
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-16-
of skills at the requisite level. For this reason, the aim should be to
diagnose the learning problems, not to point the finger of blame; to design
effective teaching and learning methods, not simply to keep score. It will
be important that the Federal role be conceived, presented, and understood
not as a concentration on passing or failing, winning or losing, but on
fostering essential learning.
I. Basic skills training is not enough
It seems self-evident, perhaps, that acquiring the basic skills
at a minimum competency level is the start of the pathway to learning,
not its end. It woul d be tragic if anyone were to concei ye of mi ni mum
competencies as being sufficient in the root skills of reading, writing, ana
mathematics. The goal of our educational system is excellence. Each
inaividual should be encouraged to progress in those fields to the highest
level of proficiency of which he or she is capable. Nor must the three
primary skill areas, important though they are, be allowed to shoulder aside
the very learning that the acquisition of those skills makes possible in the
sciences, the arts, the collective wisdom of our civilization. We will all
be well served if the Federal government can find ways to strengthen
the basics without implying that the country is ready to settle for minimum
performance or a narrowed conception of our aspirations for learning.
If the Federal government puts its efforts fully behind the commitment
to put a foundation of basic skills under the learning of every student in
the country, I have no doubt that in the present climate of national concern
among educators and the public at large, the leadership in the states and
districts will be eager to enter into a constructive partnership to bring
about that level of performance.
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91
An ETS Information Report:
Basic Skills
Assessment
oAround
the Nation
PAGENO="0096"
92
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT AROUND THE NATION
There is general agreement on the desirability of improving teaching and
assessment of the basic skills. Parents, employers, and college admissions
officials complain that many students graduating from the nation's high
schools can't read, write, or compute at acceptable levels. One of the
significant consequences has been a move toward the development of some form
of performance-based standards of educational attainment that would, in
effect, require that a student leaving high school demonstrate the attainment
of a minimal level of basic skills.
State legislatures and agencies, responding to this concern, are in many
cases mandating mastery of essential skills as a condition for high school
graduation and for grade promotion. Seven states have enacted legislation
mandating competency activity in some form--California, Colorado, Florida,
Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, and Washington. Another nine have taken
either state board or state department of education action. In many more
states, legislation has already been, or will be, introduced for consideration
by the legislature; Minnesota, Alabama, and North Dakota have just introduced
bills in the 1977 legislative session. In others, studies and pilot projects
are being conducted by advisory groups created for the purpose of exploring
the minimal competency issue.
Much of this activity will result in setting standards for high school
graduation or grade-to-grade promotion and possibly for required proficiency
at some point. In some cases standards at the junior high or elementary
school level are also being considered. As the issue becomes broader, the
outcome in some states will not always include a mandate for testing or
competency requirements for graduation. Whatever the activity, there is no
doubt that in the first half of 1977 there will be significant decisions made
by many states as to the direction they will take regarding minimal compe-
tency.
ETS Information Division, which compiled this report, acknowledges the
assistance of staff members in the various ETS regional offices, with particular
gratitude to Theodore Storlie and Tern Strand of the Evanston, Illinois,
regional office. Invaluable data also were provided by Chris Pipho of the
Education Commission of the States, Denver, Colorado.
Because the status of legislation and other activity relating to basic
skills assessment is changing constantly, the information contained in this
report may not be completely up to date.
February 1977
PAGENO="0097"
~93
Developments in Competency Testing
A profile of the nature and extent of performance-based activity through-
out the country may be obtained by looking at the report of the National
Commission on Education Statistics, based on a survey done in 1976 for
the National Institute of Education. The survey of state education
agencies, August 1976, showed that at that time there were 5 states with
operational programs and a total of 29 states involved in some form of
performance-based educational activities with emphasis on the basic
skills. This figure represents about 67 percent of the total public
school enrollment in the United States. Most of the states reporting
PBE activities are in the planning stage. However, the 5 states with
operational programs already account for more than a fourth of the nation's
public school enrollment.
In those states reporting PBE activities, the two aspects most often
included were:
1) "New or revised programs and/or courses, and 2) multiple opportu-
nities to pass a required test of competence." Most of thestates with
PBE activity reported that their programs required or involved the
following additional activities:
1) New proficiency tests for high school graduation
2) Out-of-school leaving opportunities
3) Local options in determining performance standards or criteria
4) Production and use of research information to assist adminis-
trators, legislators, and courts in formulating performance-
based educational decisions.
Only a few states reported "new performance-based standards for teachers."
Several states, generally those currently engaged in PBE activity of
some kind, expressed an urgent need for research and development on:
1) Pilot testing of competencies
2) Alternatives for measuring competencies
3) Identification of minimal competencies
Of the 15 most heavily populated states, 12 are moving in the direction
of performance-based education. Twenty-two states listed "new proficiency
tests for high school graduation" as an urgent need. Substantially greater
interest in both basic and life skills programs exists among the states
with a million or mere enrollment than among the less populous states.
95-038 0 - 77 - 7
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94
Evidence of Widesj~read Interest in Basic Skills Testing
* The report of the NCES survey concludes that the interest in
performance- based standards and progranm can be interpreted as
a concern about "defining the goals of objectives of education,
developing effective educational processes to attain these goals,
and identifying appropriate methods to measure such attainment."
* At the National Association for Secondary School Principals/U.S.
Office of Education conference on America's Secondary Schools,
April 1976, an NASSP task force called for adoption of competence
requirements in communication skills, mathematics, and American
history as a condition for receiving a high school diploma.
There was wide disagreement, however, on how such a requirement
was to be implemented. The group also endorsed giving alternate
certificates of competency to students not meeting all the high
school graduating requirements.
* According to a recent National School Boards Association survey,
more than three-quarters of the board members polled believed
that the public schools should put mere time and effort into
reading, writing, and mathematics skills. Only about one in ten
believes there is enough stress on the "three R's" currently,
and only one percent see too much emphasis on basic skills in
today's schools.
* The recent Gallup Poll of Public Attitudes Toward the Public
Schools shows that 65 percent of the public now believes that
all high school students should be required to pass a standard
nationwide examination in order to get a high school diploma,
compared with a 50 percent affirmative response in 1958.
* The National Council of Teachers of English is planning a book
detailing the profession's views on competence in media and
English studies for upper elementary and secondary school students
and on the measurement of those studies. The book will describe
the nature of competence in English and will present a collection
of exemplary measures, contrasting them with inappropriate measures
now in use. The NCTE sees a need for measures that address the
special problems of measuring growth and competency in English to
avoid the emergence of an adverse definition of English, one that
would reduce English to "reading and proof-reading, to literal
comprehension and superficial editing skills."
An NCTE ad hoc committee on Ninimal Competency Testing has
drafted guidelines for the development of competency statements
and measures of competence in English.
Alan Purves, (University of Illinois at Urbana), will include
a critical review of current competency tests in the spring 1977
review issue of Research in the Testing of English.
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PAGENO="0099"
95
Activities at the State and Local District Level
ALABAMA
A 24-person task force has been working on recommendations for the total
high school program and will present a report in the spring of 1977.
The report is expected to include recommendations for competency based
graduation requirements.
SB 79, recently introduced, would require local school boards to develop
standards of proficiency to evaluate student progress in the performance
of academic and basic skills, by June 1978. The state department of
education would assist local boards of education to develop examples of
minimal academic standards for graduation including performance indicators.
ALASKA
The department of education is developing the Alaska Statewide Instruct-
ional Support System for the purpose of meeting educational needs of
students in basic skill areas of reading and mathematics. Student
competencies are measured against state educational objectives. Tests
will be based on itenm from the Alaska Objectives and Item Bank.
Local District
c~g~Alternative School is conducting minimal competency activities.
ARIZONA
As of January 1, 1976, the state board of education required school
districts to certify that 8th grade graduating students are able to
read, write, and compute at the 6th grade level. Students graduating
from high school must demonstrate proficiency in those skills at the 9th
grade level.
CALIFORNIA
SB 1112 (1972), SB 1243 (l9Z~. The two acts combined provide for the
California High School Proficiency Test covering the basic skills of
reading, math and computation skills, and consumer economics. Sixteen-
and 17-year-olds (in 1975-76) may be awarded, upon successful completion
of the test, a proficiency certificate legally equivalent to a high
school diploma. They may leave high school if they pass the test and
have received parent permission.. The test is administered three times
per year. In 1976, SB 1502, Ch. 315, opened the California High School
Proficiency Examimations to any persons 16 years of age or over, or to
anyone who has been enrolled in the 10th grade for one or mere academic
years.
AB3408 (Hart Bill) signed into law in September 1976, requires school
districts that operate high schools to adopt assessable graduation
standards of proficiency in the areas of reading, writing, and computation
by June 1978, and to assess student progress toward these standards once
during grade 7 through 9 and twice between grades 10 and 11.
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96
CALIFORNIA (cont'd)
The district must provide, for those students who do not meet district
standards, a diagnostic and prescriptive remedial instruction
conference or alternative ways of satisfying the district's course of study.
After June 1980, students who do not meet these standards will not
receive a high school diploma.
AN 2725, Ch. 473, requires the state board of education, by April 1,
1977, to prepare and distribute to each school district examples of
minimum academic standards for graduation. This distribution will
include the criteria used by the department of education in developing
standards for competency in basic skills for the high school proficiency
exam.
Local District
Los Angeles. Beginning in June of 1979, the Los Angeles Unified
School District will require its graduating seniors to pass the
Senior High Assessment of Reading Proficiency (SHARP) test in order
to receive a diploma. Students will have up to four opportunities to
pass the test; remedial instruction will be provided. Announcement of
the SHARP test by the district has generated considerable interest by
other districts.
COLORADO
No special proficiency testing is required by the state beyond regular
requirements for graduation from the 12th grade. Local school districts
are free to impose such tests, but must fulfill certain conditions if
they choose to do so.
Local District
The Denver Public Schools administer their own minimum competency tests
for high school graduation, have done so since 1962. The tests cover
reading, spelling, math, and language mechanics. Remedial instruction
is provided for those who do not pass the tests.
CONNECTICUT
The state passed a bill in 1975 requiring assessment in basic skills in
high school, but the bill failed to receive funding. Substitute R~gq4
Committee Bill 5839 would require a proficiency test for tenth graders
after September 1, 1977.
A Statewide Advisory Committee for Proficiency Testing appointed by
* the state department of education is studying recommendations on devel-
oping a high school equivalent competency-based certificate. Final
recommendations are due in June.
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97
DELAWARE
The state department of education is developing a list of general com-
petencies to be used as a prerequisite for high school graduation, as
required by the state board of education in its resolution of December
1976. Some exploratory work is being done, using the Adult Performance
Level materials. The department of education expects that by July 1977
it will have a plan for competency based education for 9th grade, to
be used at the beginning of the 1977-78 school year.
FLORIDA
CSSB 107 (1976) This legislation has mandated competency requirements
based on mastery of basic skills and functional literacy. Prograns of
pupil progression based upon performance will be required by July 1, 1977,
tied to local goals and objectives. Performance in basic skills will be
stressed (on statewide tests) before students may progress from grades 3,
5,8, and 11.
By the 1978-79 school year, school districts must establish standards
for high school graduation, to include mastery of basic skills and satis-
factory performance in functional literacy, in addition to the number of
credits required by the district school board. Each district is required
to provide remediation for students needing it. Alternative diplomas must
be awarded to those students unable to meet the standards prescribed.
Local Districts
Duval County, Jacksonville. High school seniors will take a test of
functional literacy, beginning with the ninth grade in the 1976-77
school year.
West Palm Beach. The school board requires all high school juniors
to take the Adult Performance Level test. Satisfactory performance
on this test will become a graduation requirement, beginning with the
class of 1978.
Broward County, Polk County. Both counties are developing K-12 perf or-
mance standards.
GEORGIA
The state department of education has a statewide criterion-referenced
testing program for the 4th and 8th grades. The tests, which are diagnostic,
provide an individual profile in 20 basic skill areas. Tenth graders will
be included in the testing program in the future. The state board of
education is at present investigating the possibility of changing high
school graduation requirements to include minimal proficiency standards
for the life role skills, including specific recommendations for the
student as the learner, the individual, the citizen, the consumer, and the
producer. The recommendations are modeled after the Oregon high school
graduation requirements. At the request of the state board, the department
of education is conducting a major redesign of the Georgia School Standards,
the first such major overhaul since the Standards were first administered.
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98
HAWAII
Local District
The Kamehameha Schools (private) have initiated a curricular revision
study that will investigate minimal competency structures and their
influence on actual instructional programa.
IDAHO
The State Superintendent of Public Instruction has expressed interest in
minimum standards for high school graduation to the legislature, but no
public statements have been made.
ILLINOIS
The department of education is exploring the use of some form of mininaim
competency testing in basic skills and is considering developing a bank of
objectives and itens for use by school districts.
Local Districts
Chicago. The Board of Education is moving toward setting standards
for high school graduation. Pilot examinations have been prepared and
administered. A study is being done to determine an effective functio-
ning level, involving young adults performing satisfactorily on the
job, as a validation effort.
Peoria Public School District is developing a minimum competency
examination for high school graduation, beginning with the graduating
class of 1979.
INDIANA
Local District
~ The board of education has adopted proficiency standards for
high school graduation, to go into effect in 1977. Proficiency in the
basic skills of writing, reading, math, and oral communication will be
required. In the fall of 1976, Gary high school students wrote essays
for the purpose of identifying students needing remedial help in
writing. Centralized scoring of these examinations was conducted by
Gary teachers with the assistance of Educational Testing Service.
IOWA -
Local District
Metro High School, Cedar Rapids, is involved in minimal competency
activity.
KENTUCKY
Interest has been expressed in minimal competency in basic skills as a
requirement for high school graduation. The State Board of Education has
instructed the State Department of Education to make a study of competency
based education and minimal requirements for high school graduation. The
use of the GED test for high school equivalency is being investigated.
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99
LOUISIANA
The State.Board of Education will include, at the request of the State
Department of Education, a study of minimal competency testing within the
development of a state master plan for education.
MAINE
A small-scale opinion survey on high school diploma competencies was
conducted. A statewide committee drafted competency statements in reading
and math at the request of the state department of education.
MARYLAND
The state department of education has developed the Maryland basic mastery
test for reading, administered in 6th, 9th, and 12th grades. This "survival
reading test" is also being administered in the fall of each school year
to grades 7 and 11 as part of the statewide accountability program. The
SDE is considering a proficiency test for high school graduation and plans
for reducing basic skill deficiencies. Several districts have acted on
proficiency-based graduation.
MB 1433 requires the state board of education to prescribe progressively
advanced mininiim reading levels for grades 2 through 12 and to provide a
proficiency test for entry into grades 3 through 8 to determine grade-to-
grade promotions.
MASSACHUSETTS*
The Advisory Committee on High School Graduation Requirements has made a
preliminary report to the state board of education, outlining six basic
skill areas in which students should be tested before graduation. The
board feels that testing should be required in comnunication and computa-
tional skills and that the areas of career knowledge, social responsibility,
environment, and culture be tested at the discretion of local school
districts. Test specifications and test construction will be decided upon.
Action by the board is expected in April of 1977.
Local District
~c~bu~g. The Fitchburg School Committee has established Project
Competency to coordinate assessment of life skills. Various types of
measurement approaches will be developed and field tested to assess
third, sixth, and ninth graders.
MICHIGAN
A criterion-referenced testing program based on competency goals established
by the state department of education has been in operation for several
years. Test results are made available to school districts. The SDE also
works with teacher education institutions in preparing teachers to conduct
instruction geared to the state's established minimum competency goals.
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100
MICHIGAN (Cont'd)
An advisory committee is conaidering use of a bank of items and objectives
in basic skills for local school districts. The state board of education
has proposed a 12th grade minimal competency test in life skills. Statewide
hearings will be conducted in early 1977 to consider the test.
Local Districts
Bellevue Community Schools are exploring development of a basic skills
test for 8th graders and for graduating seniors as a requirement for
graduation.
Lansing School District has begun preliminary work on determining
standards for basic skills and methods of assessment, at junior and
high school levels.
Lawton Community Schools are interested in tests for grade-level
pro1tK~tions.
Livonia Public Schools are exploring development of a basic skills
test for 8th graders and for graduating seniors as a requirement for
graduation.
MINNESOTA
Interest has been expressed in basic skills assessment, especially for grades
1, 3, and 7. Legislation requiring a reading and writing test for grade
prometion is being considered.
Bill HF1997 requires school districts to set objectives, evaluate student
progress, and report to the comniinity.
Local Districts
Minneapolis. Under the Accountability Project Advisory Board, the Basic
Skills Committee reviewed the Minneapolis public sch3ols' instructional
programs in the basic skills and made recommendations to the board of
education in 1974. These recommendations for basic skills teating form
the basis for present interest.
St. Paul. The school board is considering appointing a task force of
administrators, teachers, students, and parents to study the feasibility
of adopting a competency requirement for high school graduation.
White Bear Lake has a basic skills requirement for graduation.
The Mid-State Educational Coopera~y~ is developing 23 minimum competency
requirements, among them some on the basic skills of reading, writing,
math, and life skills.
MISSISSIPPI
Local Districts
De Soto Cou~y is interested i~i~de~eloping evaluation instruments for
assessment of the basic skills at the secondary level.
Drew School District jnti~oduced competency requirements for grade promotion.
10
/ -
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101
MISSOURI
At the request of the state board of education, the department of elemantary
and secondary education developed the Missouri Basic Essential Skills
Test, a competency test to certify a minimum skill level among its high
school graduates. Three forms of the test will be pilot tested in the
spring of 1977 among 8th graders and will be ready for use in the 1977
school year. After July 1, 1978 all Missouri public school students will
be required to take the test at the end of 8th grade. Students not
passing the test will have several opportunities to take it.
The SBE will determine possible mandatory use of the test for high
school graduation after the field tests and pilot programs of the test are
comp leted.
NEBRASKA
Elementary and secondary schools are required to establish a minimum
performance level in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Schools must
readminister the test until mastery has been demonstrated by all students.
An evaluation instrument is available from the SDE for schools wishing to
use it.
Local District
Westside Community Schools (District 66) are currently using an
outcome evaluation study with some reference to basic skill areas.
NEVADA
The superintendent of public instruction has appointed (November 1976) an
Advisory Commission for a Competency Based High School Diploma Program to
advise the SDE in the selection of competency criteria in reading, writing,
and arithmetic.
NEW JERSEY
A.l736. The original bill, passed in 1975, called for the state to set
minimum reading and mathematics standards and for local districts to
provide rer~edia1 work. Under the amendments, local districts may set
lower interim goals and assess students' progress toward those goals. The
state board of education adopted regulations requiring local school
districts to establish minimum proficiency standards in basic skill areas
and provide remediation for children needing it.
The Task Force on Competency Indicators and Standards recommended
using the present statewide testing program in 1976-77 to implement basic
skills minimum standards. However, the task force advised that new tests
be developed to measure basic skills or the state Educational Assessment
Program be redesigned to measure both curriculum achievement and minimum
basic skills. An advisory committee is coordinating the activities of
eight working committees focusing on key areas involved in the basic
skills/minimum standards effort. Basic skills tested at different grade
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PAGENO="0106"
102
NEW JERSEY (cont'd)
levels will be reviewed, a list of recommended basic skills objectives
will be submitted to the Commissioner and the State Board, and basic
skills test itens will be reviewed for validity.
Local District
Delaware Valley Regional High School is considering a high school
level basic skills test.
NEW MEXICO
The state department of education will appoint a Task Force to assist the SDE
in developing a plan for improving teaching of basic skills and set levels of
attainment, to be evaluated at certain checkpoints. The final checkpoint will
be a graduation requirement. A certificate would be a possible alternative to
a diploma for those who do notpass 12th grade evaluation. Remedial work
would be provided.
NEW YORK
The board of regents approved (May 1976) a resolution establishing the passing
of basic competency tests in reading and mathematics as a requirement for
receipt of a high school diploma, beginning with the graduating class of June
1979. Students will be tested at the 9th grade level; those passing the test
at that point will be considered as having satisfied that portion of the high
school graduation requirements. Consideration is being given to incorporating
three additional tests into the graduation requirements, effective in June
1980. The three additional tests would be in the areas of (1) civics and
citizenship, (2) practical science, including health and drug education, and
(3) writing and language skills. These tests were administered to 9th graders
in October 1976; pretesting will take place in June 1977.
Local Districts
Namaroneck Public Schools are developing criterion-referenced tests to
evaluate the effectiveness of the new basic skills programa.
New York City Board of Education is developing minimum performance standards.
The school system is considering raising the reading requirement for high
school graduation from the present 8th grade level to 9th grade.
NORTH DAKOTA
HB 1460 recently introduced, would prescribe high school diplomas and
allow diplomas to indicate completion of an optional proficiency test.
OHIO
SB17O, passed in 1975, mandates assessment (matrix sampling) in the
schools, using instruments developed by the state education department.
In March/April 1977 the tests will invoLve reading tests for grades 4, 8,
12, and math and English composition tests. ~L recently introduced,
specifies that the state administer competency-based tests in grades 3, 6,
9, and 11.
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PAGENO="0107"
103
OHIO (cont'd)
Local Districts
Cincinnati. A citizens' task force is considering basic skills and their
assessment. The use of examination for grade-to-grade promotion or at
selected points is being considered.
Columbus. The superintendent has proposed basic skills assessment to the
school board.
P~11.2R. A 9th grade testing program is in operation. The school district
is working on a basic skills requirement for the 11th and 12th grades.
Mentor Public Schools. The Board of Education requires successful
completion of competency exams in the basic skills as a high school
graduation requirement.
OREGON
The state board of education in 1972 established a new high school graduation
policy requiring school districts to ensure that minimum standards in locally
defined measurable competencies, in addition to course credit and other
requirements, were met by their graduating seniors, beginning with the class
of 1978. The 1974 revised "Oregon Minimum Standards for Public Schools"
extended the concept of competency-based education to elementary and junior
high schools. Revisions in 1976 require school districts to verify that
students have minimal competencies only in the basic skills in order to
receive a high school diploma. Districts will assess the reading, writing,
and computing skills in three programs of their choice beginning with the class of
1978. Assessments in additional areas, as identified by local districts, will
be required by 1981. Districts may choose to use the areas of personal
development, social responsibility, and career development, or may develop
their own.
The Northwest Regional Evaluation Association is developing an item bank for
assessing minimum graduation standards, created in the Portland Public Schools
and three surrounding counties.
PENNSYLVANIA
As part of an overall plan to review the quality of education in the state,
the state board of education has developed Project 81. Under Project 81,
goals of education are being redefined. School programs will be revised to
reflect those goals, and new requirements will be set for graduating students.
Such requirements will be based on evidence of minimum competencies in basic
skills in four life roles, in addition to courses taken, credits, and Carnegie
units. Twelve model districts have been selected to work with the state in
this effort. Project 81 states that by 1978-79 the model districts will
revise graduation requirements and implement a revised assessment program.
The state board of education will revise curriculum regulations, based on the
work of the 12 model districts and the department of education.
Revisions are being made in the statewide assessment--an enlarged test for
verbal and math areas, and a new test in written expression, with emphasis on
reading comprehension and computational and problem-solving areas.
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PAGENO="0108"
104
PENNSYLVANIA (Cont'd)
Local District
Lancaster school district has developed an Applied Basic Skills program.
Philadelphia School District administered a test of functional literacy to
public high school seniors in October 1976. The board of education plans
to test for basic skills.
RHODE ISLAND
The Statewide Assessment Program eventually will be based on performance
indicators. The state has developed basic skills and performance indicators
with the expectation that assessment will be devised at the local level.
State regulations for the Local Planning Assessment Program (LPAP) will be
used on a provisional basis in 1977.
The state is interested in constructing objective-based tests and is
exploring the possibility of generating an extensive data bank geared to state
inatructional objectives relating to basic skills.
Local District.
The Alternative Learning Project in Providence involves minimal competency
activity.
TEXAS
The state board of education adopted, in March 1975, long-range objectives
pertaining to "attainment of essential knowledge, skills, and competencies" in
reading and math to be required of high school graduates. Minimal reading and
math competencies have been formulated by the Texas Education Agency and the
20 regional education service centers, following a series of meetings with lay
representatives and educators. Several plans for implementation of a basic
skills program will be considered by the state legislature in 1977.
VIRGINIA
The state has mandated minimum competency requirements for several levels and
graduation. Under MB 256 (Standards of Quality~ē~, each school division is
to give instructional priority to developing the reading, communications, and
mathematics skills of all students, with particular attention to the primary
grades (K-3) and the intermediate grades (4-6). Remedial work for low-achieving
students will be provided.
By September of 1978, the state board of education, in cooperation with
local districts, will be required to establish specific minimum statewide
educational objectives and a uniform statewide test in reading, communications
and mathematics skills. By July 1, 1978, students will be required to demon-
strate functional literacy in those skills for high school graduation.
Local District.
Greenville Coun4y has adopted minimum graduation standards.
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WASHINGTON
SB 3026. Requires that school districts, with community participation,
will develop learning objectives for grades kindergarten through eight.
The state department has interpreted that these objectives will be stated
in behavioral terem and that the objectives will be measured for actual
student attainment at least annually.
HB 1345, 1976. Requires that all fourth grade students be given a standar~-
ized achievement test in the reading, mathematics, and language arts for
purposes of district, state, and national level comparison. A sample of
3,000 students at the eighth and eleventh grades will be tested for the
same purpose. The school districts are encouraged to establish a separate
test for the second grade for the early identification of pupils needing
assistance in language and computational skills.
WISCONSIN
State Department of Education, The state superintendent has appointed a
"blue ribbon committee" to study minimal standards for local districts and
make recommendations on the department of public instruction's role in
competency based education.
Local Districts
Nanitowoc Public School District has adopted a proficiency testing
requirement.
~p~~pand Milwaukee schools are also working on minimal competency
requirements.
REFERENCES RELATING TO MINIMAL COMPETENCY TESTING
1. ~pgpp~ncy Tests and Graduation Requirements. National Association of
Secondary School Principals. Reston, Virginia, 1976.
2. Graduation Requirements. An NASSP Special Task Force Report. Reston:
NASSP, 1975.
3. This We Believe. A statement on secondary education prepared by the
Task Force on Secondary Schools in a Changing Society. Reston: NASSP,
1975.
4. The 12th Grade: A Critical year. Reston: NASSP, 1975.
5. Graduation Requirements. A Discussion Guide. Reston: NASSP, 1976.
6. ~ tin Ealy: The Question of an Equivalency Examination for F~prida
~ Princeton: Educational Testing Service 1976.
7. Handbook of Management Standards for Awarding High School Di~qgp~.
Boston: Massachusetts Advisory Council on Education, 1975.
8. ~ Competency Testing Conference Report. Denver: Education Commission
of the States, 1976.
9. pp~~jhe California Commission for Reform of Intermediate and Secondary
0, L.B. Newcomer, Ch. Sacramento: California State Department
of Education, 1975.
10. The Need for Statewide Minimum Competencies in a Thorough and Efficient
~~p.iopygj~g~. A report of the New Jersey Education Reform Project.
Newark: New Jersey Education Reform Project, 1976.
15 -
PAGENO="0110"
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DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME AVAILABLE MEASURES
Adult Perf ormance Level Prog~g~; cl976; Grade 9-Adults; The American College
Testing Program (P.O. Box 168, Iowa City, Iowa 52240).
This program is concerned with those coping skills and knowledge areas
necessary for an individual's functional competency. The APL Survey is
designed to diagnose and evaluate those competencies critical to adult
functioning in society. It focuses on the application of basic skills
(identification of facts and terms, reading, writing, computation, problem
solving) in five content areas (comsunity resources, occupational knowledge,
consumer education, health, government, and law). The survey is available
in adult and high school forms. In-depth tests in the five content areas
are being prepared.
Basic Skills Assessment Prog~; c1977; Grades 8-12; Educational Testing
Service,. (Rosedale Road, Princeton, NJ 08540).
This program is being developed cooperatively by Educational Testing Service
and a consortium of school districts. It is designed to assist the teacher
in helping students gain mastery of the basic skills of reading, writing,
and mathematics. Secondary schools can use the program to decide whether
students have sufficient basic skills mastery to meet the requirements for
high school graduation, or in general to be able to cope with the demands of
society. The tests are designed to be administered in the 8th or 9th grade
to aid in the identification of students who should receive additional
instruction in the basic skills.
Secure examinations, in reading, mathematics, and writing, focus on the
application of skills to important real-life situations. An optional direct
measure of writing is available with the writing test.
The first operational administration of the Basic Skills Assessment will
be in May 1977.
Test of General Educational Development; c1944-Present; Adults; American
Council on Education (One Dupont Circle, Washington, DC 20036).
The primary aim of the test of GED is to assess the educational development
of adults who have not completed their formal high school education.
Through achievement of satisfactory scores, adults may earn a high school
equivalency certificate, qualify for admission to more advanced education,
meet educational requirements for employment or promotion, satisfy educa-
tional qualifications for induction into the Armed Services, and meet
regulations of state and local boards of licensing examiners for admission
to licensing examinations. GED is a battery of five comprehensive examin-
ations: Correctness and Effectiveness of Expression, Interpretation of
Reading Materials in the Social Sciences, Interpretation of Reading Materials
in the Natural Sciences, Interpetation of Literary Materials, and General
Mathematical Ability. Tests are available in English, Spanish, and French.
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AnETS Information Report:
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT AROUND THE NATION
(Interim Update)
In February, 1977, Educational Testing Service compiled and published
a comprehensive report on various federal, state, and local school district
activities relating to minimum standards and basic skills assessment. The
information contained in this packet is an interim update of that report. A
complete revised issue of Basic Skills Assessment Around the Nation will be
published in September, 1977.
This update describes activities that are very much part of a continuing
process, subject to change and modification. Legislation indicated as being
in committee may not have been reported out or may still be pending. In other
cases it may have been signed into *law. With that caution, the information in
this report should prove useful as an indication of the broad range and
variety of activities related to basic skills occuring at the state and local
level across the nation.
ETS Information Division, which compiled this report, acknowledges
the provision of invaluable data by Chris Pipho of the Education Commission
of the States, Denver, Colorado.
Activities at the Federal Level
1. HR 6088, introduced by Ronald L. Mottl in April 1977, would require
State educational agencies to "establish basic standards of educational
proficiency applicable to secondary school students." Students would be
required to pass a proficiency examination in reading, writing, and
arithmetic in order to graduate. The bill would also establish a National
Commission on Basic Education, representing state and local education,
with authority to review and approve plans submitted by state educational
agencies for the establishment of specific standards.
2. Assistant Secretary for Education, Nary Berry, on July 14 recommended that
her office and the National Institute of Education develop a voluntary
standardized national basic skills competency test, measuring reading,
writing and ari.thmetic at various grade levels. The new recommendation
was made at a hearing before the Senate education subcommittee, where
Senator Claiborne Pell and Admiral Ilyman Rickover both expressed strong
support of a national standardized test. Rickover has for many years
advocated a national test to measure specific minimum competency require-
ments for various grade levels starting In' the early elementary grades.
Berry expressed concern, however, that problems connected with such a test
exist and must be dealt with.
June 1977
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Activities at the State and Local District Level
ALABAMA
SB79 would require local school boards to develop, by June 1978, standards
of proficiency to evaluate student progress in the performance of academic
and basic skills. The state department of education would assist local
boards of education in developing examples of minimal academic standards
for graduation including performance indicators. After June 1980, students
* would be required to demonstrate proficiency in the basic skills in order
to graduate. The bill will be considered in the next legislative session.
ALASKA
* Local District
Craig Alternative School is conducting minimal competency activities.
North Slppg, Galena, Adak, and Southwest Region School Distr~ctR are
working on designing competency-based curricula.
ARIZONA
As of January 1, 1976, the state board of education required school
districts to certify that 8th grade graduating students are able to read,
write, and compute at the 6th grade level. Students graduating from high
school must demonstrate proficiency in those skills at the 9th grade
level.
112160 would require the state school superintendent and the state board of
education to develop a statewide standard testing program for grades 1-12.
The results of the tests would be correlated to individual pupils' class
sizes, teachers, teachers' experience and salaries. The state board of
education would also be mandated to divide class time of 2nd - 6th grades
into specific "verbal and quantitative segments."
CALIFORNIA
The California High School Proficiency Test, covering the basic skills of
reading, math and computation skills, and consumer economics, is adminis-
tered to 16- and l7-year-olds. Those who pass receive a proficiency
certificate legally equivalent to a high school diploma and may leave high
school with parent permission. The test is administered three times
a year. In 1976, SB 1502, Ch. 315, opened the California High School
Proficiency Examinations to *any persons 16 years of age or over, or to
anyone who has been enrolled in the 10th grade for one or more academic
years.
School districts that operate high schools are required to adopt assessable
graduation standards of proficiency in the areas of reading, writing, and
computation by June 1978, and to assess student progress toward these
standards once during grade 7 through 9 and twice between grades 10 and 11.
(AB3408, September 1976.)
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CALIFORNIA (cont'd)
AN 357 would require elementary School districts by June 1, 1979, to adopt
standards of proficiency in the basic skills. This bill would have students
tested at least twice during the fourth through sixth grades and at least
once from sixth through eighth grades. Conferences between pupil/parent!
principal/teachers would be required if the pupil falls short of the
standards.
The district must provide, for those students who do not meet district
standards, a diagnostic and prescriptive remedial instruction conference or
alternative ways of satisfying the district's course of study. After June
1980, students who do not meet these standards will not receive a high
school diploma.
Local District
Los Angeles. Beginning in June of 1979, the Los Angeles Unified
School District will require its graduating seniors to pass the Senior
High Assessment of Reading Proficiency (SHARP) test in order to receive
a diploma. Students will have up to four opportunities to pass the
test; remedial instruction will be provided. Announcement of the SHARP
test by the district has generated considerable interest by other districts.
COLORADO
No special proficiency testing is required by the state beyond regular
requirements for graduation from the 12th grade. Local school districts are
free to impose such tests, but must fulfill certain conditions if they
*choose to do so.
Local District
The Denver Public Schools administer their own minimum competency tests
for high school graduation, have done so since 1962. The tests cover
reading, spelling, math, and language mechanics. Remedial instruction
is provided for those who do not pass the tests.
CONNECTICUT
A Statewide Advisory Committee for Proficiency Testing appointed by the
state department of education is studying recommendations on developing
a high school equivalent competency-based certificate. A final report
to the board focused primarily on equivalency testing involving the possible
use of the APL (Texas) and the GED measures. The committee will continue
for a year's time.
DELAWARE
The state department of education is developing a list of general corn-
petencies to be used as a prerequisite for high school graduation, as
required by the state board of education in its resolution of December
1976. Sonic exploratory work is being done, using the Adult Performance
Level materials. The department of education expects that it will have a
plan for competency based education for 9th grade.
95.035 Q - 77 .
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110
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
A competency-based curriculum has been developed by the superintendent and
approved by the board in October 1976. The program includes pro- and post-
testing at each grade level. Newly revised board of education rules specify
satisfactory achievement of competency at the required skill level for grade
promotion.
FLORIDA
CSSB 107 (1976) mandates competency requirements based on mastery of basic
skills and functional literacy. Programs of pupil progression based upon
performance are required as of July 1, 1977, tied to local goals and
objectives. Performance in basic skills will be stressed (on statewide
tests) before students may progress from grades 3, 5, 8, and 11.
By the 1978-79 school year, school districts must establish standards
for high school graduation, to include mastery of basic skills and satis-
factory performance in functional literacy, in addition to the number of
credits required by the district school board. Each district is required
to provide remediation for students needing it. Alternative diplomas must
be awarded to those students unable to meet the standards prescribed.
NB 203 would permit school districts to conduct dismissal hearings for
instructional personnel for failure to teach students to reach state
minimum performance standards.
Local Districts
Duval County, Jacksonville. High school seniors will take a test of
functional literacy.
West Palm Beach. The school board requires all high school juniors
to take the Adult Performance Level test. Satisfactory performance
on this test will become a graduation requirement, beginning with the
class of 1978.
Broward County, Polk County. Both counties are developing K-l2 perfor-
mance standards.
GEORGIA
The state dej~artment of education has a statewide criterion-referenced
testing program for the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. The tests, which are
diagnostic, provide an individual profile in 20 basic skill areas. The
state board `of education is investigating the possibility of changing high
school graduation requirements to include minimal proficiency standards
for the life role skills, including specific recommendations for the
student as the learner, the individual, the citizen, the consumer, and the
producer. The recommendations are modeled after the Oregon high school
graduation requirements. At the request of. the state board, the department
of education is conducting a major redesign of the Georgia School Standards,
the first such major overhaul since the Standards were first administered.
Local District.
* Clarke County School District will require proficiency in the basic
skills to graduate, beginning with thegraduating class of 1980. The
school district is exploring the use of a minimum competency requirement
for grade-to-grade promotion.
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HAWAII
Local District
The Kamehameha Schools (private) are conducting a curricular revision
study that will investigate minimal competency structures and their
influence on actual instructional programs.
IDAHO
The Idaho State Board of Education adopted new graduation requirements, in
February 1977, and a proficiency program, optional to school districts,
that measures competency in reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling prior
to high school graduation. Participating districts will be required to
give the test beginning in the ninth grade and to provide remedial work for
those students who do not pass. Students in participating districts will
graduate with a diploma bearing the state board of education seal. Other
students will receive certificates of attendance or a plain diploma.
ILLINOIS
The department of education is exploring the use of some form of minimum
competency testing in basic skills and is considering developing a bank of
objectives and items for use by school districts.
HB1364 would require the successful. passage of reading, writing and
mathematics proficiency tests as a condition for high school graduation.
Local Districts
Chicago. The Board of Education is moving toward setting standards
for high school graduation. Pilot examinations have been prepared and
administered. A study is being done to determine an effective function-
ing level, involving young adults performing satisfactorily on the
job, as a validation effort.
Peoria Public School District is developing a minimum competency
examination for high school graduation, beginning with the graduating
class of 1979.
INDIANA
Local District
~jgg~. The board of education has adopted proficiency standards for
high school graduation, effective in 1977. Proficiency in the basic
skills of writing, reading, math, and oral communication will be
required. In the fall of 1976 and in June 1977, Gary high school
students wrote essays for the purpose of identifying students needing
remedial help in writing. Centralized scoring of these examinations
was conducted by Gary teachers with the assistance of Educational
Testing Service.
IOWA
SF252 would require all students to pass tests in reading, writing, and
mathematics in order to graduate. The program would begin in July 1980.
Local District
Metro High School, Cedar Rapids, is involved in minimal competency
activity.
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KANSAS
NB 2139 would require local boards of education to adopt standards and
prescribe an examination for proficiency in the basic educational skills.
After June 30, 1981, the state board of education would certify that high
school graduates have met the state "basic educational skills" standards.
Students not meeting the standards will be certified as having completed
attendance in a four-year course of study.
Prior to July 1, 1978, the state board of education, in cooperation
with the state board of regents, would determine and establish standards
of proficiency in academic skills (also a standardized examination) for
students preparing for admission to state colleges and universities.
SF268. The state board of education would be required, prior to July of
1978, to adopt standards of proficiency in the basic skills for graduation
from high school. The state would prescribe a standardized examination and
set standards of proficiency; local boards would administer the test and
certify to the state those students passing the test. The proficiency
examination would be administered twice each year.
KENTUCKY
Interest. has been expressed in minimal competency in basic skills as a
requirement for high school graduation. The State Board of Education has
instructed the State Department of Education to make a study of competency
based education and minimal requirements for high school graduation. The
use of the GED test for high school equivalency is being investigated.
LOUISIANA
The State Board of Education will include, at the request of the State
Department of Education, a study of minimal competency testing within the
development of a state master plan for education.
MAiNE
Legislative document #1810, an act to establish assessment of student
performance in the basic skills, directs the Commissioner of education to
study the whole question of basic competency testing. The Commissioner
will administer a basic competency test to all high school juniors in the
fall of 1977. The Commissioner is directed to prepare appropriate assessment
materials. A citizens' committee will study the question, review the
procedures and will report back to the legislature by January 1978.
LU 734 Basic Attainment of Skills in Children Act would provide for a
program of basic skills. Mastery of certain skills, along with the success-
ful completion of courses and teacher recommendations, would be requirements
for high school graduation. (Pending)
The Commissioner of Education and Cultural Services conducted a series
of statewide meetings to Obtain a consensus of what Maine citizens feel
"should be a partial condition for graduation from secondary school."
For the State Department of Education, committees of educators are formula-
ting basic competencies in reading, writing, and mathematics.
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MARYLAND
The state department of education has developed the Maryland basic mastery
test for reading, administered in 6th, 9th, and 12th grades. This "survival
reading test" is also being administered in the fall of each school year
to grades 7 and 11 as part of the statewide accountability program. The
state board of education and staff of the department of education are in
the process of developing a second basic mastery area, mathematics.
Under Project Basic, approved by the State Board of Education in January
1977, the state prescribes progressively advanced minimum performance
reading levels for all grades.
MB 1462 specifies that students in grades three, seven, and nine through
eleven (previously two through seven) who have not met "either a minimum
grade level competency" or the minimum reading level prescribed by the
state board for the previous grade shall be retained in the current grade
or enrolled in a reading assistance program "as part of his or her instruc-
tional program."
MASSACHUSETTS
MB 3284. The state board of education would develop examinations for testing
competency in the areas of mathematics, social studies, science, English!
literature, language, and business. The tests would be reviewed each year
and administered at the end of ninth, tenth and eleventh grades. The state
board of education would establish passing scores for each test and determine
standards for a high school diploma issued by the state.
The Advisory Committee on High School Graduation Requirements has made
a preliminary report to the state board of education, outlining basic skill
areas in which students should be tested before graduation. The Board
approved the report and has set up an official committee to conduct hearings
relating to basic skills testing, including mathematics and communications
skills.
Local District
Fitchburg. The Fitchburg School Committee has established Project
Competency to coordinate assessment of life skills. A skills achievement
monitoring system is being used to help teachers keep track of student
progress in the basic skills.
MICHIGAN
A criterion-referenced testing program based on competency goals established
by the state department of education has been in operation for several
years. Test results are made available to school districts. Tue SHE also
works with teacher education institutions in preparing teachers to conduct
instruction geared to the state's established minimum competency goals.
An advisory committee is considering use of a bank of items and objectives
in basic skills for local school districts.
The State Board of Education has proposed a 12th grade minimal competency
test in life skills.
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MICHIGAN (Cont'd)
Local Districts
Bellevue Community Schools are exploring development of a basic skills
test for 8th graders and for graduating seniors as a requirement for
graduation.
In March a committee of the High School Parent Council in East Lansing
recommended increased requirements and thorough pre-graduation testing
*in English, math, science, and social studies. It further recommended
a minimum reading level of tenth grade for a diploma.
Lansing School District is working on standards for basic skills and
methods of assessment, at junior and high school levels.
Lawton Community Schools are interested in tests for grade-level
promotions.
Livonia Public Schools are exploring development of a basic skills test
for 8th graders and for graduating seniors as a requirement for graduation.
MINNESOTA
Interest has been expressed in basic skills assessment, especially for grades
1, 3, and 7. Legislation requiring a reading and writing test for grade
promotion is being considered.
Local Districts
Minneapolis. Under the Accountability Project Advisory Board, the Basic
Skills Committee reviewed the Minneapolis public schools' instructional
programs in the basic skills and made recommendations to the board of
education in 1974. These recommendations for basic skills testing form
the basis for present interest.
St. Paul. The school board is considering appointing a task force of
administrators, teachers, students, and parents to study the feasibility
of adopting a competency requirement for high school graduation.
White Bear Lake has a basic skills requirement for graduation.
The Mid-State Educational Cooperative is developing minimum competency
requirements, among them some on the basic skills of reading, writing,
math, and life skills.
Pending:
HF44 provides that the Commissioner of Education, prior to June 30, 1978,
shall establish desirable mnimum standards of reading achievement for
pupils completing grades 3, 6, 9, and 12. The bill would also give
funding to the state department of education for the development and
dissemination of tests and for teachers and consultants.
HF 118 provides for a statewide program of assessment of minimal competency
in reading, math, language arts and other general subject areas. It would
also provide for a program of remedial aid for the 25 percent of the
students who have the greatest need.
MISSISSIPPI
Local Districts
De Soto County is interested in developing evaluation instruments for
assessment of the basic skills at the secondary level.
Drew School District introduced competency requirements for grade promotion.
PAGENO="0119"
115
MISSOURI
At the request of the state board of education, the department of elementary
and secondary education developed the Missouri Basic Essential Skills
Test, a competency test to certify a minimum skill level among its high
school graduates. Three forms of the test were pilot tested in the spring
of 1977 among 8th graders and will be ready for use in the 1977 school
year. After July 1, 1978 all Missouri public school students will be
required to take the test at the end of 8th grade. Students not passing
the test will have several opportunities to pass the test.
The SBE will determine possible mandatory use of the test for high
school graduation after the field tests and pilot programs of the test are
completed.
NEBRASKA
Elementary and secondary schools are required to establish a minimum
performance level in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Schools must
readminister the test until mastery has been demonstrated by all students.
An evaluation instrument is available from the SDE for schools wishing to
use it.
Local District
Westside Community Schools (District 66) are currently using an
~utcome evaluation study with some reference to basic skill areas.
The first senior class to take minimum competency tests was graduated
in June.
NEVADA
The superintendent of public instruction appointed (November 1976) an
Advisory Commission for a Competency Based Nigh School Diploma Program to
advise the SDE in the selection of competency criteria in reading, writing,
and arithmetic.
Assembly Bill 400, mandating competency-based testing in Nevada schools,
became law July 1, 1977. The Nevada State Board of Education has been
working on a Competency-Based High School Diploma Program since January
1976.
The bill requires the testing of students prior to the completion of the
third and sixth grades during the next school year. Other dates for
standard proficiency examinations are: Crades three, six and nine, 1978-81;
and grades three, six, nine and 12, 1981-82 and thereafter.
The State Board of Education has directed the Department of Education
*staff to complete a detailed analysis of the provisions of A.B. 400 to be
reviewed by the Legislative Council Bureau. Department of Education staff
will make recommendations in the process of developing minimum competency
measurement instruments.
Twelfth-grade students will not be involved until 1982. Minimum
competency examinations in arithmetic, reading and writing should be
available for use no later than the 1979-80 school year.
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116
NEW JERSEY
A.l736. The original bill, passed in 1975, called for the state to set
minimum reading and mathematics standards and for local districts to
provide remedial work. Under the amendments, local districts may set
lower interim goals and assess students' progress toward those goals. The
state board of education adopted regulations requiring local school
districts to establish minimum proficiency standards in basic skill areas
and provide remediation for children needing it.
An advisory committee is coordinating the activities of eight working
committees focusing on key areas involved inthe basic skills/minimum
standards effort. New minimum basic skills tests in reading and mathematics
will be administered to grades 3, 6, 9 and ll.in April of 1978. This
program will replace the New Jersey Educational Assessment Program.
A committee created by the State Board of Education is examining current
statewide requirements for high school graduation.
Local District
Delaware Valley Regional High School is considering a high school
level basic skills test.
NEW MEXICO
A Task Force will assist the SDE in developing a plan for improving teaching
of basic skills and setting levels of attainment, to be evaluated at
certain checkpoints. The final checkpoint will be a graduation requirement.
A certificate would be a possible alternative to a diploma for those who do
not pass 12th grade evaluation. Remedialwork would be provided.
NEW YORK
The board of regents approved (May 1976) a resolution establishing the
passing of basic competency tests in reading and mathematics as a require-
ment for receipt of a high school diploma, beginning with the graduating
class of June 1979. Students will be tested at the 9th grade level; those
passing the test at that point will be considered as having satisfied that
portion of the high school graduation requirements.
Three additional tests were incorporated into the graduation require-
ments effective in June 1980, in the areas of (1) civics and citizenship,
(2) practical science, including health .and drug education, and (3) writing
and language skills. The state has developed a new Basic Competency Test in
Writing Skills which all students must pass to obtain a high school diploma.
The new writing skills test was first administered in October 1976,
and will be administered again in January and June of 1978. Schools having
students who fail the new skills test will be given remedial work.
Local District
Mamaroneck Public Schools are developing criterion-referenced tests to
evaluate the effectiveness of the new basic skills programs.
PAGENO="0121"
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NEW YORK (cont'd)
New York City. The Board of Education is developing minimum performance
standards. The school system is considering raising the reading require-
ment for high school graduation from the present 8th grade level to
9th grade. A special pilot program in basic writing skills will begin
at the tenth grade level at 15 public high schools and six. nonpublic
high schools in September 1977. The program, designed to encourage and
improve the expository writing skills of the secondary level students,
is titled WEDGE (Writing Every Day Generates Excellence).
NORTH CAROLINA
Pending: S DRS4507, a bill that would provide for a high school graduation
competency test. The Governor, upon recommendation of the State Superintend-
ent of Public Instruction would appoint a Competency Test Commission on or
before July 1, 1977. After the adoption of.tests and minimum graduation
standards by the State Board of Education tests would be administered to
all eleventh grade students in the public schools in the spring of 1979.
Students who fail to attain the required minimum standard for graduation in
the eleventh grade would be given additional opportunities to take the test
in the twelfth grade.
NORTH DAKOTA
118 1460 would prescribe high school diplomas and allow diplomas to indicate
completion of an optional proficiency test.
OHIO
SB17O, passed in 1975, mandates assessment (matrix sampling) in the schools,
using instruments developed by the state education department. The tests
involve reading tests for grades 4, 8, 12, and math and English composition.
~ recently introduced, specifies that the state administer competency-based
tests in grades 3, 6, 9, and 11.
Local Districts
Cincinnati. A citizens' task force is considering basic skills and their
assessment. The use of examination for grade-to-grade promotion or at
selected points is being considered.
Columbus. The superintendent has proposed basic skills assessment to the
school board.
)~gp~. A 9th grade testing program is in operation. The school district
is working on a basic skills requirement for the 11th and 12th grades.
Mentor Public Schools. The Board of Education has required successful
completion of competency exams in the basic skills as a high school
graduation requirement.
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118
OREGON -.
The state board of education in 1972 established a new high school gradua-
tion policy requiring school districts to ensure that minimum standards in
locally defined measurable competencies, in addition to course credit and
other requirements, were met by their graduating seniors, beginning with
the class of 1978. The 1974 revised "Oregon Minimum Standards for Public
Schools" extended the concept of competency-based education to elementary
and junior high schools.
Revisions in 1976 require school districts to verify that students have
minimal competencies in the basic skills in order to receive a high school
diploma. Districts will assess the reading, writing, and computing skills
in 3 programs of their choice beginning with the class of 1978. Assessments
in additional areas, as identified by local districts, will be required by
1981. Districts may choose to use the areas of personal development,
social responsibility, and career development, or may develop their own.
An Educational Development Resource Center has been set up to provide
districts with assistance in implementing the competency-based requirements.
PENNSYLVANIA
As part of an overall plan to review the quality of education in the state,
the state board of education has developed Project 81. Under Project 81,
goals of education are being redefined. School programs will be revised to
reflect those goals, and new requirements will be set for graduating
students. Such requirements will be based on evidence of minimum competen-
des in basic skills in four life roles, in addition to courses taken,
credits, and Carnegie units. Twelve model districts have been selected to
work with the state in this effort. Project 81 states that by 1978-79 the
model districts will revise graduation requirements and implement a revised
assessment program. The state board of education will revise curriculum
regulations, based on the work of the 12 model districts and the department
of education.
Revisions are being made in the statewide assessment program--an enlarged
test for verbal and math areas, and a new test in written expression, with
emphasis on reading comprehension and computational and problem-Rolving
areas.
Local District
Lancaster school district has developed an Applied Basic Skills program.
Philadelphia School District administered a test of functional literacy
to public high school seniors in October 1976. The board of education
plans to test for basic skills. Philadelphia is one of se,eral hundred
school districts in the U.S. and Canada working cooperatively on the
development of a program for basic skills assessment.
RHODE 1SLAND
The Statewide Assessment Program eventually will be based on performance
indicators. The state has developed basic skills and performance indicators
with the expectation that assessment will be devised at the local level.
PAGENO="0123"
119
RHODE ISLAND (cont'd)
State regulations for the Local Planning Assessment Program (LPAP) are
being used on a provisional basis in 1977.
The state is interested in constructing objective-based tests and is
exploring the possibility of generating an extensive data bank geared to
state instructional objectives relating to basic skills.
Local District.
The Alternative Learning Project in Providence involves minimal competency
activity.
TEXAS
The state board of education adopted, in March 1975, long-range objectives
pertaining to "attainment of essential knowledge, skills, and competencies"
in reading and math to be required of high school graduates. ilinimal
reading and math competencies have been formulated by the Texas Education
Agency and the 20 regional education service centers, following a series of
meetings with lay representatives and educators. Several plans for imple-
mentation of a basic skills program will be considered by the state legisla-
ture in 1977.
UTAH
The State Board of Education adopted a new policy that requires students to
meet minimum standards of achievement including demonstration of competency
in some subjects In order to graduate from high school.
VERNONT
In July 1976, the state board of education approved a list of 51 competencies
that will be required for a high school diploma beginning with the class of
1981. The list covers reading, writing, speaking, listening, and mathematics.
Testing is not mandated. School districts are in the process of implementation.
VIRGINIA
The state has mandated minimun competency requirements for several levels
and graduation. Under NB 256 (Standards of Quality Act), each school
division is to give Instructional priority to developing the reading,
communications, and mathematics skills of all students, with particular
attention to the primary grades (K-3) and the intermediate grades (4-6).
Remedial work for low-achieving students will be provided.
By~ September of 1978, the state board of education, in cooperation with
local districts, will be required to establish specific minimum statewide
educational objectives and a uniform statewide test in reading, communications
and mathematics skills. After July 1, 1978, students will be required to
demonstrate basic competency in those skills for high school graduation.
PAGENO="0124"
120
VIRGINIA (cont'd)
Guidelines are being prepared to help school divisions meet the high school
graduation competencies.
Local District.
Greenville County has adopted minimum graduation standards.
WASHINGTON
The question of minimal competency testing is being given consideration by
the state department of education.
WEST VIRGINIA
Local District
Kanawha County, Charleston has several committees studying minimal
competency issues.
WISCONSIN
State Department of Education. The state superintendent has appointed a
"blue ribbon committee" to study minimal standards for local districts and
make recommendations on the department of public instructiOn's role in
competency based education.
Local Districts
Nanitowoc Public School District has adopted a proficiency testing
requirement.
Spartaand Nilwaukee schools are also working on minimal competency
requirements.
PAGENO="0125"
121
Educational Testing Service July 27, 1977
Princeton, N.J. 08540
REPORT OF NEW TESTS AND SERVICES DESIGNED TO ASSIST
EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES IN TITLE I EVALUATION
The following is an overview of new tests and services reported by test
publishers of the eight commonly used, nationally normed tests.
California Achievement Test (CTB/McGraw-Hill). The publisher is planning
to prepare NCEs for CAT/A and B. New test forms have been developed:
CAT/C/D for grades K-l2. Form C is scheduled for publication in Fall
1977 and Form D in Spring 1978. Tests have been designed to combine
characteristics of norm-and criterion-referenced tests. The Locater
Test may be utilized to assign students of varying abilities to appro-
priate test levels. National norms were established for CAT/C by a
stratified random-sampling procedure.
~pmprehensive Test of Basic Skills. (CTB/McGraw-Hill). There has been
a 1975 expanded test edition which will be ready in Spring. Group
NCEs will be provided in the new technical bulletin to be published in
Spring 1977 and individual NCEs will be available in Fall 1977.
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests. (Teachers College Press). The publisher
is in the process of completely revising the test. It will have fall and
spring norms and will be available in January or Spring, 1978.
Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. (Houghton-Mifflin). Publisher has developed
empirical Spring norms to provide fall to spring testing. New services
include NCE scores and Title I evaluation to begin in Spring 1977. Alao,
the publisher has revised the Nelson Reading Skills Test for grades 3-9.
Test was standardized in 1976 and has empirical fall and spring norms.
The publisher will provide NCE scores.
*Metropolitan Achievement Test. (Psychological Corporation/Harcourt,
Brace, Jovanovich). The publisher has established a task force to keep
track of developments in the area of Title I evaluation and to determine
what interpretative aids are needed to be developed for Title I people.
The task force is investigating the compatibility of each of the publisher's
major achievement series with the RNC models. The task force is also
analyzing data services provided in light of the requests the publisher
is most likely to receive from users.
*Stanford Achievement Test. (Psychological Corporation/Harcourt,
Brace, Jovanovich). The publisher reported that the newly published
Stanford Diagnostic Reading and Mathematics Teats were apparently finding
wide use for Title I evaluation.
SRA Achievement Series. (Science Research Associates, Inc.). It was
reported that the publisher is thinking about NCEs and anticipating
revision.
Sequential Tests of Educational Progress. (Educational Testing Service).
The test is now being revised and will be available in the Fall 1978.
STEP III will have spring and fall norms and will provide NCEs. Will have
a locater test.
*Publishers' Title I Committee sent memorandum to Title I TAC. (3/14/77)
Reported that they have not yet incorporated NCE scores into scoring/
reporting systems.
PAGENO="0126"
122
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
SAMPLE TEST
MATHEMATICS
The purpose of this test is to see how well you can do the kind of mathematics that
many people believe is important.
Each question in the test is followed by four suggested answers. Read each question
and then decide which one of the four suggested answers is best. Find the row of
spaces on your answer sheet which has the same number as the question. In this
row, mark the space having the same letter as the answer you have chosen.
Try to answer every question. There is no penalty for guessing. Do not spend
too much time on any one question. There are 20 questions in the test.
Unless otherwise indicated, all figures are drawn to scale. You may do your
scratchwork in the booklet.
Sample Question Sample Answer
54 -
-48
(A) 6
(B) 7
(C) 16
(D) 102
The correct answer to this question is lettered A, so space A is marked.
DO NOT BEGIN UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO.
PAGENO="0127"
123
1. 3,794 - 288 =
(A) 2,916
(B) 3,406
(C) 3,506
(D) 3,516
2. 14.75 + .9 =
(A) 23.75
(B) 15.65
(C) 14.55
(D) 14.84
3.
5812 - 175 is about
(A) 5000- 100
(B) 5000 - 200
(C) 5800 - 100
(D) 5800 - 200
4. 0.09 is about
(A) 10
(B) 1
(C) -j~
(D) ru~
32 98.6 2i2
10~, . .9 ~ ,~, l~o,, 29of
-40 -20 0 20 0 60 80 00
`C ~
5. The figure above relates Fahrenheit temperatures
(upper scale) to centigrade temperatures (lower
male). Which centigrade temperature is equal to
50' Fahrenheit?
(A) 5'C
(B) 10'C
(C) 15'C
(D) 104' C
7. The reading shown on the scale above is
(A) 6.8
(B) 7.1
(C) 7.2
(D) 8.2
8. The height of a building is most likely to be
measured in
(A) millimeters
(B) centimeters
(C) meters
(D) kilometers
98 5
.5 4_
(A) 2
(B)
(C)
(0)
10.
(A) 0.37
(B) 0.375
(C) 0.38
(D) 37.5
GO ON TO ThE NEXT PAGE.
6. About how many kilograms is 996 grams?
(A) 0.1
(B) 1
(C) 9
(D) 10
PAGENO="0128"
11. Which number is NOT equal to 6.25
100
(A) 625
(B)
(C) 6~
(0) 625%
12. A roll of quarters cost $10. How many quarters
are in a roll?
(A) 40
(B) 80
(C) 250
(0) 400
GROWTH CHART OF A CAT.
BIRTH TO ONE YEAR
13. According to the graph, a kitten gains the least
weight daring which age span?
(A) Birth to 3 months
(B) 3 months to 6 months
(C) 6 months to 9 months
(0) 9 months to 1 year
124
ELECTRIC RATES
$3.50 for the first 20 KWH
4.20~ per KWH for the next 80 KWH
4,lOg per KWH for the next 200 KWH
MINIMUM BILL $3.50
14. Using the rate schedule, what is the charge for
60 KWH of electricity?
(A) $5.18
(B) $3.50
(C) $2.52
(D) $1.68
.3.
15. A room is 12 feet wide and 15 feet long. Mr. Lopez
wants to put 2 coats of paint on the ceiling. He must
bay enough paint te voter how many square feet?
(A) 24
(B) 30
(C) 150
(D) 360
1~ SALE
BUY ONE AT REGULAR PRICE
GET THE SECOND FOR 1)
16. Mrs. Thomas bought two tubes of toothpaste at the
sale. The regular price was $1.89. The average
price per tube is how much less than the regular
price?
(A) $1.89
(B) $1.88
(C) $0.94
(D) $0.07
Age in Months
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0129"
F~ELF-SERVICEI
GASOLINE
56.8 /gaI)o~j
17. The same gasoline is 63.2~ a gallon at a Full
Service station, flow much is saved buying
16 gallons at the Self Service?
(A) $1.02
(B) $9.09
(C) $10.11
(D) $10.24
18. Mrs. Wong has to be at work at 8:45. If she allows
1 hour and 20 minutes to get there, what is the
latest she can leave home?
(A) A quarter to 8
(B) S after 8
(C) Half past 7
(D) 25 after 7
125
[~~NTC SALE
BIG $400 TV
NO MONEY DOWN
ONLY $iAWEEK
19. 11 you buy this TV, about how many years must
you expect to keep paying for it?
(A) 1
(B) 2
(C) 4
(0) 8
20. If state sales tax is S%, what is the amount of tax
on a $400 washing machine?
(A) $2
(B) $5
(C) $20
(0) $50
IF YOU FINISH BEFORE TIt'~ IS UP, CHECK YOUR WORK ON THE SMfPLE TEST.
95-038 0 - 77 - 9
PAGENO="0130"
Rea4~p~
126
BASIC SKILLS SANPLE TEST QUESTIONS
Question 7 refers to the following forts.
°`~"-`.` REQUEST FOR CHANGE
.
HEl~H~ICAo:.wAU IN SOCIAL SECURITY RECORDS [~SECUIIrY ACCOUNT NUMUR
D,.4 l.,l-.T4.... 0. R..~ I..4.~, EIt$..~ 1.. F.,... P14.1 I. S~b I,.~ Pyp....IT.,.
~
-
DC) .101
IF REQUESTING NAME CHANGE (FitsS ~ (Mild!, Nrn.., I.,ii~i-,f .,.,~
-) (L.~a N~...)
Pti*l NEW NAME HT1E EXACTlY
w.i'~ is
~"ow~oo~ AS (F N..) (Mdli N .~I i-JIM! -) (L~ N..)
(M U) (D') (Y EOUEU PORT (If 1ff f I 3)
(City) (Cu..!y) (2S~i~]~~ MAtE ?EUALE
~jj~ThE1S PULl. NAME AT HER 111TH (h.P ,..id,,. ..t..) fATHERS PHI.) NAME (Rq~tdi:T1 If &..I,.lb.. hi:.~ .? d...l)
DO"
~
0.- ~ ~1 WTIEREANOSHEEN(S,,u) (I'll?)
~~jESEME (N.s14.t ~.d Sss,1. Apt. N... P.O. BIT. ~` ~ RIMs) (ZIP CODE)
(~T~ DATE TELEPHONE NO. ~:,[~T Y05R SAM! HERE (D~ KtS Ptt*I)
ft... 06)5-7003 (2-69) . ~ X~'f1R~ ,pplit.l... E HMN..E SOCIAl. SECURITY ADMINISTEATIOIT OFFICE
7. On which part of the form should you write where you were born?
(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D)
6
Question 10 refers to the following bus schedule.
MIDDLETOWN TO SPRINGDALE
Leave Middletown
Arrive Springdale
6:15 a.m.
7:30 a.m.
8:10 a.m.
9:05 a.m.
11:35 a.m.
1:20 p.m.
3:15 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
7:10 a.m.
8:45 a.m.
9:25 a.m.
10:15 a.m.
12:40 p.m.
2:35 p.m.
4:20 p.m.
6:05 p.m.
7:45 p.m.
PAGENO="0131"
127
10. The bus that leaves Middletown at 11:35 a.m. arrives in Springdale at
(A) 12:40 p.m.
(B) 2:35 p.m.
(C) 4:20 p.m.
(D) 6:05 p.m.
Writing Skills
Directions for Questions 5-8: In each of the following sentences, find the
error in punctuation or capitalization. No sentence has more than one error.
7. When he thought I wasn't looking, my playful, brother would take a bite
A BC
of my chocolate cake.
D
Directions for Questions 17-18: Choose the best answer to each question.
17. My music teacher thinks that Marian Anderson sings
any other contralto he has ever heard.
(A) more well than
(B) better than
(C) the most good of
(D) more better over
Mathema tics
77~~O
7. The reading shown on the scale above is
(A) 6.8
(B) 7.1
(C) 7.2*
(D) 8.2
PAGENO="0132"
128
18. Mrs. Wong has to be at work at 8:45. If she allows 1 hour and 20 minutes
to get there, what is the latest she can leave home?
(A) A quarter to 8
(B) 5 after 8
(C) Half 2rpast 7
(D) 25 after 7
PAGENO="0133"
SETTING ~UCATIQNAL STANDARDS: STATE ACTIVITIES~
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5k'repared by Education Jolicy Research £nstitute of the Educational Testing Service witti, partial support from the Ford Foundation, July 1977
PAGENO="0134"
SETTING ~UCATIONAL STANDARDS: STATE ACTIVITIES~
STATE
LEGISLATION
STATE BOARD
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PROVISIONS
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*
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~
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~
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~Prepared by Education Policy Research £nstitute of the Educational Testing Service with, partial support from the Ford Foundation, July 1977
PAGENO="0137"
SETTING EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS: STATE ACTIVITIES~
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~~Frepared by Education Policy Research institute oF the Educational Testing Service with partial support From the Ford Foundation, July 1977
PAGENO="0138"
SETTING ~UCATIONAL STANOAP~S: STATE ACTIVITIES~
STATE
LEGISLATION
STATE BOARD
OF EDUCATION
STATE DEPT.
OF EDUCATION
PROVISIONS
.
~
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Mississippi
S
X
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Missouri
X
X X
Montana
(No statewide m
nimal competency
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>4Preparcd by Education Policy Research Instltute of the Educational Testing Service with> partial support from the Ford Foundation, July 19/.
PAGENO="0139"
SETTING EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS: STATE ACTIVITIES~
:*
STATE
LEGISLATION
STATE BOARD
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PAGENO="0140"
SETTING EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS: STATE ACTIVITIES*
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LEGISLATION
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PAGENO="0141"
SETTING EDUCATIONAL STARDARDS; STATE ACTIVITIES*
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LEGISLATION
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OF EDUCATION
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*Prepared by Education ~oLicy Iiesearch Institute o~ the Educational Testing Servlce with, partial support from the Ford Ioundation, July 1977
PAGENO="0142"
SETTING EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS: STATE ACTIVITTES*
STATE
LEGISLATION
STATE BOARD
OF EDUCATION:*
STATE DEPT.
OF EDUCATION:
PROVISIONS
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*prepared by Education Policy Researcti institute of the Educational Testing Service with,partial support from the Ford Foundation, July 191/
PAGENO="0143"
139
CHARACTERISTICS OF
EIGHT COMMONLY USED,
NATIONALLY NORMED TESTS
ESEA TITLE 1
EVALUATION &
REPORTING SYSTEM
PAGENO="0144"
140
CHARACTERISTICS OF
EIGHT COMMONLY USED,
NATiONALLY NORMED TESTS
ESEA Title I
Evaluation and Reporting System
Technical Paper No. 5
G. Kasten Talimadge
Christine T. Wood
October 1976
PAGENO="0145"
141
The research reported herein was performed pur-
suant to a contract with the Office of Education,'
U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Contractors undertaking such projects under Gov-~
ernment sponsorship are encouraged to express
freely their professional judgment in the conduct
of the project. Points of view or opinions stated
do not, therefore, necessarily represent official
Office of Education position or policy.
RMC Research Corporation
fountain View, California
95-038 0 - 77 - 10
PAGENO="0146"
142
This pamphlet briefly summarizes some of the
features of each of the standardized achievement
tests included in the Anchor Test Study (Loret,
Seder, Bianchini, & Vale, 1972) as well as edi-
tions of the same tests that have been published
since the study0 The tests reviewed are the Cal-
ifornia Achievement Test (1970), Comprehensive
Tests of Ba~sic Skills (1968 & 1973), Gates-
MacGinitie Reading Tests (1964), Iowa Tests of
Basic Skills (1971), Metropolitan Achievement
Tests (1970), Sequential Test of Educational
Progress (1969), SRA Achievement Series (1971),
and Stanford Achievement Tests (1973).
The levels and forms of each test are listed
along with the grade and month of the normative
data points suitable for use in norm-referenced
testing. The names given by the various publish-
ers to each test's standard scores (the scores
that should be used for any aritI~netic computa-
tions) are indicated~ Those score scales which
span all the test levels, thus permitting out-
of-level testing are noted. The score-conversion
tables needed to 1i~iplement the Title I evaluation
models are also specified. .
Finally, the conditions under which norm-
referenced testing can be done are. described,
along with procedures for utilizing the Anchor
Test Study conversion tables. .
PAGENO="0147"
143
CALIFORNIA ACHIEVEMENT TEST C fl, 1970
Test
Levels Norms (Gra~iMōnth) Forms
1 1.7, 2.4, 2~7 A & B
2 2.7, 3.4, 3.7, 4.4, 4.7 A & B
3 4.7, 5.4, 5.7, 6.4, 6.7 A & B
4 6.7, 7.4, 7.7, 8.4, 8.7, 9.4, 9.7 A & B
5 9.7, 10.4,10.7, 11.4,11.7, 12.4,12.7 A & B
Norms Acceptable for Norm-Referenced Evaluation
Normative data ~re collected in February,
March, and April, with the majority of testing
done in flarch. The end-of--grade and middle-of---
grade norms are projections, but because of their
proximity to the normative data point, they are
probably adequate for use with April-to-April and
January-to-January norm-referenced evaluations.
The beginning-of-grade norms should not be used
in norm-referenced evaluation.
Standard Score Scale
The Achievement Development Scale Scores (ADSS)
constitute an expanded standard score scale that
links all levels of the test and makes it possible
to do out-of-level testing.
Tables Needed
Raw Score to ADSS
Raw Score to Percentile/Stanjne
Conditions for Norm-Referenced Testing
The reading subtests of Levels 3 (grades 4 and
5) and 4 (grade 6) here included in the Anchor
Test Study. The CAT may thus be used for norm-
r~ferenced evaluations under the following condi-
tions:
PAGENO="0148"
144
1. pret~st and posctest 111 t4)LiJ. ~
interval) using CAT end-of-grade norms;
2. pretest and posttest in January (12-month
interval) using CAT middle-of-grade norms;
3. pretest and posttest in April (12-month
interval) using Anchor Test Study Individual
Score Norms for reading only, and grades 4,
5, and 6 only;
4. pretest in October, posttest in April using
Anchor Test Study Equivalency Tables and Met-
ropolitan Achievement Test norms for reading
only, and grades 4, 5, and 6 only.
Using Anchor Test Study Data
The following procedure is recommended for use
with Anchor Test Study data. First, convert each
pupil's CAT raw score to the equivalent Metropol-
itan Achievement Test (MAT) raw score. Second,
convert each MAT raw score to its corresponding
standard score. Third, calculate all statistics
using MAT standard scores. Then, if Anchor Test
Study norms are to be used, convert the mean MAT
standard score to its MAT raw score equivalent.
The corresponding percentile can then be read from
the Individual Score Norms Tables (not the School
Means Norms Tables). If the MAT norms are to be
used, percentile equivalents are provided corre-
sponding to mean standard scores. *
PAGENO="0149"
145
COMPREHENSIVE TESTS OF BASIC SKILLS (CTBS),1968
Test
Levels Norms (Grade/Month) Forms
1 2.4, 2.7, 3.4, 3.7, 4.4, 4.7 Q & R
2 4.7, 5.4, 5.7, 6.4, 6.7 Q & R
3 6.7, 7.4, 7.7, 8.4, 8.7 Q & R
4 8.7, 9.4, 9.7, 10.4, 10.7 Q & R
Norms Acceptable for Norm-Referenced Evaluation
Normative data ~re collected the laat ~ek
in February and the first ~ek in March. The
end-of-grade and middle-of-grade norms are pro-
jections, but because of their proximity to the
normative data point, they are probably ade-
quate for use with April-to-April and January-
to-January norm-referenced evaluations. The
beginning-of-grade norms should not be used in
norm-referenced evaluation.
Standard Score Scale
Expanded Standard Scores constitute an ex-
panded standard score scale that links all
levels of the test and makes it possible to do
out-of-level testing.
Tables Needed
Raw Score to Expanded Standard Score
Raw Score to Percentile/Stanine
Conditions for Norm-Referenced Testing
The reading subtests of Level 2, Form Q (grades
4 and 5) and Level 3, Form Q (grade 6) here in-
luded in the' Anchor Test Study. The CTBS may thus
be used for~norm-referenced evaluations under the
following co~1itions:
PAGENO="0150"
146
1. pretest and posttest in April (12-month inter-
val) using CTBS end-of-grade norms;
2. pretest and posttest in January (12-month in-
terval) using CTBS middle-of-grade norms;
3. pretest and posttest in April (12-month inter-
val) using Anchor Test Study Individual Score
Norms for reading only, and grades 4, 5, and
6 only;
4. pretest in October, posttest in April using
Anchor Test Study Equivalency Tables and Met-
ropolitan Achievement Test norms for reading
only, and grades~ 4, 5, and 6 only
Using Anchor Test Study Data
Procedures recommended for using Anchor Test
Study Equivalency Tables and norms with the Cali-
fornia Achievement Test are presented on page 3.
The same procedures should be used with Form Q
of the CTBS. If Form R of the CTBS is used, each
raw score must be converted to its Form Q equiv-
alent (using conversion, tables provided by the
publisher) before the Anchor Test Study tables
are used. .
PAGENO="0151"
147
COMPREHENSIVE TESTS OF BASIC SKILLS (CTBS), 1973
Test Levels Norms (Grade/Month) Forms
A K.1, K.7, 1.1 S
B K.7, 1.1, 1.7 S
C 1.7, 2.7 S
1 2.7, 3.7, 4.7 S & T
2 4~7, 5.7, 6.7 S & T
3 6~7, 7.7, 8.7 S & T
4 8.7, 9.7, 10.7, 11.7, 12.7 S & T
Norms Acceptable for Norm-Referenced Evaluation
The end-of--grade norms are based on normative
data collected in April and thus are adequate for
use with April-to-April norm-referenced evalua-
tions. The beginning-of-grade norms for kinder-
garten and grade 1 are based on normative data
collected in October and can be used in evalua-
tions at these grades. All other norms are pro-
jections and should not be used.
In addition, norms can also be constructed for
six-week periods on either side of mid-April by
linearly interpolating between t~ surrounding
normative data points.
Standard Score Scale
Expanded Standard Scores constitute an expanded
standard score scale that links all levels of the
test and makes it possible to do out-of-level test-
ing.
Tables Needed
Raw Score to Expanded Standard Score
Raw Score to Percentile/Stanine
Raw Score-to-NCE and Expanded-Standard-Score-
to.-NCE conversion tables are available if speci-
fically requested from the test publisher.
PAGENO="0152"
148
Conditions for Norm-Referenced Testing
The 1973 edition of the CTBS was not included
in the Anchor Test Study. The CTBS (1973) may
be used for norm-referenced evaluations under the
following conditions:
1. pretest and posttest in April (12-month inter-
val) using CTBS end-of-grade norms;
2. pretest and posttest in October (12-month
interval) using CTBS beginning_of-grade norms
for kindergarten and grade 1 only;
3. pretest in October and posttest in April using
CTBS norms for kindergarten and grade 1 only;
4. if testing cannot be done in April, pretest
and post test within the six-week periods on
either side of mid-April (12-month interval)
interpolating between the norms given in the
test publisher's manual.
PAGENO="0153"
149
GATES-MACGINITIE READING TESTS, 1964
Test Levels Norms (Grade/Month) Forms
Primary A 1.5, 1.8 111,211 1,2
B 2.1, 2.8 1F1,2M 1,2
C 3.L, 3.8 111,211 1,2
CS 2.8. 3.1, 3.8 111,211,311 1,2,3
Survey D 4.1, 4.8, 5.1 1M,21*1,311
5.8, 6.1, 6.8
Survey E 7.1, 7.8, 8.1 111,211,311
8.8, 9.1, 9.8
Norms Acceptable for Norm-Referenced Evaluation
Normative data were collected in January for
grade 1, in October for grades 2-9, and in April
for grades 1-9. The February and flay norms are
projections, but because of their proximity to
the January and April testing dates, the February
(grade 1 only) and May norms are probably adequate.
Thus, the October, February (grade 1 only), and
May norms tables can be used for norm-referenced
evaluations.
In addition, norms can be constructed for the
six weeks on either side of the mid-October data
point and for the six weeks prior to the mid-Flay
data point by linearly interpolating between two
surrounding normative data points.
Standard Score Scale
The standard scores provided for the Gates-lIac-
Ginitie are not expanded standard scores. It is
thus not possible to relate scores from one level
of the test to norms for another level, so using
test levels with appropriate norms may produce
floor effects with disadvantaged students
Tables Needed
Raw Score to Standard Score
Standard Score to Percentile.
PAGENO="0154"
150
Conditions for Norm-Referenced Testing
Survey D, Form 111 was included in the Anchor
Test Study. The Gates-MacGinitie may thus be used
for norm-referenced evaluations under the follow-
ing conditions:
1 pretest in October, posttest in May using
Gates-MacGinitie norms (but with the possibil-
ity that floor effects may be encountered);
2. pretest and posttest in October or pretest and
posttest in May (at 12-month intervals) using
the Gates-MacGinitie norms;
3. pretest and posttest in April (12-month inter-
val) using Anchor Test Study Individual Score
Norms in grades 4, 5, and 6 only;
4. pretest in October and posttest in April using
Anchor Test Study Equivalency Tables and Metro-
politan Achievement Test norms in grades 4,
59 and 6 only;
5. if testing cannot be done in October or May,
pretest and posttest within six weeks either
side of mid-October and/or six weeks prior to
mid-May, interpolating between the norms given
in the test pubisher's manual. If pretesting
is done far enough from a normative data point
to require interpolation, the posttesting
should deviate from its corresponding norma-
tive data point in the same direction and by
approximately the same amount.
Using Anchor Test Study Data
Procedures recommended for using Anchor Test
Study Equivalency Tables and norms with the Cali-
fornia Achievement Test are presented on page 3.
The same procedures should be used with Form 111
of the Gates-MacGinitie. The implication of using
other forms is not clear, as score equivalency
tables are not provided by the publishers, despite
the probable existence of between-form differences.
PAGENO="0155"
1
I
IOWA TESTS OF BASIC SKILLS (ITBS), 1971
f~orms
Test Levels (Grac~/Month) Forms
7 2.2 5&6
8 3.2 5&6
9 3.2 5&6
10 4.2 5&6
11 5.2 5&6
12 6.2 5&6
13 7.2 5 &6
14 8.2 5&6
Norms Acceptable for Norm-Referenced Evaluation
Normative data were collected the last half
of October and first half of November. The be-'
ginning-of-'year norms can be used for norm--
referenced evaluation. However, the middle-' and~
end-of--year norms are projections and should not
be used. In addition, norms can be constructed
for six-week periods on either side of the mid-
point of the testing interval (November 1) by
linearly interpolating between t~o surrounding
normative data points.
Standard Score Scale
Standard Scores constitute an expanded stan-'
*dard score scale that links all levels of the test
and makes it possible to do out-of-level testing.
Tables Needed
Raw Score to Standard Score.
Percentile Ranks to Standard Score
These tables must be specifically requested
from the test publisher, and are contained in a
booklet entitled ~ge-Eguivalent/Standard Score
Tables.
PAGENO="0156"
152
Conditions for Norm-Referenced Testing
The reading subtests of Levels 10 (grade 4),
11 (grade 5), and 12 (grade 6), Form 5, were in-
cluded in the Anchor Test Study. The ITBS may
thus be used' for norm-referenced evaluation under
the following conditions:
1. pretest and posttest in late October-early
November (12-month interval) using ITBS norms;
2. pretest and posttest in April.(12-month inter-
val) using Anthor Test Study Individual Score
Norms for reading only, and grades 4, 5, and
6 only;
3. pretest *in October and posttest in April using
Anchor Test Study Equivalency Tables and Fletro-
politan Achievement Test norms for reading
only, and grades 4, 5, and 6 only;
4. if testing cannot be done between mid-October
and mid-November, then pre- and posttest within
six weeks on either side of November 1 (12-
month interval) interpolating between the
norms given in the test publisher's manual.
Pretesting and posttesting times should deviate
from November 1 in the same direction and by
approximately the same amount.
Using Anchor Test Study Data
Procedures recommended for using Anchor Test
Study Equivalency Tables and norms with the Cali-
fornia Achievement Test are presented on page 3.
The same procedures should be used with Form 5
of the ITBS. The implications of using other forms
is not clear as score equivalency tables are not
provided, despite the fact that some between-form
differences are present.
PAGENO="0157"
153
METROPOLITAN ACHIEVEMENT TESTS (MAT), 1970
Test Levels Norms (Grade/Month) Forms
Primer K.7, 1.4 F, G, H
Primary I 1.7, 2.1 F, C, H
Primary II 2.7, 3.1 F, G, H
Elementary 3.7, 4.1, 4.7 F, G, H
Intermediate 5.1, 5.7, 6.1, 6.7 F, G, H
Advanced 7.1~, 7.7, 8.1, 8.7, 9.1 F, G, H
Norms Acceptable for Norm-Referenced Evaluation
Normative data ~re collected in October from
grades 2-9, in April from grades K-8, and in Jan-
.uary from grade 1. The beginning- and end-of-
grade norms can be used in norm-referenced evalua-
tion. The middle-of-grade norms can be used with
grade I only. In addition, norms can be con-
structed for the six-~ek period on either side
of mid-October and mid-April by linearly inter-
polating between two surrounding normative.data
points.
Standard Score Scale
Standard Scores constitute an expanded stan-
dard score scale that links all levels of the test
and makes it possible~to do out-of-level testing.
Tables Needed
Raw Score to Standard Score
Standard Score to Percentile
Conditions for Norm-Referenced Testing
The reading subtests of Form F of the Elemen-
tary (grade 4) and Intermediate (grades 5 and 6)
Levels were included in the Anchor Test Study.
The MAT may thus be used for norm-referenced
evaluation under the following conditions:
PAGENO="0158"
154
1. test in October and/or April (fall-to-spring
or 12-month interval) using MAT norms;
.2. pretest and posttest in April (12-month inter-
val) using Anchor Test Study Individual Score
Norms for reading only, and grades 4, 5, and
6 only;
3. if testing cannot be done in October or April,
pretest and posttest within six weeks on either
side of mid-October and/or mid-April, inter-
polating between the norms given in the test
publisher's manual. . If pretesting is done far
enough from a normative data point to require
interpolation, the posttesting should deviate
from its corresponding normative data point in
the same direction and by approximately the
same amount.
Using Anchor Test Study Data
If Anchor Test Study norms are to be used, con-
vert the mean MAT standard score to its raw score
equivalent. The corresponding percentile can then
be read from the Individual Score Norms Table (not
the School Ileans Norms Tables). If the MAT norms
are to be used, percentile equivalents are pro-
vided corresponding to mean standard scores. .
PAGENO="0159"
155
SEQUENTIAL TEST OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS II
(STEP Ii), 1969
Test Levels Norms (Grade/Month) Forms
4 3.7, 4.7, 5.7 A & B
3 6.7, 7.7, 8.7 A & B
2 9.7, 10.7, 11.7, 12.7 A & B
1 12.7 A&B
Norms Acceptable for Norm-Referenced Evaluation
Normative data were collected between April
20 and Nay 8. The spring norms can be used in
norm-referenced evaluation. The fall norms are
identical to the spring norms for the previous
grade and should not be used.
In addition, norms can be constructed for the
six-week' period on either side of the midpoint
of the testing interval (April 30) by linearly
interpolating between t~ surrounding. normative
data points.
Standard Score Scale.
Converted Scores constitute an expanded stan-
dard score scale that links all levels of the test
and makes it possible to do out-of-level testing.
Tables Needed
Raw Score to Converted Score and Percentile
Rank
Conditions for Norm-Referenced Testing
The reading subtests of Level 4, Form A, were
included in the Anchor Test Study. STEP II may
thus be used for norm-referenced evaluations
under the following conditions:
PAGENO="0160"
156
1. pretest and posttest in late April or early
May (12-month interval) using STEP II norms;
2. pretest and posttest in April (12-month inter-
val) using Anchor Test Study Individual Score
Norms for reading only, and grades 4, 5, and
6 only;
3. pretest in October, posttest in April using
Anchor Test Study Equivalency Tables and Met-
ropolitan Achievement Test norms for reading
only, and grades 4, 5, and 6 only;
4. if testing cannot be done in late April or
early May, pretest and posttest within six
weeks on either side of April 30 (12-month
interval), interpolating between the norms
given in the test publisher's manual. Pre-
and posttesting times should deviate from
the normative data point in the same direc-
tion and by approximately the same amount.
Using Anchor Test Study bata
Procedures recommended for using Anchor Test
Study Equivalency Tables and norms with the Cali-
fornia Achievement Test are presented onpage 3.
The same procedures should be used with Form A
of STEP II. If Form B is used, each raw score
must be converted to its Form A equivalent (using
conversion tables provided by the publisher) be-
fore the Anchor Test Study Tables are used.
PAGENO="0161"
157.
SRA ACHiEVEMENT SERIES, 1971
Test Levels Norms (Grade/Month) Forms
Primary I 1.7, 2.7 E & F
Primary II 2.7, 3.7 E & F
Blue 3.7,4.7, 5.7 E & F
Green 5.7, 6.7, 7.7 E & F.
Red 7.7, 8.7, 9.7 E & F
Norms Acceptable for Norm-Referenced Evaluation
Normative data were collected between April
5 and April 25. The second-semester norms can
be used for norm-referenced evaluation. The
first-semester norms are projections and should
not be used. -
In addition, norms may be constructed for the
six-week period on either side of mid-April by
linearly interpolating between two surrounding
normative data points.
Standard Score Scale
Growth-scale values constitute an expanded
standard score scale that links all levels of the
test and makes it possible to do out-of-level
testing.
Tables Needed
Raw Score to Growth-Scale Value
Growth-Scale Value to Percentile
Conditions for Norm-Referenced Testing
The reading subtests of Form Eof the Blue
level (grades 4 and 5) and the Green level (grade
6) were included in the Anchor Test Study. The
SRA Achievement Tests may thus be used for norm-
referenced evaluations under the.following condi-
tions:
95-038 0 - 77 - 11
PAGENO="0162"
158
1. pretest and posttest in April (12-month inter-
val) using SRA Achievement norms;
2. pretest and posttest inApril (12-month inter-~
val) using Anchor Test Study Individual Score
Norms for reading only, grades 4, 5, and 6
only;
3. pretest in October and posttest~'in April using
Anchor Test Study Equivalency Tables and Met-
ropolitan Achievement Test norms for reading
only, and grades 4, 5, and 6 only;
4. if testing cannot be done in April, pretest
and posttest within six weeks on ejther side
of April 15 (12-month interval), interpolating
between the norms given in the test publisher's
manual. Pre- and posttesting times should de-
viate from the normative data point in the
same direction and by approximately the same~
amount.
Using Anchor Test Study Data
Procedures recommended for using Anchor Test
Study Equivalency Tables an4 norms with the Cali-
fornia Achievement Test are presented on page 3.
The same procedures should be used with Form E .
of the SRA Achievement Tests. If form F is used,
each raw score must be converted to its Form E
equivalent (using conversion tables provided by.
the publisher) before the Anchor Test Study Tables
are used.
PAGENO="0163"
159
STANFORD ACHIEVEMENT TESTS (EAT), 1973
Test Levels Nocm~ (Grade/Month) Forms
Primary I 1.5, 1.8, 2.1 A, B, C
Primary II 2.5, 2.8, 3.1 A, B, C
Primary III 3.8, 4.1 A, B, C
Intermediate I 4.8, 5.1 A, B, C
Intermediate II 5.8, 6.1, 6.8 A, B, C
Advanced 7.1, 7.8, 8.1, 8.8, 9.1 A, B, C
Norms Acceptable for Norm-Referenced Evaluation
Normative data were collected in October for
grades 2-9, in May for grades 1-8, and in Febru-
ary for grades 1 and 2. The end-of-year norms
can be used for norm-referenced evaluation in
grades 1 through 8. The middle-of-year norms for
grades 1 and 2 and the beginning-of-year no~ms
for grades 2 through 9 can also be used. Norms
tables that are labeled Extended Percentile Ranks
are projections and should not be used.
In addition, norms can be constructed for the
six-week periods on either side of mid-October
(grades 2-9), mid-February (grade 2), and mid-
May (grades 1-8) by linearly interpolating be-'
tween two surrounding normative data points.
Standard Score Scale
Scaled Scores constitute an expanded standard
score scale that links all levels oU the test and
makes it possible to do out-of-level testing.
Tables Needed
Stanines & Selected Percentile Ranks
corresponding to Raw Scores
Scaled Scores corresponding to Raw Scores
PAGENO="0164"
160
Conditions for Norm-Referenced Testing
An earlier edition of the Stanford Achievement
Tests (1964) ~s included in the Anchor Test
Study. The new edition, however, has many advan-
tages over the old and should be preferred-
despite the fact that it cannot be used in con-
junction with the Anchor Test Study Equivalency
Tables. The SAT may be used for norm-referenced
evaluation under the following conditions:
1. test in October and/or May (fall-to-spring or
12-month interval) in grades 3 to 8 using SAT
norms;
2. test in February and/or May (winter-to-spring
or 12-month interval) in grade 1;
3. test in October and/or February and/or May in
grade 2;
4. if testing cannot be done in October, February,
or May, pretest and posttest within six weeks
on either side of October 15 (grades 2-9), Feb-
ruary 15 (grade 2), and/or May 15 (grades 1-8),
interpolating bet~en the norms given in the
test publisher's manual. If pretesting is done
far enough from a normative data point to re-
quire interpolation, the posttesting time
should deviate from its corresponding normative
data point in the s~e direction and by approx-
imately the same amount.
PAGENO="0165"
161
Copy: Mr. Powell
EDUCATIONAL Ti- STING SERVICE
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
08540
FEICE OF THE PRESIDENT Augtist 9, 1977
Senator Claiborne Pe11
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Pell:
The enclosed material is in response to your request, made
at the hearing of the Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities
on July 27, that I forward materials to describe and illustrate a
possible national test in the basic skills.
As it happens, ETS has been working during the past year with
a nationwide consortium of schools to design a testing program -- the
Basic Skills Assessment Program -- that could be widelyused. I.
believe our best response to your invitation is to draw heavily on
that work, and I am therefore enclosing sample materials from it.
These materials in no way exhaust the possible approaches to the
evaluation of basic skills, but they do represent a consensus of
views set forth by various educators concerned with the problem. A
list of the names of individuals -is provided in the Basic Skills
Assessment Test Specifications.
Sample items of any sort run the risk of being nonrepresentative.
I should be pleased to make available for your personal inspection
copies of the developed tests in the three areas of reading comprehension,
writing and arithmetic. As you can well understand, placing these secure
tests in a public medium such as the ~gressional Record would seriously
damage their utility to educators and school systems.
It was my personal pleasure to meet with you and your Committee.
I found the exchange of views constructive and most cordial. Should
you care to discuss these or related issues further, I would be most
pleased to do so. I hope you will call upon us for any materials that
might be of assistance to the Committee in these most important
deliberations.
Sincerely yours,
-`1,,) -`~., /
William W. Turnbull
President
Enclosures
PAGENO="0166"
162
1 inga New Program...
~ SKILLS
"~. ..~_J3A'1EN1
A cooperatIve effort by Educational Testing Service and a national consortium of school districts
NATIONAL CONCERN WITH
THE LEVEL OF BASIC SKILLS
Parents, taxpayers, school board members, legislators,
and others have reacted sharpty to what Is seen as evi-
dence that substantial numbers ot students are deti-
dent in the basic skills-reading, writing, and mathe-
matics. In state atter state, and In many school dis-
tricts, new performance standards tor students have
been proposed.
Still, the acceptable level ot performance has not been
clearly detined. What is minimum proticiency? Which
"tundamental skills" are essential? How skilled must
students become to be prepared tor the demands of
adull life?
A NEW NATIONAL TESTING
PROGRAM FOR GRADES 8-12
In responsetothis concern, Educational Testing Service
and a national consortium of school districts have de-
veloped a program for Basic Skills Assessment that will
be available nationwide In September1977.
Designed for use by school administrators, classroom
teachers, parents, and students, the new program pro-
vides an essential part of the information teachers need
as they attempt to identify and help students deficient
in basic skills. Although the Basic Skills Assessment
tests may be used to determine whether students have
acquired sufficient skills to meet graduation require-
ments, their main purpose is to serve as part of an early
warning system in the eighth and ninth grades. By alert-
ing students and teachers to deficiencies at those lev-
els, the tests will help insure that remediation efforts
are undertaken soon enough to have maximum bene-
ficial effects. Educators also can use the tests and re-
lated services to monitor student progress through high
school.
DEVELOPING NORMS
AND LOCAL STANDARDS
The Basic Skills Assessment tests have been normed at
the eighth, ninth, and twelfth-grade levels. Many dis-
tricts, however, will want to interpret test results In
terms of minimum standards they develop locally. ETS
will offer assistance in setting local standards to those
districts that desire it.
SCHOOL DISTRICTS ASSIST
IN FORMULATING POLICY
Educators from more than 300 school districts across
the nation have joined in a consortium to assist ETS in
the development of the program, the design of the
tests, and the planning of related services. Representa-
tives of 25 of these districts formed a Steering Commit-
tee to formulate policy for the program. More districts
continue to join the consortium.
SECURE TESTS IN READING,
WRITING, AND MATHEMATICS
The ETS program of Basic Skills Assessment contains
tests in the three areas generally adjudged as critical:
reading, writing, and mathematics. Important decisions
will be based on these tests, so they must be secure in
orderto insure that all students will start "even:' Proce-
dures for maintaining test security are described else~
where in this brochure. In addition, new forms of the
tests will be available each semester.
AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE IN SEPTEMBER 1977
The ETS prvgram of Basic Skills Assessment will beavailable ing and reporting will be carried oat by ETS. Interested school
for use in schools across the notion in September 1977. The officials way ose the enclosed order form or wrile directly Is
tests may. be administered by local school districls at any Dr. Carol A. Dwyer, Director, Basic Shills Assessment, ETS,
time daring the school year by arrangement with ETS. Scor- Princeton, NJ 08540.
PAGENO="0167"
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PAGENO="0168"
164
BASIC SKILLS
ASSESS/'VlENI
Furivlonnation, utile to Or. Carol A. Ooyer, Director, Basic Skills AssnsSvrevt, ETS, Princeton. NJ 08540.
Sample Questions
QuestIons 4-5: Read each question and then decide whtch of
the foursuggested answers Is best.
Choose the words that best complete the sentence.
4. While Iwas cooking supper,
(A) and t burned myself (B) burning myself
(C) getting burned myself (Dl i burned myseti
(This question requires the student 80 distinguish botween
complete and incomplete sentences. Only choice D goes
with the tirst part to form a complete sentence. The stu-
dent who is able to select a complete sentence is much
more likely to be able to generate one than is a student
unable to select such a sentence.)
5. Which paragraph would be most helpful in explaining how
to cars bra person bitten bye dog?
(A) Because the threat of rabies is ever preseni in case of
as animaf bite, it Is necessary to remove the animal's
saliva from the wound. Other infectious agents may
be present as weti cod should not be Ignored.
(B) Wash the bite with hot soapy waler. Then psi on an
antiseptic like hydrogen perooide and cover Ihe bile
with a bandage. Calf a doctorimmedlafely.
(C) Rabies isaoirai disease potentially carded by all warm-
biooded asimats.The bile of any such animal should
therefore betreated with care.
(Dl Cleanseand disinfect the wounded area. Obtain apprn-
prlate professional care.
(This question measures the student's ability to select the
most useful intormation in a given situation. Alt of the
responses are grammatically correct. Choices A and C are
more general, providing no immediate useful information.
Choice D provides more specific information, but does not
answer the question of how to "cleanse and disinfect" or
what "appropriate professional care" may be. Choice B,
the correct response, is specific, concrete, and of immedi-
ate usefuiness.)
Quanflon 6: ~
Wriiing sample. Pi~:e~noi~nt~;oi.s
Please apply in writing to:
Morgan Davis
10 Lincoln Rd.
Louisvllte, Kenlacky 40202
6. DIrectIons: Thomas Moore is 17. He lives at 69 Banberry
Lane in Louisville, Kentucky 40202, Ha has
worked as a counselor at Camp Pioneer for
two years. He has been trained in fIrsI-ald and
waler safef p.
Pretond that you are Thomas Moore and write
the iettor applying fur the job of counselor at
Pine Grove Camp.
(An appropriate response must mahe clear that the writer
is appiying for the job of counselor at Pine Grove Camp. II
should mention the experience and skilis described in the
directions, and (I should include a complete return ad-
dress. A good response should also be freeot gross errors
iv mechanics or usage.)
MATHEMATICS
Many students reach the end of high school without
becoming competent in the basic operations of arith-
metic. Others know how to add, subtract, multiply,
and divide, but are unable to apply those operations to
practical situations.
The Mathematics Skills Test, therefore, contains both
straightforward computalion questions and problems
requiring applications of those skills to real-life situa-
tions. Approcimaleiy 40 percent of the 70 questions
measure lhe ability to calculate with whole numbers,
cxmmon fractions, and decimais.
Sixty percent of the questions measure applications of
mathematical skills in such areas as comparative shop-
ping, installment buying, taxation, do-it-yourself con-
struction, and transportation.
Sample Questions
Quesfions 7.9: Read each question and then decide which of
the foursuggestad answers is best,
7. ~ (A) 505 (B) 590 (C) 591 (Dl eec
(The student is asked to add two whole numbers. The cor-
rect answer is B. The wrong choices represent common
computativnai errors such as forgetting lx "carry" or "car-
rying" an incorrect number of places or not knowing basic
number facls.(
B. Which of the iaiiowing booes of cereal is cheapest per
~
(The student is required to compute the cost per ounce of
each package and then cvmpare the cysts to select the
cheapest. The correct answer is C. As is often the case in
real iife, the largest boo is not necessarily the cheapest
per ounce.)
9. A job pays $6.58 per hour wilh time-and-a-half for over-
time. if you work 40 regular hours and 8 overtime hours at
that job, how much would you earn?
(A) $260 (B) $312 (C) $338 (Dl $468
(The student is required to calculate the time-and-a-hail
rate ol $9.75 per hour, multiply that times 8, and add the
sum to the reguigr wage, which is calculated by multiply-
ing 06.50 times 40. The correct chvice is C. Nvte that the
wnvng answers are based on common errors such as fvr-
getting to include the overtime hours, multiplying total
hours by the hourly wage, or multiplying total hvurs by
Ihe overtime rate.(
copyrluht ©l977beEduOati0valTO5llvO50t~i00A0~Ohb5r050!00d
PAGENO="0169"
165
SKILLS SAMPLE QUESTIONS
`~~~SA'1ENr
A ecoperatice effort by Eduvatiovat Testing Saisleeevd tioneloonsurfiarn of school districts
READING
Most people believe that high school students should
be able to read such functional materials as job appli-
cation torms, driver's manuals, tax forms, warning no-
tices, and medicine labels.
There is also general agreement that high school stu-
dents should be able to obtain information from news-
paper articles, evaluate edilorials and advertisements,
and understand fiction.
The Reading Skills Test, therefore, draws stimulus ma-
terials from a variety of areas relevant to the roles peo-
ple play as they earn a living, purchase goods and ser-
vices, continue learning, meet their obligations as citi-
zens, and take care of themselves and those dependent
on them.
About half of the 65 questions measure the reading skill
of literal comprehension, 40 percent measure the ability
to draw inferences from what is read, and 10 percent
measure the ability to make judgments about what is
Sample Questions
Questions 1-2: Each at these questions refers to the tetlow-
ing part of a rneufictne tabet,
Forlemporary Rettet of Mild Sore Threat
Dosage: 3-6 years: 1/4 teaspoon every 6 hears
6-12 years: 1/2 teaspoon every 6 hours
over 12 years: 1 teaspoon every 4 hears
Warning: Severe sore throat or sore throat accampanted
by tenet, headache, nausea, or vomtttng may
be serious. Cansati a phystctan tmmedlately.
It rash or irrttatton develops, stop ostng and
consolt a phystcian. Do not use mare than
days or gtue to children under 3 years at age
unlass directed by a phystctan.
1. How machat the medlctne should you give to a 7-year-aid
child?
(A) 1/4 teaspoon every 6 hears
)B) 1/2 teaspoon every 6 hears
IC) 1/2 teaspoon every 4 hears
ID) 1 teaspoon every 6 hours
(Thecorrectanswer is B. The question requires the student
to realize that a 7-year-old should be given the dosage in-
dicated for children 6-12, and to comprehend the literal
statement of the amxant to be given.(
2, According to the label, ft you have a sore throat, fever, and
a headache, you should
IA) use the medicine tarS days
)B) call a doctor as soon as you can
IC) Increase the amount at medicIne you take
ID) use other medIcine to cure the teverand headache
3. What ts the main idea at the paragraph?
IA) InflatIon leads to tao Increases,
)B) The cost at living Is IncreasIng.
IC) Paychecks are going up.
101 Money Is less valuable,
(The question requires the student to inter the main idea
of a paragraph. All of the choices state ideas contained in
the yaragraph, but choices B, C, and D are included only
to support the maior contention stated in choice A.)
(The question requires the student to comprehend that the
statement "Consult a physician immediately" means "Call
a doctor as soon as you can." The correct answeris B.(
Question 3: This question Is based on the following para-
graph,
- Most people know that Inflation makes money less valu-
able, People are not able to buy as much with each dollar
as they could last year. But few people realize that Infla-
tion leads to tao Increases, As paychecks go up to meet
the increased cast at living, workers are forced Into higher
tao brackets. They pay hlghertaxes on money that Is worth
WRITING
Some educators stress "correctness" and the use of
standard English, and others stress "communication"
and the acceptance of dialectal variat ion.
Most people agree, however, that high school students
should be able to follow such tiasic conventions of
standard written English as beginning sentences with
capital tellers, ending them with the appropriate punc-
tuation, and spelling common words correctly. It is
also important that high school students be prepared
to write effectively as well as correctly.
The Writer's Skills Test, therefore, measures both stan-
durd conventions of writing and effectiveness of expres-
sion. About one-third of the 75 questions measure spell-
ing, capitalization, and punctuation. The remainder of
the lest measures appropriate usage, relevancy of in-
formation, and organization.
While there areample data showing that multiple choice
tests of writing skills correlate substantially with the
results of scoring actual samples, some educators pry-
ferto measure writing skill directly. Therefore, awriting
sample test is offered in addition to the multiple choice
Writer's Skills Test.
By special arrangement, program participants may elect
to return writing samples to ETS for scoring, or they
may chooseto score the papers locally with training and
assistance from ETS staff.
PAGENO="0170"
SKILLS
~SA'1EN1
166
* lnservice training program. Through regional confer-
ences, workbooks, and other media, faculty and ad-
ministrators can learn about tests and testing, scor-
ing, score interpretation, uses of scores, and the
communication of score results.
* NEWS OF THE BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT PRO-
GRAM. Designed to help program participants share
problems and solutions, this newsletter reports de-
velopments from a variety of sources in the field, as
well as news of the program itself.
* Assistance with setting local standards.
BUILDING ON A SOLID
FOUNDATION OF RESEARCH
From 1970 through 1975, ETS carried out major research
under the U.S. Office of Education's Targeted Research
and Development Program in Reading, often referred to
as the national Right to Read project. In a national sur-
vey, ETS research scientists probed the questions sur-
rounding the specific levels of reading ability required
of aduits in everyday life: In what situations and for
what yeasons are particular levels of reading skills
used? A precursor of other, similar national efforts,
this survey yielded extensive data that exemplify the
solid base of research on which ETS is building the
Basic Skills Assessment program.
Research, of course, is a continuing process. During
the program's developmental phase, additional studies
have been conducted, including:
* Analyses of basic skill areas. Draft analyses of the
three skill areas were constructed based on past
models of basic skills. These drafls will receive broad
review among program participants.
* Survey of teachers across the nation. Responses to
a questionnaire sent to hundreds of leachers were
analyzed to incorporate their judgments of student
perlormance on the basic skills into the standard-
setting process.
EducatIonal TestIng SernlcelPrlnCetOfl, NJ 08549
STEERING COMMITTEE DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVES
Dr George N SmilhlMr. Richard Kiibnurne Dr. John F. MonbouquellelMinn Ann Keenan
High School Dislrict 207, Mesa, AZ BrainlreeiMAl Public Schools
Dr. Gordon R. GraveslDr. Frank Goeddel Dr. Vincent Siiluzin
Fresno Cily Unified School District, Frenno, CA Newton iMAl Pablio Schools
Dr. Alden W. Badal 0 0 I
Oakland 1CAI Unified Schooi Dislriol Lansing iMil School District
Dr. Mabel Purl
Ft d(CA)U I dSh ID I I MOM I fWbl 0 MO
DenveniCOl Public Schools Dr. William A. ShineiMs. Susan Kinney
Dr Robed Barry Cherry Hill INJ1 Public Schonln
Stamford iCTi Public Schools Mn. Belsy Haley
Dr. Rick NalionslMr Oscar Perry Charlolle.Mecklenbarg Schools. NC
SarasolaiFLi County Schools Dr. Russell A. Workirg
Dr. Jarvis BarneslDr. Carole McCarsor Toledo iOHi Public Schools
AlianlaioAl Public Schools Dr. Victor Doherty
Dr. Edward OilberliDr. Marvin Christensen Portland IORI Public Schools
Township High School Dislnicl 214, Mount Prospect. IL Dr. Benjamin Turner
Mr. Gordon McAndrewlMr. Nicholas McDonald Harrisburg iRAi School Dislricl
Gary ilNiCommanily School Corporation
O M WI Dr.J. F. HallIMs. Doris Clanlon
Des Moines hA) Independent Community School District Schooi District of Greenville County, SC
Dr John A. Maurelli Dr. Ray Chancellor
Daviess CounlyiKYl Public Schools Denlon iTXl Public Schools
Dr Maurice Kahn Dr. Gary A. ClarkiMr. Herbert Vilale
The Howard County IMOl Public Schools The Lynchburg iVAl Public Schools
A3801 _RRs7p3o-2oleee-prinledin U.S.A.
PAGENO="0171"
167
June 15, 1977 Draft
Approved by Basic Skills Assessment Executive Co ttee
for release to ~
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
TEST SPECIFICATIONS
Introduction
The following materials describe the tests that have been developed for
the Basic Skills Assessment (BSA). A brief introduction to the topic of test
specifications is followed by a discussion of the methods used to set
specifications for the BSA. The specifications for each of the tests in
the program are given showing the content and skills that are measured. The
members of the Test Development coimnittees are listed with their professional
affiliations.
Because the BSA tests are secure, representative sample tests have been
prepared to serve as specimen copies. Each sample is approximately one-fourth
the length of the actual test. Within that limitation, the samples provide an
accurate basis for judging the full length tests.
What are Specifications?
Test specifications have often been compared to blueprints because they
contain an outline of all the information necessary to "build" a test. Test
specifications may be divided into four major areas, each dealing with different
attributes of an examination:
Copyright © 1977 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.
PAGENO="0172"
168
1. Physical (the number of questions, the format of the questions,
the way the test is to be administered and scored, the testing
time, the general appearance and layout of the test, and so on);
2. Statistical (the intended difficulty, the appropriate level of dis-
crimination, the desired reliability, the scoring formula to be used,
and the like);
3. Content (the subj ect matter areas covered by the examination, and
the percentage of the examination devoted to each content area);
4. Ability (the various abilities and skills measured by the examination
such as literal comprehension, inference, evaluation, application,
and the percentage of the examination devoted to each ability).
The specifications for the Basic Skills Assessment and the processes
through which the specifications were derived will be detailed below.
How Were Specifications Determined for BSA?
Setting specifications for the Basic Skills Assessment was done in a step-
wise process with uxre and more detailed decisions being made at each succeeding
step. The initial broad decisions were made with the help of a Preliminary
Advisory Group:
*there would be measures of reading, writing, and mathematics;
*the tests should be used primarily for the identification of the
students requiring remediation in the basic skills; and
school districts should be as heavily involved as possible in the construction
of the instruments and in the design of the program.
The Preliminary Advisory Group was drawn from educators and educational administrators
around the country who had shown an active interest in the measurement of basic skilla.
PAGENO="0173"
169
In response to the Preliminary Advisory Group's suggestion to involve school
districts, several parallel efforts were undertaken. The first step was the
development of a consortium of school districts now numbering approximately 300
to assist ETS in the development of the program, the design of the tests, and in
the planning of related services. Representatives of 25 of these school districts
formed a Steering Committee to help formulate policies for the Basic Skills
Assessment Program.
While the consortium was being formed, Educational Testing Service drew on
its experience with the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Targeted
Research and Development Program in Reading, and various state-wide assessment
programs to put together lists of possible skills and content areas that might be
measured in basic skills assessment tests. From these lists, questionnaires were
developed and sent to 4,000 school districts around the United States. Respondents
were asked to rate each of the entries on the questionnaire interns of its relevance
and importance for inclusion in a test of basic skills. The results were tabulated,
and a rank ordering of specifications by perceived importance was created. Members
of the Consortium Steering Coimnittee reviewed the results of the questionnaires
and suggested additions and possible revisions.
The members of the Steering Committee were asked to nominate people within
their districts to serve as members of Test Development Committees that would
make detailed decisions about the content of the examinations. Representatives of
the relevant professional organizations were added to the lists of nominees.
Committee members were then selecte& to insure reasonable representation of
regions of the country, men and women,~ ethnic groups and type of professional
experience.
PAGENO="0174"
170
Two Test Development Committees were established: one for reading and
writing and one for mathematics. Using as a data base the results of the
specifications questionnaire, the Committees were asked to determine which
entries on the questionnaires should be included in the test and to suggest
additional entries. The Committees then were asked to determine what proportion
of the examination should be allocated to each of the content areas and skills
to be measured.
As is to be expected in an area as complicated as the assessment of basic
skills, the coimnittee process involved much discussion and compromise. When
grappling with the reading test, for example, a great deal of discussion followed
the suggestion to include such "literary" content and skills as poetry, narrative
fiction, figurative language, character evaluation, and the like. The bulk of
the disqussion dealt with a re-evaluation of what should be considered basic.
Well reasoned arguments were made on both sides of the issue leading to the
compromise of excluding poetry, including narrative fiction and including, where
possible, such skills as evaluation of written materials. Similar discussions
took place ameng members of the mathematics committee in trying to decide whether
or not to include applications of the Pythagorean theorem, or the use of English
vs. metric measurement units, for example.
The results of the committees' deliberations are summarized in the detailed
listing of specifications that follow.
WHAT ARE THE SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT TESTS?
Flexibility of Specificatipng
The specifications that follow are those that were arrived at for the initial
year of the Basic Skills Assessment. If the needs of users of the tests clange
over time, the specifications will be changed to help meet those needs. A new
edition of the test will become available each semester.
PAGENO="0175"
171
Physical Specifications
There are three separate multiple-choice examinations: Reading, A Writer's
Skills, and Mathematics. Each test is designed to be administered in approximately
45 minutes and to be machine scorable. In addition, there is a direct measure
of writing ability designed to be administered within a 45-minute period that
must be scored subjectively. Two parallel forms of each of the tests are available.
Statistical Specifications
Since the primary purpose of the Basic Skills Assessment is to identify those
students requiring remediation in the basic skills, the tests are at a difficulty
level that efficiently discriminates between a group requiring remediation in the
basic skills and a group not requiring such remediation. The tests are relatively
easy for the population as a whole. The tests are designed to have reliabilities
over .90 which is commensurate with the kind of decisions we expect to be made
on the basis of the test scores. The tests are unspeeded. In other words, almost
all of the students taking the test should be able to finish all the questions
within the suggested time.
Content and Ability Specifications
Of course, the content and abilities measured are different in each one of the
examinations. The pages that follow indicate the skills and abilities measured
and the number of questions devoted to them for each of the three tests.
PAGENO="0176"
172
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE READING TEST
READING SKILLS TO BE MEASURED
READING SKILLS Number of Questions
Literal Comprehension 33
Inference 25
Evaluation 7
Total 65
CONTENT CATEGORY MATERIALS TO BE READ
Telephone Directory 2
Loan Agreement 2
CONSUMER Guarantee 2
Advertising 3
Operating Guides 2
Product Information
Sub-Total 13
Newspaper or Magazine 3
Narrative Fiction 4
LEARNER Dictionary 2
School Catalogue 2
Cartoon 1
Book or Periodical Titles 2
Sub-Total 14
Editorial 3
Tax Form 2
CITIZEN Driver's Application Form 2
Law 2
Political Propaganda 3
Conmunity Resources
Sub-Total 14
Medicine Label Directions 3
Product Warnings 3
PROTECTOR Nutritional Information 2
First Aid Information 2
Road Map
Sub-Total 12
Job Application 3
Description of Benefits 2
PRODUCER Bus Schedule 2
Want Ads 3
Work Related Information 2
Sub-Total 12
TOTAL 65
PAGENO="0177"
173
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
SPECIFICATIONS FOR A WRITER' S SKILLS TEST
WRITING SKILLS TO BE MEASURED
WRITING SKILLS Number of Questions
I. Mechanics of Writing
(A) Spelling of common words 14
(B) Capitalization and Punctuation 14
capitalization of proper nouns
capitalization of proper adjectives
unnecessary capitalization
end punctuation
commas in addresses and dates
cot~as in series
commas for clarity
unnecessary comma
apostrophe to show possession
apostrophe to show contraction
quotation marks (direct quotation)
(C) Fill Out Forms Competently 4
II. Effectiveness of Expression
(A) Appropriate Usage of Standard Written English 17
subj ect-verb agreement
verb form
tense
sentence fragment
double negative
diction, according to meaning
pronoun agreementwith antecedent
pronoun shift
pronoun case
adj ective-verb confusion
unidiomatic infinitive
comparison of modifiers
unidiomatic prepositions
logical agreement
logical comparison
dangling modifier
parallelism
(B) Evaluation and Organization 26
clarification
irrelevancy
sentence relationship
economy
ordering information
diction, according to tone
95-038 0 - 77 - 12
PAGENO="0178"
174
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
SPECIFICATIONS FOR A WRITER' S SKILLS TEST (CONTINUED)
CONTENT CATEGORY MATERIALS
Letter explaining a problem
CONSUMER Personal check
Letter requesting information
Informative passage
LEARNER Narrative passage
Summary
Announcements
CITIZEN Letter expressing a point of view
Properly addressed envelope
Letter requesting information
PROTECTOR Announcements
Instructions
Want Ads
PRODUCER Letter of application for employment
Application form
SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE WRITING SAMPLE
OPTION A--Practical and Expository Writing: 45 minutes
1. Organize and express thoughts about a visual or written stimulus. (20 mm.)
2. Write a letter of application. (20 mm.)
3. Fill out a form. (5 mm.)
OPTION B--Practical Writing: 45 minutes
1. Accurately convey information. (20 mm.)
2. Write a letter of application. (20 mm.)
3. Fill out a form. (5 mm.)
PAGENO="0179"
175
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
SPECIFICATIONS FOR. THE MATHEMATICS TEST
MATHEMATICS SKILLS TO BE MEAStTRED Number of Questions
Add or subtract whole numbers 2
Multiply or divide whole numbers 11
Add or subtract decimals 6
Multiply decimals 4
Add or subtract fractions 1
Multiply fractions 2
Identify equivalences: fractions, decimal, percent 5
Find the percent of a number 1
Approximate numbers by rounding 1
Find what percent one number is of another 1
Compute an average 1
Identify the expression of an amount of money in words 1
as on a check
Approximate sums, differences, products and quotients 6
Estimate measurement (intuitive comparison) 4
Compute measurements 8
Read graphs (bar, line, circle) tables and scales 8
Interpret scale drawings 2
Compute interest . 1
Compute elapsed time 1
Combine operations
Total 70
CONTENT
COMPUTATION
Straightforward Computation 30
APPLICATIONS
Consumer Buying (comparative shopping, installment buying, 10
discounts, etc.)
Taxes (sales, income, etc.) 2
Banking (savings, borrowing, mortgage) 4
Wages and Salaries (time, payroll deductions, etc.) 4
Household Tasks and Expenses (utilities, decorating) 6
Shipping and Mailing 1
Mileage, Parking, Safety, Transportation 5
Statistical Inference (polls, advertising) 1
Health and Nutrition 2
General Activities, Sports
Total 70
The Test Development Committee for Mathematics did not feel that the use of
the content categories (consumer, learner, etc.) would be appropriate in mathematics.
PAGENO="0180"
176
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
COMEITTEE MEMBERS FOR READING AND WRITING
Dr. Joan Beers
Director of Research and Evaluation
Harrisburg School District
Harrisburg, PA
Ms. Ann Bronner
Director of Staff Development
Atlanta Public Schools
Atlanta, GA
Dr. Ray Chancellor
Assistant Superintendent of
Curriculum and Instruction
Denton Public Schools
Denton, TX
Dr. Carol Coleman
Elementary Coordinator
Cherry Hill Public Schools
Cherry Hill, NJ
Also Attending
Ms. Mary I. Lanigan
Head of Department of English
Newton North High School
Newton Highland, MA
Ms. Ellen Manhire
Language Arts Coordinator
Fresno Unified School District
Fresno, CA
Mr. John C. Maxwell
Deputy Executive Secretary
National Council of Teachers of English
Urbana, IL
Ms. Hortense Evans (Observer)
Administrative Intern
Atlanta Public Schools
College Park, GA
Dr. Gordon Graves (Observer)
Director of Educational Research
Fresno Unified School District
Fresno, CA
PAGENO="0181"
177
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
CO~ITTEE MEMBERS FOR MATHEMATICS
Mr. George Brucker
Mathematics Coordinator
School District of Webster Groves
Columbia, IL
Mr. Edgar L. Edwards, Jr.
Supervisor of Mathematics
State Department of Education
Richmond, VA
Ms. Mary Froustet
Mathematics Teacher
Union High- School
Union, NJ
Dr. Shirley Hill
Professor of Education
and Mathematics
University of Missouri
Kansas City, MO
Mr. Allen H. Smith
Mathematics Coordinator
Secondary Schools of Fresno
Fresno, CA
Dr. Ross Taylor
Mathematics Consultant
Minneapolis Public Schools
Minneapolis, MN
PAGENO="0182"
178
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
SAMPLE TEST
READING
The purpose of this test is to see how well you can read the kinds of things
that many people think are important. The questions are based on selections
taken from such things as labels, forms, bus schedules, and newspaper articles.
Look over the questions following each selection to get an idea of the kind
of information that you should be looking for. Then read the selection and
answer the questions based on it.
Each question in. the test is followed by four suggested answers. Read each
question and then decide which one of. the four suggested answers is best.
Find the row of spaces on your answer sheet which has the sane number as the
question. In this row, mark the space having the same letter, as the answer
you have chosen.
Try to answer every question. There is no penalty for guessing. Do not spend
too much time on any one question. There are 15 questions in the test.
Sample Question
Most drivers take of a second to react
to a danger signal. A car can go a long
way in that length of time.
How long does it take most drivers to
react to a danger signal?
(A) second Sample Answer
(B) 1 second
(C) 3 seconds
(D) 4 seconds
The correct answer is (A) "~ second." Therefore, answer space (A) is marked.
Copyright (E3l977 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.
PAGENO="0183"
179
~uestions 1-3 refer to the following medicine label.
RAMITOL: FOR TEMPORARY RELIEF OF MILD SORE THROAT
Dosage: 3 - 6 years; -j teaspoon at 6-hour intervals
6 - 12 years; teaspoon at 6-hour intervals
over 12 years; 1 teaspoon at 4-hour intervals
WARNING: Severe and persistent sore throat or sore throat accompanied
by fever, headache, nausea, or vomiting may be serious. Consult a
physician immediately. If rash or irritation develops, stop use and
consult a physician. Do not use more than 2 days or administer to
children under 3 years of age unless directed by physician.
1. According to the directions, if you have a sore throat, fever,
and a headache, you should
(A) use Ramitol for more than 2 days
(B) call a doctor as soon as you can
(C) increase the amount of Ramitol you take
(D) use other medicine to stop the pain
2. How much Ramitol should be given to a 7-year-old child?
(A) -j teaspoon every 6 hours
(B) teaspoon every 6 hours
(C) teaspoon every 4 hours
* (D) 1 teaspoon every 4 hours
3. You should stop using Ramitol right away if you get a
(A) headache
(B) fever
(C) rash
(D) sore throat
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0184"
180
Questions 4-6 refer to the following table of contents.
Adult Games and Hobbies . . . . 164-165
Apparel--
Men's 104-106
Women's, Furs 107-109
Appliances-
Portable 41-43
Major 103
Artificial Flowers 67
Auto Accessories 163
Barbecue Grills 178
Bath--
Accessories 92-93,96-97
Hampers 94-95
Mats, Scales 98-99
Shower Curtains
and Draperies 94-95
Bedding 69
Bedspreads 74-77
Blankets 78-89
Cameras, Photo Equipment . . . 128-129
Clocks 36,40,44-45
Closet and Sewing Accessories . . 88-89
Comforters 81
Cookware/Housewares 22-35
Curtains, Draperies 84-85
Dinnerware--
China 19
Melamine 13
Semi-vitreous 16-17
Floor Care 102-103
Giftware 4-9
Glassware 10-11
Hassocks 62
Inf ants' Apparel 146-147
Infants' Bedding 144-145
Instructions, How to Order . . . . 179
Juvenile Furniture and
Nursery Accessories 144-145
Juvenile Wheel Goods,
High Chairs 146-147
Kitchen Dinettes 31
Lamps 58-62
Laundry Supplies/Irons . . . . 100-101
Luggage 124-127
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0185"
181
4. Which pages would you read if you wanted information about cameras?
(A) 40-45
(B) 74-77
(C) 128-129
(D) 144-145
5. Which pages would you read if you wanted information about baby clothes?
(A) 78-79
(B) 107-109
(C) 124-127
(0) 146-147
6. Information about lamps is found on pages
(A) 58-62
(B) 88-89
(C) 92-93
(0) 104-106
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
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182
Questions 7-9 refer to the following form.
~ REQUEST FOR CHANGE F.~ App....d $.d~ MA,~ N~ 72-1 21.
EA~~ IN SOCIAL SECURITY RECORDS ~ TY CCO NT MIt
l..d `.MI..s 0. 1.~ i.o.~. rini. t. p.,... p,s~ .. ~_ ..~,,
IF IEQUEST1PEG NAME OIANGE (Fi~.t Nrn.) (Mild!, N~~t .~ I.isi~I-,f...,. dAM li,.t -) (L.a N...,) `~ DO NOT
=~A~~LY
P,.., YOUR NAME AS (Fi~u 5...,) (MidlIt N.~ I..itid-tf ~,. d,..~ I,., -) (L..t N..,j~]0
DATE (M..th) (D.y) ~ ~~I1ETH DATE PREVIOUSLY REPORTED (If dlfft~,M f~ JUt. 3)
CE (Cüy) (Ct..,Iy) (Salt) MALE FEMALE
MoThErs FULL NAME AT HER IIITH (A,. ~id,.. .t.') 0~ATHERS FULL NAME (E,~..&t.t ./ ..`h.th.. Ińi~g I? dt.d)
~ ANc.Dc.~,~wEEWE (Sau)
PRESENT (N,.,bt.- ~*d Sfrttt, Apt. N.. P.O. B.r. R...d RMEt) (ZIP CODE)
TODAYS DATE TELEPHONE NO. YOUR NAME HERf (D. Ntt P.1*:)
F.t.. OAAN-7D03 (2-6!) EAS~* tD*pI.t.d tp~(ktIit.~ It SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION OFECE
7. On which part of the form should you write where you were born?
(A) 3
(B) 4
(C) 5
(D) 6
8. On which part of the form do you tell if you lost your social
security card?
(A) 9
(B) 10
(C) 11
(D) 12
9. Line 1 of this form should be used to report a change of
(A) address
(B) name /
(C) telephone number
(D) social security number
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0187"
183
Questions 10-11 refer to the following bus schedule.
MIDDLETOWN TO SPRINGDALE
Leave Middletown Arrive Springdale
6:15 a.m. 7:10 a.m.
7:30 a.m. 8:45 a.m.
8:10 a.m. 9:25 a.m.
9:05 a.m. 10:15 a.m.
11:35 a.m. 12:40 p.m.
1:20 p.m. 2:35 p.m.
3:15 p.m. 4:20 p.m.
5:00 p.m. 6:05 p.m.
6:30 p.m. 7:45 p.m.
10. The bus that leaves Middletown at 11:35 a.m. arrives in
Springdale at
(A) 12:40 p.m.
(B) 2:35 p.m.
(C) 4:20 p.m.
(D) 6:05 p.m.
* 11. The latest bus you can take from Middletown to be in Springdale
before 5:00 p.m. leaves at
(A) 9:05 a.m.
(B) 11:35 a.m.
(C) 1:20 p.m.
(D) 3:15 p.m.
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0188"
184
Question 12 refers to the following information.
Those entitled to this minimum wage are employed by such
establishments as preschools, schools, and colleges;
hospitals; laundries; large hotels, motels, and restaurants;
and motion picture theaters.
12. Which of the following would be entitled to the minimum wage
referred to above?
(A) A farm worker
(B) A worker in an automobile factory
(C) A coal miner
(D) A teacher's aide
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0189"
185
~~stions 13-15 refer to the following passage.
What could she say to convince them of the importance of her study?
The board of judges seemed cool and uninterested the morning Katherine
went to ask them for money to support her study. Politely the chairman
asked about the purpose of what Katherine wanted to do.
Katherine had her answer ready. She said, "It's a bit difficult to
describe, exactly. Do you mind if I show you?"
The chairman nodded. Katherine slipped out of her dress, quickly
undressing to the costume she wore beneath. This took everyone by surprise.
Gracefully Katherine turned before them and danced a few steps from a
scene in a famous ballet. She straightened up and said, "That is the kind
of dancing being taught here."
Then she threw her body into an African tribal dance. She told the
board, "That is the way people dance in other places. I want to go where
they dance like that. I want to find out why, how it started, and what
influence the dances had on the people. I want to learn more about my
heritage."
The chairman leaned over and asked, "How about the West Indies?"
Katherine had won her grant.
13. The title that tells most about the passage is
(A) Katherine Convinces the Judges
(B) Dances of the West Indies
(C) Katherine and the Ballet Dancer
(D) Teaching the Judges to Dance
14. Why did Katherine dance for the judges?
(A) To describe what she wanted to study -
(B) To prove that she was a good dancer
(C) To show off her costume
(D) To show how beautiful ballet could be
15. According to the passage, when the judges saw Katherine's costume, they were
(A) angry
(B) surprised
(C) uninterested
(D) worried
IF YOU FINISH BEFORE TINE IS UP, CHECK YOUR WORK ON THE SA~fE'LE TEST.
PAGENO="0190"
186
BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT
SAMPLE TEST
A WRITER'S SKILLS
The purpose of this test is to find out how well you know the kinds of things
that many people think are important in standard written English. There is
a variety of questions about spelling, punctuation, usage, sentence structure,
and sentence relationships. The types of written material include notices,
messages, sentences, paragraphs, letters, and application forms.
Each question in the test is followed by four suggested answers. Read each
question and then decide which one of the four suggested answers is best.
Find the row of spaces on your answer sheet which has the same number as the
question. In this row, mark the space having the same letter as the answer
you have chosen.
Try to answer every question. There is no penalty for guessing. Do not spend
too much time on any one question. There are 22. questions in the test.
Sample Question
Directions: Choose the one underlined word that is misspelled.
Mary called. She said she could ~~ple Answer
A
take care of the children Sater4ay
B C
D
The correct answer to this question is C, because Saturday is misspelled.
Therefore, answer space C is marked. .
DO NOT BEGIN UNTIL YOU ABE TOLD TO DO SO.
Copyright © 1977 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved.
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187
Directions for Questions 1-4: Choose the one underlined word that is
misspelled.
1. Found: Adress book, no identification of owner. See
A B
secretary in main office.
C D
2. Maria--We have basketball practice tomorrow night. Hope
A B
Y2~ able to be . Sue
C D
3. Availible: g~iitar in excellent condition. $45.
A B C D
4. Beginning Wednesday: instruction in repair and
A B
maintainance of small appliances. Room 204.
C D
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0192"
188
Directions for Question~~5~: In each of the following sentences, find
the error in punctuation or capitalization. No sentence has more than
one error.
5. This weeks' film~ "Food from the Sea," will be shown
A BC
at 8:00 p.m.
D
6. "Are you going to spend the Summer working in New
A B
England?" asked Jane~
C D
7. When he thought I wasn't looking, my playful~~rother
A BC.
would take a bite of my chocolate cake.
D
8. Nr~ Miller wants his mail forwarded to_3l Center Street,
A B C
Birmingham~ Alabama.
D
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0193"
189
Directions for Question 9: Choose the best answer to the question.
9. Which way should David Albert Woods fill out the following line
in an application form?
APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYNENT
Name:
LJirst~jtmiddleinitinl~
(A) Woods David A.
(B) D. A. Woods
(C) Woods D. A.
(D) David Albert Woods
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
95-038 0 - 77 - 13
PAGENO="0194"
190
Directions for Questions 10-14: Choose the word or set of words that
best completes each sentence.
10. Whenever Jackie rides her bicycle, beside her.
(A) and her dog runs
(B) her running dog
(C) her dog runs
(D) then her dog running
11. My music teacher thinks that Marian Anderson sings
any other contralto he has ever heard.
(A) more well than
(B) better than
(C) the most good of
(D) more better over
12. Never use cleaning fluids or polish on a television screen
because
(A) of this harming the glass
(B) the glass can suffer from it
(C) of the reason of injury to the glass
(D) they can damage the glass
13. Jerry's supervisor praised his ability
(A) that he works quickly
(B) of quick work
(C) for his working quick
(D) to work quickly
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0195"
14. Eric wanted to buy a motorcycle, but his parents would
not
(A) be accepting it
(B) allow their approval
(C) give their permission
(D) have agreement with it
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0196"
192
Directions for Questions 15-16: Choose the word or set of words that can
logically join each pair of sentences. The punctuation will be different
in the new sentence, but the words must remain the same.
Look at this example.
Many people trade in cars for newer models. Their old
cars still work well.
(A) excepting that
(B) even though
(C) and also
(D) as if
The correct answer is (B). The new sentence reads: "Many people .trade
in cars for newer models even though their old cars still work well."
15. David returned the new toaster to the store. It didn't work.
(A) otherwise
(B) unless
(C) because
(D) or
16. The teacher would like to take the students on a camping trip.
She must get permission from the parents.
(A) regardless of
(B) but first
(C) so that
(D) and if
CO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0197"
193
Directions for Questions 17-18: Choose the best answer to each question.
17. If you had to provide your employer with a written excuse for not
coming to work, which of the foflowing should you use?
(A) It is unfortunate on the company's behalf that I was detained
elsewhere.
(B) My reason is that it was not convenient for me to cone to work
on that particular day.
(C) I had to take my neighbor to the hospital for an emergency
operation.
(D) Employees should strive to attend work whenever it is possible
to do this.
18. Imagine that you are writing a short story about a terrible shipwreck.
Which of. these sentences would be most effective for you to use?
(A) The ship sailed closer and closer to the. jagged rocks. Suddenly
there was a crunching sound as the rocks tore into the ship's
wooden hull.
(B) The ship sailed right upon the jagged rocks. It then was
affected as the wooden hull passed over these rocks.
(C) The rocks were jagged, and also they were dangerous, too. As
the ship came up near them, it was sure that the wooden hull
would undergo extreme damage.
(D) The jaggedness Of the rocks provided a danger situation.
Striking these, the ship harmed its wooden hull very greatly.
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0198"
194
Questions l9~Z2 refer to the following letter.
101 Arbutus Drive
San Antonio, TX 91803
March 5, 1977
Irish Tourist Bureau
101 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
Dear Sir or Madam:
~My ninth-grade class is studying European geography. 2Geography
is not my favorite subject, but I usually make a good grade in it. am
writing a term paper about the tourist industry in Ireland. 4Covering
the period from 1950 to the present. ~I need some information of this
nature.
- Yours truly,
Melinda Jarvis
* 19. What should be done with sentence 2?
(A) It should be joined to sentence 1 with ~.
(B) It should be placed before a~itence 1.
(C) It should be made into two sentences.
(D) It should be omitted.
GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.
PAGENO="0199"
195
20. What should be done with sentence 4?
(A) It should be left as it is.
(B) It should be joined to sentence 3.
(C) Covering should be changed to The cover of.
(D) It should be omitted.
21. In sentence 5, of this nature should be changed to
(A) in this aspect
(B) of factual things
(C) on such `an issue
(D) about this subject
22. Which of the following' is the most appropriate ending for this letter?
(A) I would appreciate any relevant material that you could send me.
(B) Whatever realistic data you could send me would be held in esteem
on my part.
(C) Thanking you in advance, please send me everything about Ireland.
(D) Put any stuff you have about Ireland in an envelope addressed to
me. I will be real appreciating if so.
IT YOU FINISH BEFORE TINE `IS CALLED, CHECK YOUR I~)RK ON THIS TEST..
PAGENO="0200"
196
THE WRITING SAMPLE
Basic Skills Assessment Program
In conjunction with its objective Test of a Writer's Skills, the
Basic Skills Assessment Program offers an optional set of writing exercises.
The writing set adds to the validity of the multiple-choice measure
of writing ability; it has the added value of emphasizing to students and
their teachers the importance of actual writing in the classroom.
The set of exercises meet the following specifications:
A. Write a letter applying for a job in response to a want ad.
B. Fill out a simple form, such as an application for a driver's
license.
C.. Choose one:
(i) Creative writing: Write imaginatively about a visual or
written stimulus.
(ii) Informative writing: Accurately convey given information
such as relaying a telephone message or describing a process.
Selection of Exercises
The exercises were pretested to determine how well ninth graders could
understand and handle the assignment in the time allotted. ETS suggests
45 minutes for the entire set, but districts are free to adjust the timing.
Scoring of Exercises
Exercise B will be' scored analytically by teachers' aides with a score
of acceptable or unacceptable. If the exercise has 8 blanks to be filled out
correctly, a score of acceptable might be 6 in one district, 8 in another.
Rubrics for "correctness" must be determined by the district before the
scoring begins.
Exercises A, C 1, C ii will be scored holistically by English teachers.
In addition, the exercises can be scored analytically for purposes of diagnosis
or program evaluation if districts so desire.
The lasic theory of holistic scoring is that each factor of writing skill
is related to the others and no single factor can be separated froth the rest.
PAGENO="0201"
197
Readers read each piece of writing for its total impression. Minor
grammatical errors should be ignored in holistic scoring. Students
are writing hurriedly and have no time for extensive organization or
revision. Since readers are reading for total impression, a poorly written
paper will not need word by word analysis. If a paper contains minor
mistakes because the writer was hurrying, then the reader will be able to
judge the quality of the paper better by reading it for its overall
impression.
Each student's writing is read by two different readers. If the two
scores on a paper vary greatly, the paper is read by a third reader. The
scale and rubrics for scoring may vary according to the needs of the district.
It is essential, however, that the holistic procedures be strictly adhered
to so that the readers' judgments are independent and faithful to the rubrics.
A district may decide to have its students' papers for exercises A, C i,
C ii scored in any of the following ways:
1. Send them to ETS for holistic readings.
2. Have ETS personnel conduct a reading for the district,
using local teachers as readers.
3. Have ETS personnel conduct a workshop in the district
to train local teachers to run their own readings.
4. Conduct its own readings, guided by ETS materials.
If you require additional information about the Writing Sample or
holistic scoring, please call or write Mary. Fowles or Harriett Frankel
at (609) 921-9000.
PAGENO="0202"
198
STATEMENT
before the
Education, Arts, and Humanities Subcommittee
of the Human Resources Committee
on
July 27, 1977
by
Roy H. Forbes
Director, National Assessment of Educational Progress
PAGENO="0203"
199
My name is Roy H. Forbes. I am the director of the National Assessment
of Educational Progress, a project of the National Center for Education Statistics
under contract to the Education Commission of the States. The National Assess-
ment of Educational Progress was designed to determine what skills, knowledge,
and attitudes are possessed by young Americans aged 9, 13, 17 and 26-35. More
specifically, the project reports the educational attainments of young Americans
and monitors changes in these attainments (growth or decline) over time. Each
year, National Assessment assesses one or more of the following learning areas:
Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Science, Citizenship/Social Studies, Career and
Occupational Development, Literature, Art and Music.
Within each age group, the data are presented by sex, region of the country
(Northeast, Southeast, Central, and West), race (Black, White, and Other), level
of parental education, and size-and-type of community. Using special analytic
techniques, National Assessment was able to recently report the level of Hispanic
achievement in five learning areas. This represents one of the few national
sources of data on Hispanic students.
In the eight years that the project has been collecting data, baseline data have
been collected in all of the learning areas. From the second assessment of science,
the project was able to determine that the percentage of young Americans able to
answer the typical science question bad decreased by approximately 2 percentage
points for 9-, 13-, and 17-year-olds. From the second writing assessment, the
project discovered that while 13- and 17-year-olds had maintained their skills in
PAGENO="0204"
200
the area of writing mechanics, there was an overall decline in the coherence
of their essays. Students appear to have developed a tendency to write the way
they talked. From a special study of functional literacy, conducted for the Right to
Read Effort, National Assessment determined that there was an overall 2 per-
centage point increase in the ability of in-school 17-year-olds to respond correctly
to the most basic type of reading tasks, and that students who were Black, from
rural areas or inner-city areas, had increased their abilities by approximately
4 percentage points. From the second reading assessment, it was determined that
the reading abilities of 13- and 17-year-olds had not changed significantly from
their counterparts in the first reading assessment (conducted four years earlier);
moreover, it was discovered that the 9-year-olds had made significant increases in
their reading abilities.
A variety of uses and users exist for the National Assessment materials. The
results from each assessment are shared with the appropriate educator groups,
concerned federa1~gencies and commissions, and the general public. The results
from an assessment often spur various interest groups on to further investigation
and research. As a pa~rt of its reporting policy, National Assessment releases a
portion of the Items that are used to conduct an assessment, to facilitate a better
understanding of the results. In addition, the released items and general assess-
ment methodology are made available tO state and local education agencies for
their use in evaluatlon/assessn~ent efforts. For example, the states of Maine,
PAGENO="0205"
201
Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Minnesota, Louisiana
and Hawaii have used portions of the released mathematics items as a part
of their state assessments to allow comparisons to the national and regional
results. The state of New Hampshire used a special set of materials entitled
"Education for Citizenship: A Bicentennial Survey" to assess its youths in the
area of Citizenship. Because of the interest in students' writing abilities,
the Bloomington (Minnesota), Cheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs, Colorado),
Lincoln (Nebraska), Air Force Academy (Colorado), and Dover (New Hampshire)
school districts have all used portions of the released writing materials to con-
duct their own local assessments of writing. The results were then used by
those local districts to plan and develop curricular improvements. Another
example of how National Assessment data is used for curricular improvement
was a series of articles which appeared in the Arithmetic Teacher. Each article
took items from the first mathematics assessment, examined how students re-
spon~ed incorrectly, and suggested techniques teachers could use to correct the
students' computational and problem solving deficiencies. These examples
demonstrate the utilization of National Assessment's materials and data by local
and state education agencies.
The requests by state and local agencies for information, materials, and
service from National Assessment continue to increase. These increases are
PAGENO="0206"
202
due to the desire for materials with adequate reporting data which can be used
for comparative purposes on an optional basis by local and state agencies.
Indeed, many local agencies use National Assessment materials because of their
comparative power. Thus, the National Assessment of Educational Progress is
attempting to meet these data needs of federal, state, and local agencies.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would be pleased to respond to questions from
the committee.
PAGENO="0207"
203
~~1I
Education Commission of the States
_____________________ 300 LINCOLN TOWER. 1860 LINCOLN STREET
(303) 893-5200 . DENVER. COLORADO 80203
August 12, 1977
The Honorable Claiborne Pell
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Room 4228
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Pell:
Reference the Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities' hearing on
the Quality of Education-Testing 977, July 27, 1977.
You requested that I provide for the record the following information:
(1) The number of Rhode Island students included in the National Assess-
ment sample.
(2) The list of states which have replicated portions of the National
A ssessment.
(3) Examples of exercises used by the project in conducting an assess-
ment.
You also requested that I provide you with my ideas about what an optional
national test in reading, writing and computation should be and what things
should be considered in preparing such a test. Responses to these four re-
quests are enclosed.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before your committee. If I can
provide you with any further information or comments, please call. I would
be happy to respond.
Sincerely,
Director
Ends
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
PAGENO="0208"
204
Enclosure #1
Number of Rhode Island Students in the National
Assessment Sample
During the first six years of the assessment (1969-70 through 1974-75), approx-
imately 400 Rhode Island students participated in the assessment each year. The
400 students consisted of an average of 120 9-year-olds, 130 13-year-olds, and 150
17-year-olds annually.
Under the new sampling design implemented for greater efficiency in the seventh
year of the assessment (1975-76), Rhode Island students participate in the assessment
two out of every four years rather than annually. They will be participating in the
assessment of mathematics this fall and also the assessment of writing the following
year. It is estimated that approximately 900 Rhode Island students will be assessed in
each assessment; the 900 students will consist of 300 students at each age level for
each year.
PAGENO="0209"
205
Enclosure #2
STATE ASSESSMENT REPLICATIONS
The following states have conducted state-wide assessment programs closely
patterned after National Assessments procedures. By replicating these
assessment procedures and using items from National Assessment, these
states were able to compare their students achievement to national and
regional results.
Connect i cut
Florida
Hawaii
Louisiana
Maine
Massachusetts
Minnesota
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Washington
95-038 0-77-14
PAGENO="0210"
206
Enclosure #3
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT
EXAMPLE TEST ITEMS
This enclosure contains selected test items from the areas of mathematics,
reading and writing. National and regional results for l3-year-olds are
shown on pages 10-11.
NAEP test items are developed to measure specific learning objectives con-
sidered to be important by scholars, educators and lay people. The items
are also developed for various difficulty levels, thus allowing one to
describe a broad range of achievement patterns. The items selected for
this enclosure might be viewed as important basic skills items -- tasks
that a relatively high percent of l3-year-olds should be able to success-
fully perform.
The math items shown are all computational skill items. The reading items
measure understanding word meanings and the use of graphic and reference
materials. The writing items measure students' ability to write in response
to a wide range of societal demands, i.e. addressing an envelope, listen-
ing to a telephone conversation and writing a short note and writing a
letter to the Parents' Club.
PAGENO="0211"
207
MATHEMATICS
1. Do the following problems:
A. Add: B. Subtract:
38 36
+19 -19
C. Multiply: D. Divide:
38 5[T~~
X9
2. Add the following numbers:
$ 3.06
10.00
9.14
5.10
3. Do the following subtraction:
1,054
- 865
4. A rocket was directed at a target 525 miles south of
its launching point. It landed 624 miles south of the
launching point. By how many miles did it miss its
target?
ANSWER ___________________
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208
READING
1. People who run zoos sometimes put signs on animal cages
to tell what the animals are like or where they come
from. If you went to a zoo and saw these four signs on
different cages, which one would tell you that there s
a dangerous animal inside the cage? Fill in the oval
beside the correct sign.
c~ i don't know.
cD
Inside this cage
is one of the
smallest animals
found in America.
Inside this cage
is an extremely
ferocious animal.
Inside this cage
is an animal
that sleeps all
the time.
Inside this cage
is a rare type of
eagle -- one of
the few left in
the world.
2
PAGENO="0213"
209
2. Read the sentence and fill in the oval beside the
group of words which tells what the sentence means.
"I certainly won't miss that movie."
~D I like that movie.
~ I'm going to that movie.
~D I'm not going to that movie.
~D I hope I'll see that movie, but I don't know
if I can.
~J I didn't see that movie, although it was here
all fall.
~D I don't know.
3. Look at the labels from two cans of dog food. One can
has more protein in it than the other. Fill in the
oval below the dog food that contains more protein.
Ash 3%
Crude fiber 17%
Crude protein 65%
Crude fat 11%
Moisture 4%
Vitamin E trace
PREMIUM DOG FOOD
A Beef Product
Ash 2%
Crude fiber 45%
Crude protein 20%
Crude fat 30%
Moisture 3%
Vitamin E trace
HEARTY DOG FOOD
A Balanced Meal
`ZD I don't know.
3
PAGENO="0214"
210
4. Read the passage and answer the question which follows
it.
Helen Keller was born in 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
When she was two years~old, she lost her sight and hearing
as the result of an illness. In 1886 she became the pupil
of Anne Sullivan, who taught Helen to "see' with her fingertips,
to "hear" with her feet and hands, and to communicate with
other people. Miss Sullivan succeeded in arousing Helen's
curiosity and interest by spelling the names of objects
into her hand. At the end of three years Helen had mastered
both the manual and the braille alphabet. and could read
and write.
When did Helen Keller lose her sight and hearing?
ZD 1880
cD 1882
`ZD 1886
G~ 1890
~D 1900
~D I don't know.
4
PAGENO="0215"
211
5. Read the question and fill in the oval beside the
correct answer.
If you had to tell your class about windmills, which
of these would be the BEST book to use?
~ An atlas
c A dictionary
c~ An encyclopedia
~D The Yellow Pages in the telephone book.
~D I don't know.
5
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212
WRITING
1. Pretend that your name is Dale Roberts and you live at
1545 Lake Street in Narka, Kansas. The zip code for
Narka, Kansas, is 66960. You have written a letter to
John Way. He lives at 345 Moose Street, Nome, Alaska.
The zip code for Nome, Alaska is 99762. Address the
envelope below. Make sure you write down everything
that should go on the envelope.
~L~c
6
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213
2. You are going to hear a telephone conversation between
two boys, Sam and Al. During the conversation, you will
discover that Al is going to have to write a note to
another boy, Fred. Listen carefully to find out the
things that Al will have to say in his note.
(NOW LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION)
You will now have another chance to hear the conversation
between Sam and Al. Listen to it carefully again and then,
when the boys have finished talking, write the note that
you think Al should write to Fred.
(NOW LISTEN TO THE PHONE CONVERSATION AGAIN)
7
PAGENO="0218"
214
3. Imagine the Parents' Club of your school is sponsoring
a Friday evening dance for the eighth grade. The dance
hours are from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Many students feel this
is not long enough. Pretend you are Pat Smith and write
a letter to the Parents' Club stating your point of view.
Explain why you AGREE or DISAGREE with the idea of a
dance from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Remember to take only ONE
point of view. Space is provided below and on the next
two pages.
8
PAGENO="0219"
215
4. Pat Brown has been asked by his class to invite Mr. Jones
to come and speak about safety.
Look atthe three invitations below. Fill in the oval
beside the invitation which is BEST.
Dear Mr. Jones,
Our school would appreciate your speaking to us
about safety at 9:30 a.rn. next Tuesday, January 3, at
Rayburn School. If you are free at this time, please
accept our invitation.
Sincerely,
Pat Brown
Dear Mr. Jones,
I'm supposed to find out if you can speak to us
at Rayburn next Tuesday, January 3 at 9:30? Please
accept this.
Sincerely,
Pat Brown
Dear Mr. Jones,
Our school would like for you to speak to us
about safety. Is that okay with you. We could have
you on Tuesday of next week, and you could talk in
our auditorium.
Yours Truly,
Pat Brown
C~ I don't know.
9
PAGENO="0220"
216
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT RESULTS
(Percent Correct for 13-Year-Olds)
Region of the Country
Nation Northeast Southeast Central
94.3 95.5 93.0 94.5
88.9 92.1 87.8 90.0
82.6 * 85.7 78.4 85.8
88.5 91.8 85.3 90.6
84.3 88.6 79.3 88.5
80.0 83.4 75.3 82.0
71.7 78.7 62.5 75.8
Mathematics
Item 1-Part A
Part B
Part C
Part 0
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4
Readi~g
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4
Item 5
Writ~g
Item 1
Return Name
Return Address
Return City
Name
Address
City, State, Zip
All six parts
correct
West
94.1
85.5
79.7
~35. 7
78.8
78.6
67.9
96.1
73.5
82.3
84.2
87.4
94.3
91.3
90.6
94.5
92.4
91.1
95.8
76.1
80.5
84.1
89.5
92. 9
91.6
90.4
93.7
92.6
90.9
87.2
74.9
74.8
80.5
84.7
72.6
81.8
84.5
77.9
89.2
89.8
89.3
91.4
91.1
92.4
90.5
94.3
94.1
91.7
*
~
91.9
88.5
87.7
90.0
89.7
88.0
94.1
93.4
92.0
95.3
93.6
92.1
88.2
83.4 88.5 88.0
10
PAGENO="0221"
217
Region of the Country
Writing, cont'd. Nation Northeast Southeast Central West
Item 2
Note mentions
game 83.3 84.8 79.2 83.9 84.2
Note mentions
time 59.8 64.4 50.7 63.6 57.8
Note mentions
place 24.1 27.7 21.8 20.7 25.5
Note mentions all
three 19.2 21.7 16.4 16.4 21.6
Item 3
Unclear and
unel aborated
position 12.0 13.0 10.0 11.7 12.8
Clear but
unel aborated
position 22.8 23.6 24.8 24.3 18.2
Persuasive
arguments and/or
elaboration of
position 60.6 59.3 57.2 61.3 69.2
Other 4.2 3.7 7.7 2.1 4.4
Item 4 86.3 83.5 84.1 87.7 89.6
NOTE: In addition to national and regional results, National Assessment
also reports by sex, race, level of parental education and size
and type of community.
11
PAGENO="0222"
218
Enclosure #4
A National Test: Considerations
Note: Senator Pell, Chairman, Subcon:mittee on Education, Arts and
Humanities, conducted hearings on July 27, 1977, on the Quaj~y
of Education-Testing, 1977. One of the things Senator Pell was
interested in was obtaining information about the need for and
nature of an optional national test in reading, writing and compu-
tation. At the conclusion of the hearings, Senator Pell requested
that the witnesses, Dr. Roy Forbes, Director of National Assess-
ment of Educational Progress, and Dr. William Turnbull, President,
Educational Testing Service, provide him with their thoughts "of
what such an optional test should be" and what things should be con-
sidered in developing the test. This paper is National Assessment's
response to Senator Pell's request. Two testing models are pro-
posed which are designed to meet the needs delineated by Senator
Pell and which could operate within the framework of the constitutional
responsibilities of states for providing equal education opportunities
to all students.
PAGENO="0223"
219
Three major political points emerge when discussing the development of a
national test of achievement in reading, writing, and computation. They are:
1) Should the test be developed under direct control of the Federal
government, i. e., should the government determine the content of
the test?
2) Should test-related standards be established? If so, by whom?
3) Should administration of the test in a state or local school district
be voluntary or mandated by the Federal government?
These points were discussed extensively in the mid-sixties by groups of
distinguished educators and government officials during the planning of the National
Assessment of Educational Progress. The answers determined by those educators
shaped the assessment's design. The answers remain the same today.
Educators in the mid-sixties assumed the content and results of the assessment
would reflect and have impact on the curriculum. In other words, reporting how
well students performed on specific items would lead to more or less attention on
certain curricular aspects. The assessment's potential impact on curricular aspects
was not the primary concern, as this would be desirable. Potential control of the
content of the assessment by the Federal government, however, was a concern.
This remains a concern today.
The design of the assessment assured that this would not happen. Although
financially supported by the Federal government through the National Center for
PAGENO="0224"
220
Education Statistics (NCES), the assessment is governed by a policy committee
appointed by the Education Commission of the States. NCES does not dictate or
approve the content of an assessment. Content is determined through a nationwide
consensus process. The consensus process is accomplished by bringing together
teachers, parents, administrators, and curriculum specialists to develop the con-
tent of each assessment.
The designers of National Assessment determined that static national standards,
as opposed to standards based on progress, were not desirable. They based this
conclusion on several points, three of which were:
1) Constitutionally, education is the prerogative of the states and the
establishment of national educational standards would be an intrusion
on this right and responsibility.
2) Static, minimum standards could lead to a lowering of educational
expectations.
3) Standards could lead to indirect control of the curriculum.
Therefore, National Assessment was designed to provide information which
could be related to standards set locally in terms of general goals for progress.
National A ssessment was designed to test and report on the knowledge, skills and
attitudes of 9, 13, and 17-year-old students as well as young adults, ages 26-35.
The primary purpose of the assessment was to measure changes in student achieve-
ment over time so that educators and government officials would know what progress
was being achieved in reaching nationally accepted educational goals. The assess-
ment was designed also to report the identity of groups of individuals .in need of
PAGENO="0225"
221
special consideration if all students were to receive an equal education and
be given the opportunity to realize their full potential.
The designers concluded that the assessment should not be mandated but
should be voluntary, i. e., school systems should not be required to participate.
The constitutional responsibilities of the states and the potential of indirect
curriculum control were the basis for this decision. Lately, mandated testing
requirements have increased and are adversely affecting the school voluntary co-
operation rate. It may become necessary to request that current voluntary programs
also be mandated.
The issue of test-purpose is another major consideration in the design and
developmental process of an assessment. Different purposes call for different
types of tests as well as different test administration procedures. For example,
tests may be used to diagnose knowledge and skill levels of an individual student, or
to provide group data for local, state or Federal policy decision-making.
Information for policy decision-making does not require that every student be
tested or that all students tested need necessarily respond to the same set of ques-
tions. Therefore, testing for decision-making purposes can and should incorporate
certain economies pertaining to fiscal resources and student instructional time
while providing an abundance of information, For example, National Assessment
requires one classroom period of student time to respond to the assessment. Each
student responds to a sample of the questions. If a student responded to all ques-
tions contained in an assessment, an additional eight hours would be required. The
savings in student time and financial resources are great.
95-038 0 - 77 - 15
PAGENO="0226"
222
National Assessment items do not constitute a diagnostic test. If the purpose
of testing is to determine achievement deficiencies or strengths of an individual
student at one point in time, standardized tests, as well as state and locally de-
veloped tests, are available.
The designers of National Assessment recognized the various purposes of
testing and decided the purpose of a national assessment should be to provide infor-
mation useful for policy decision-making.
Model A (subsequently presented) is recommended if the purpose of a national
test in reading, writing, and computation is to provide information for Federal and
state level decision-making. If the purpose is to identify individual student de-
ficiencies, then National Assessment does not recommend a national test but a
continuation of the current practice by state/local education agencies of selecting
commercially available tests or of developing tailor-made tests. It is further
recommended that attempts be intensified to develop statistics for comparing test
scores from various standardized tests, e. g., The Anchor Study.
Model B (subsequently presented) describes how National Assessment is re-
sponding currently to state and local education agencies who are interested in
developing tests and having national/regional comparative data. Suggestions for
expanding/improving the current services are included.
PAGENO="0227"
223
MODEL A
A national test of reading, writing, and computation should assess what
students should know and be able to do. Statements (objectives) of desirable
knowledge and skills should be developed using a national consensus approach.
Teachers, school administrators, parents and interested lay persons should par-
ticipate with curriculum specialists in the consensus process.
Each objective should address a specific area of knowledge, skill or attitude,
but no attempt should be made to specify how many objectives should be success-
fully met by an individual ~tudent for that student to be judged minimally competent
in reading, writing, and computation. The setting of standards should be the pre-
rogative of state or local education agencies. This model would provide national
and regional data which could be used as comparative reference points by state
and local agencies.
Multiple items should be developed to measure each objective. The items
should be reviewed for possible cultural bias and field tested thoroughly. The
selection of items to be included in the national test should follow the same consensus
process used in the development of objectives.
The test should be administered to a national sample of students to provide a
national yardstick which could be used by Federal education policy-makers. The
test should be administered by a non-government agency. To protect the security
of the test and provide uniformity of test administration, state and local school
personnel should not have the responsibility for test administration.
PAGENO="0228"
224
States should have the option of having the national sample within their state
expanded to provide state level data. The cost of the expanded sample could be
jointly shared by the Federal and state governments.
States opting to expand the sample within their state would be able to use the
national data as a yardstick for a comparison between national and state datn. To
insure test security and uniformity of administration, the same independent agency
collecting and reporting national data or a network of independent agencies should
conduct these concurrent and expanded state testing programs.
Local education agencies also should be provided with the expanded sample
option. The cost of testing could be shared jointly by the Federal government and
the local district. Analyses and reporting should be the responsibility of an inde-
pendent agency(ies), but not necessarily the agency involved in national and state
testing.
The design of Model A is based on a proven approach for providing national yard-
stick data, that is, the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Therefore,
the model could be implemented with minimal difficulty. Several current activities
would need to be expanded while only two new activities would need to he initiated.
The new activities are:
* 1) Develop and implement procedures for working with state and local
agencies who opt to participate in the expanded testing program.
2) Develop and implement procedures for working with other independent
agencies involved in the collection and reporting of national test data.
PAGENO="0229"
225
The expanded activities are:
1) Develop an objective and item pool designed specifically for the
national test purposes. Many of the objectives and items which
would probably comprise this pool are currently available through
National Assessment and state assessment programs.
2) Select objectives and items for the national test using a national
consensus approach.
3) Administer, analyze, and report national and regional test results.
4) Provide technical assistance to state and local agencies interested in
using the national test data as a comparative yardstick. Concise,
self-explanatory documentation would need to be prepared as a means
of providing a cost-efficient process for technical assistance.
PAGENO="0230"
226
MODEL B
National Assessment currently has available 1,780 objective related items
which may be used by state and local education agencies interested in developing
tests tailored to their unique needs. National and regional performance data, as
well as information pertaining to administration and scoring, are available for each
Item. Objective booklets are available for reading, writing, mathematics, science,
social studies, citizenship, literature, art, music, and career and occupational
development.
National Assessment also has available documentation of procedures for those
systems interested in replicating the procedure used in the national assessment.
Close replication provides those systems with data which can be compared more
accurately with national and regional results.
By using items provided through National Assessment, it is possible for a local
or state education agency to collect data and use the national or regional data as a
comparative yardstick. The items can be used in developing tests for either diag-
nostic or policy purposes.
The current National Assessment service could be expanded by:
1) Developing, through a national consensus approach, a specific pool of
objectives and related items in reading, writing, and computation for
use by state or local education agencies in test development.
PAGENO="0231"
227
2) Collecting and reporting national and regional data on items
in the pool described above to provide state and local education
agencies with a yardstick.
3) Providing state and local education agencies with increased technical
assistance in how to most efficiently and effectively use the objectives,
Items, data, and methods available through National A ssessment.
PAGENO="0232"
228
BLOOMI NGTON
WRITING
ASSESSMENT
1977
~: ~ PLJ~LIC 5C~~LS
I)
Fred M. Atkinson Orville Ruud
Superintendent of Schools Data Processing - Evaluation
10025 Per~n Avenue South
B!oomington, M~nno~ota 55431
PAGENO="0233"
229
-rJ~ ~ ~ ~k
~ē, ~ ~ ~ ~ D/E~
£4 ~ A~4'~ i~
_a~ZX~j ~ ~
~
/~ _`~`v.4~, ~ t~ 4~~- ~ ~`
C~J k ~y~t ~ f~m~Q ~ ~ s~Q. ~ .~
SCORING
10/lOu Spelling Errors No End mark Errors
3/104 Usage Errors 1/11 Punctuation Errors
No Capitalization Errors
EXERCISE EXAMPLE
/ ~ ~. ~
On page 4 is a picture of a kangaroo in Austral ia. Look at the picture
for a while. What do you think is happening? Where do you suppose the
kangaroo came from? Where do you think he is going? Lock how high he.jumps!
Why do you suppose he is jumping over the fence?
Write a story about what is happening in the picture.
PAGENO="0234"
230
SAMPLE RESULTS
S-Spelling Errors K-Word Choice Errors
per word per word
More Less More Less
than than than than
4% 4%-~% 1% £~ 4%-l% 1%
SAMPLE CONCLUSION
Capitalization and word choice in context are strengths for Bloomington students.
Student performance In spelling, whim not meeting the rigorous staff-citizen standards,
does compare well with that of National 9-year-clds. Lessons for such spelling improve-
ment should be writing assignmonts rather than word lists.
C-Capitalization
errors per word
More Less
than than
2% 2%-~% ~%
Bloomington
4th *Grade
62%
30%
8%
8%
22%
70%
16%
24%
6l~
Staff-citizens
Standard
Minimum
35%
55%
10%
30%
50%
20%
50%
45%
5~
Desired
25%
60%
5%
20%
55~
25%
25%
60%
15%
S-Spelling K-Word Choice
Errors Errors Errors Errors
/ / / /
- Essay 100 wds. Essay 100 wds
Bloomington -
4th Grade 5.0 6.3 .8 1.0
National
9-year-olds 4.1 8.4 .5 1.0
SAMPLE ANALYSIS
TRAIT JUDGEMENT
National Standards Overall
Spelling
Strength
Need
Probable Need
Word Choice
Acceptable
Strength
Strength
Capitalization
Not Applicable
Strength
Strength
PAGENO="0235"
231
DESCRIBE GOALS AND TESTING CONSTRAINTS
WHAT IS WRITING?
A writing 5teering committee clearlY described "what is wri
from the ~~0omington ___________________________________
WRITING ASSESSMENT TASK FORCE
June 1976
,,Def?nition of Writing and Writing Assessment.
WHAT IS WRITiNG?
Writing is the recording and preserving of language and the transmission
of ideas. Writing is subject to certain organizational and mechanical con-
ventions. Although writing purposes differ, all writing situations presuppose
the existence of a message and an audience, and all must be evaluated in terms
of their appropriateness in those situations.
The different purposes for which one writes -- recording information;
responding to a situation established for the writer; expressing a personal
observation (for either oneself or another); or attempting to persuade the
reader to do or believe something -- share some attributes to qualify as
accoptable, but also have distinctive attributes related to their pusposes.
PRIMARY WRITING TRAITS
The recordina of information (lists, instructions, directions, proposals,
minutes, etcetera) must be clear, coherent, and complete.
Responding (answering a test item; completing a questionnaire; writing
an assigned paragraph of comparison, etcetera) must be appropriate for the
situation established. That is, the writing must be well enough organized,
developed, and expressed to satisfy the expectations established in the
situation.
Expressive writing must be true to its intention. For example, if a
poem attempts to recreate an emotional experience, it must do so to a degree
that enables different readers tą feel they have experienced the situation
as the writer intended it to be perceived.
Persuasive writing must have sufficient cogent and relevant data, ex-
pressed in a tone appropriate for the audience for which it is intended.
SECONDARY TRAITS
Mechanical accuracy includes such language skills as paragraphing,
sentence structure, capitalization, punctuation, spelling, word usage, and
agreement. Mechanical accuracy should be measured in terms of these skills.
TESTING CONSTRAINTS
The steering committee
prescribed constraints and expectations
to be observed by a task force in designing
the tests. These included:
Constraiflts - 1e5 minutes of testing time
- One test experience per/pupil per class
- National exercises should be used
- The test situation should approximate the general
writing environment. ed by teachers.
- The test should be able to be administer
ExpectatiOfls - Growth between 4, 8, 11 will be measured in overlap
exercises (some exercises identical).
- Exercises must have a field test.
- A test ~ her use.
PAGENO="0236"
A writing evaluation
task force selected appropriate
released exercises from the
National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) and organized
them in this manner into test
booklets.
I-RECORDING I-RESPONDING Ill-EXPRESSION V-PERSUASION V-MECHANICS
TELEPHONE
*201014-400
(Packet A)
TELEPHONE
*201 018-031
(Packet D,B)
ACCIDENT REPORT
B-Ol -481
(Packet A,C,C)
THANK YO(1,~LETTER
201 0O2-'(~1J
(Packet `b,D,D)
ADDRESS ENVELOPE
201021 -480
(Packet C,E)
JOB LETTER
20201 3-001
(Packet C)
LETTER TO CLASSMATE
20 1017-481
(Packet E,A,B)
MUSIC
***l 01003-081
(Packet D,B)
TENNIS S ES
lOlOl3-4~
(Packet ,B,A)
MOON REPORT
**2O300B-48O
(Packet C,C)
PARENT'~ QLUB.
201004 -{~(j1
(Packet B,E.C)
WOMANS PLACE
203014 -481
(Packet E,E,B)
KANGAROO
10213-400
(Packet A,BtE)
FAMOUS BUILDIN
203012-081
(Packet A&B At
201002 Indicates that this is item number 201002 from the National Assessment.
Indicates the item was not assessed nationally for 8th grade or 11th grade
but was used in grades 4, 8, and 11.
(Packet D,D,D)
Indicates this item was in packet 0 grade 4, packet D grade 8, and packet 0
grade II.
* A test packet had two to four items and could be completed in about 45
minutes of testing.
* Uses telephone ąonversation on tape.
** Uses blue pens for a student editing and revision
2
232
SELECT NAEP ITEMS AND DESIGN THE TEST
I Ecixatx'~ c ovisssw o( the States
L ~ __
PAGENO="0237"
233
TEST, SCORE, AND SET STANDARDS
TESTING
Every 4th, 8th, and 11th grade
pupil participated in the writing
assessment. A sample of 294 grade 4
pupil tests, 383 grade 8 pupil tests,
and 418 grade 11 pupil tests were
randomly st~lected for scoring.
SCORING
na Mullis, NAEP and Sue
Worthan trained Orville Ruud
and Rosemary Schneiderhan in
NAEP scoring and scorer training
procedures. Scorers in Bloom-
ington were trained by Orville
Ruud and Rosemary Schneiderhan.
The scorers scored training
exercises, and worked in pairs
to score all tests. The scoring
of every 5th tmst was reviewed
by Orville Ruud.
PAGENO="0238"
4
234
ANALYZE AND REPORT RESULTS
A citizen-staff committee analyzed the results and wrote recommendations.
I. Strengths and Needs
The citizen-staff committee
reviewed the preliminary report
of student achievement, national
achievement, and performance
standards. They made judgements
of strengths and needs from these
resul ts.
II. Issues, Concerns and
Recommendations
Data, issues and recom-
mendations were described
following the identification
of strengths and needs.
ANALYSIS AND REPORTING NORKSIIEET,
ISSUE
SOURCE
EVALUATION CRITERIA OR BASIS FOR JUDGEMENT
Original
Data Source:
Additions
Data Source:
RECOMMENDATIONS
III. Reporting
A comprehensive repor
`and a concise executive
summary is to be presented
to the staff and to the
school board in September.
The community will receive
the report through news
media and school district
newsletters.
The writing assessment recommendations suggest action. This will happen
in Bloomington through a review of writing curricuium by the District Curriculum
Committee. Building principals will consider evaluation of their writing programs
and a review of their emphasis on writing.
NEXT
PAGENO="0239"
235
PERSONS AND GROUPS WHO ACCOMPLISHED
THIS WRITING ASSESSMENT
Design of the Writing Evaluation
Writing Assessment Steering Committee
Dr. Patricia DahI RV
Ms. Donna Duffy OL
Ms. Marcia Fridland LN
Mr. Donald Hegg PT
Mr. Earl Lyons JF
Advisors
Ms. Cornelia Nachbar JF
Mr. William Sullivan OG
Ms. Marion VanHaur KN
Ms. MarIlyn Vincent W
- Dr. Don Sension - Hopkins Schools
Mr. Charles Caruson - Hopkins Schools
Dr. Orville Ruud - Bloomington Schools
Selection and Writino of the
Itemc
Writing Assessment Task Force
Ms. Michaela Hines PB
Ms. Elizabeth Bruggemeyer PN
Mr. James Colwell JF
Advisors
Dr. Rosemary Schneiderhan
MN Dept. of Education
Administration of Writing Tests
Mr. William Sullivan OG
Ms. Marilyn Vincent WW
Ms. Marilyn Wilhelm LN
Dr. Vernon Achtermann, NAEP
Ms. Ina Mullis, NAEP
Grade L4 Teachers
Grade 8 Language Arts Teachers
Grade II Language Arts Teachers
Scoring and Processing
Test Scorers
Ms. Carla Roth
Ms. Marceline DavIdson
Advisors
Ms. ma Mullis, NAEP
Ms. Susan Worthan MRC
Analysis and Reporting
Mr. Waldo Asp
Ms. Jeanne Muss
Ms. Arlene Bush
Ms. Charles DeCorsey
Ms. Richard Helmberger
Ms. Judy Anderson
Ms. John Nauman
Ms. Mary Sullivan
Ms. Helen Gonzalez
Dr. James Lindsay TIES
Mr. Tom Allen TIES
Ms. Marilyn Wilhelm
Ms. Marion VanHaur
Ms. Cornelia Nachbar
Dr. Patricia Dahl
Ms. Marilyn Vincent
Mr. William Sullivan
Ms. Donna Duffy
Mr. Donald 4egg
Ms. Elizabeth Bruggemeyer
PAGENO="0240"
~P NEWSLETTER
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
April 1977 No. 2
Taking a Hard Look
Study Traces Achievement `Profiles'
What do today's students knoss, - and
what can they do?
* 9'year-olds have learned many
things in theie first fesv yeaes of
schooling such as the basic eeading
and writing skills.
o l3-year-otds can ezad, weite, add,
suhlract, divide and multiply - if
told to do so. But they don't, by
themselves, use these skills in order
to sot se rveryday problems.
* I ?-yeae-olds hove mastered the
basic skills and know many specific
facts in all school subjects, but they
have difficulty organieing and ap-
plying their skills and knosvledge.
Tts ese ore some of the highlights from
a study by National Assessment that
summarizes results from all previous
assessments to develop a profile of each
age grostp.
NAEP foond that 9-year-otds con rca
simple stories and 0-rile tellers Ia their
friends, and they knotvovcriely of
subject-matter facts. They are tolerant of
people's cultural differences and believe
in on orderly society. Osee the last seven
years, the reading and svriting skills of
9-year-otds hose improved.
Paradox of the 13-year'old
Thirteen-year-olds, according to the
NAEP report, have the skills and
knowledge necessary to accomplish rou-
tine tasks at home and at school. They
hove developed sum e study skills and
know a sariety of uselul facts; however,
the idea that they could use these skills
and knowledge to make Itseir doily lives
more interesting and productive is nut
atuays obvious to them. The study found
13-year-old scan era d and understand
slsort, straightforward materials and re-
cognize the main idea of a relatively long
reading passage. They also know hots- to
use basic reference materials.
"Compared to t3-year'olds at the turn
of the century, the fact that today's
1 3-year-otds h ave such a variety of skills
and knowledge could he considered qssite
encouvs ging," said tna V. S. Mattlis,
analyst with National Assessnsent. "Hots-'
ever, I 3-year-olds, in general, do not
reatiee the potential uses of the skills and
facts they base teamed."
Meanwhile, among 17-year-olds...
Seventren-yzar-olds, according to the
NAEP study, has-c some knowledge of the
woeld of work, have thouglst about their
futures and know wlsat attitudes and
betsovt~oes are expected of tlsem in our
society. They know a number of facts
about our govern mcdl and legal system
and knuwanu mher of specific scievtific
facts. They have difficulty reading long
pa.ssagesa nd have limited vocabularies in
sveiting.
"Seventeen-year-otdscanre ad, write
anal compute in well-structured tituo-
lions." said Don Phillips, NAEP analyst,
°bxt~they save difficulty applying their
knosvledge to new situations. They don't
do well on peoblenas that require wore
one step and can't organize their
thoughts in writing. Indications ate that
h?-yeae'olds' knowledge levels have
slipped stighstly user the post seven
years." he added.
"To summarize svhat 9-, 13- and
I ?-year.olds k nosy and can do, se
identified questions answered correctly
(enntinued no page 2)
236
Education Commission of the States
Vol. X
PAGENO="0241"
`Profile of Three Ages'
237
April 1977 National Assessment
Taking a Look at Student Achievement
(continued from page 1)
by more than two-thirds of the students,
questions answered by some (appeoxi'
matety 33-67%) and questions answered
coerce t15' by very few (tess than, one-
third) of the student sin each age group,"
Susan Otdefendt, NAEP analyst, said.
According to this breakdown:
Many 9-year-otds can:
- Telt time.
- Add two-digit numbers.
- Telt the difference between even
and odd numbers.
- Name the President and generalty
know how he is chosen.
- Read and comprehend literal facts
in simpte, brief stories.
- Write without making punctuation
or word choice errors.
But few 9-yeae-otds:
- Can subtract three- and four-digit
- Can do nsaltiplication and division
or understand fractions.
- Know the head of a state is catted a
- Understand detailed written in-
Can organize and elaborate ideas in
writing.
Many t3-year-olds:
- Can add, subtract, multiply and
divide wlsote numbers.
- Can snake change.
- Understand basic facts about the
solar system and universe.
- Know the functianv of the major
parts of the body.
- ttave had paying jobs.
- Understand the basic furtclionv of
the court syvtew.
-Knosvhowtanvebasicreforrnco
Some I 3-year-oldv:
- Understand and compute with
fractions and work word problems.
- Can manipulate algebraic evprev-
Understand basic nutrition.
Understand specific facts about the
earth.
- Can read and understand detailed
But few t3-yrar-olds:
- Can organize and elaborate on ideas
in writing.
- Understand the structure and func-
tion of the legislative branch of
Understand the bavic principles of
Many 17-year-aids:
Can add, subtract, multiply and
divide whote numbers and decimals.
- Can multiply fractions.
- Can calculate a vimpl eaverage.
- Can solve simple ward problems
requiring multiplication.
- Can evaluate simple algebraic en-
- Know the names of the particles
that make up an atom,
- Understand some facts about nutri-
tion, illness and disease.
- Understand some functions and
limits of lb eeveculive and judicial
branches of government.
- Can read `and understand short,
straightforward materials such as
newspaper ads and telephone bills.
- Can read and understand direclionv
and instructions.
- Have mustered tlte mechanics of
writing.
Some 17-year-aIds:
- Know about human reproduction.
- C an convert drcimalv to coosmon
fractions.
- Can add fractions.
- Can organize and elaborate ideas in
vvriling.
- Can make inferences after re adiog a
long paragraph.
But fm I 7-year-oldn:
- Can calculate the area of avqaare
Rhode Island may he short on space,
but it's long on vision when it comes to
concern (or the education of its youth.
Active in education avsevvment for
more lbunadeca dr the slate last year
made vowe innovative departures from
methods used in earlier evaluations.
For the first tiwe, I 7-year-oldv were
added to asvevvnient efforts that had
previouvly been limited to fourth- and
eighth-graders. In addition, the older
teenagees were asvesved by NAEP-lype
"criterion-referenced" tests, vvhich meav-
use skills according to objectives predeter-
mined by Rhode Island educators, The
two younger age levelv continue to be
assessed by standardized tests Ilsat deter-
mine compelencies that are expec led by
grade levels.
Sampling the whole
Another new angle for Rhode Island
given its perimeler.
- Can simplify algebraic expressions.
- C an convert Fahrenheit to Centi-
grade given lbe conversion formula.
- Know Ilse functions of the legisla-
live branch of government.
- Know why a large amount of
mineral fertilizer placed around a
plant svill cause it to wilt and die.
- Have discussed aptitude test results
with anyone who could advise them
abosst career plans,
- Can write excellent unified and
focused essays.
"Even though most l7-year-otds feel
they are good readers," said Roy H.
Forbes, director of Nalional Assessment,
"only half are able to read college
freslsman-lerel materials. They all believe
in social equality and changing unfair,
laws, but again only half take part in
school politics. A nagging doubt about
l7-year-olds," Forbes added, "is wlselher
or nul they lake the time to relate their
ideas and concepts to adult life."
A limited supply of Il'hat SrtadenrsKnow
and Can Do, I's-afilen of Three .-lge
Groups is available from National Assess-
ment headquarters, Suite 700, 1860
Lincoln St., Denver, CoIn. 80295.
assess went is the ssviiclt In a probability
sawpliog of students, sssch as is used in
National Assessment sssrveys, instead of
testing all students in a particular grade!
age Iced. Prior to last year's asvevswent,
Rhode Island surveyed all fourth- and
eighth-grade psspils Ibroughout rIse slate.
Also neu' last year were slssdent and
school questionnaires that covered topics
ranging from howe environment and
spare-lime activities to parents' jobs and
involvement with their children's sclsool
work, the youths' own fat sire xc hooting
and career aspirations and characteristics
of each student's school.
The resull: a data package filled svith
new' types of information never before
available to state education policy makers
and the public.
The combination of standardized and
criterion-referenced testing, plus the cow-
(continued on page 5)
Page 2
Innovations Expand Horizons of
Rhode Island Assessment Plans
05-033 0 - 77 - 15
PAGENO="0242"
Notional A ssessnte ntis about to under-
take its our exercise in systematic cum-
Far from the usuat NAEP "exerc
ot test item, in this case ttte effort means
the study of hose the three hifhty tech-
sticut fietds of ntedicine, africulture and
economics have beidfed the gap between
the collection of data, the subsequent
refinement of policies dnd procedures
and, finally, the development of practices
based on the original data.
Can lb ear tame intricate principles of
data input and systematic output of
information, which lead to informed de-
cisions, hr applied to the specialieed area
of education assesxnten t?
Ford Foandation award
To help find out, the Ford Foundation
has asvarded a frant of approsimately
$25,000 to National Assessment.
Durinf the nest few months, consult-
ants in lb carrot of africullare, nsedicine
and economics wilt share their expertise
with a National Atressmrnl researcher.
Resattin ~ case sladies will alloys a scien-
tific sieve of the flow of information that
threads llaroufh each disciplinc"s varioats
stages of research. organiealico. refine-
ment and dissenrination.
Next comes the pinpointing of
and dissimilar data collection and
data use that are already standard prac-
tice in the three "nrodel" fields anal that
could he adapted for use by liar edaca'
lion contmunity.
Finding the common bond
The attalytic phases of the project will
cttlnsinate ssith a set of reco ntntendations
strut sheutd help span rIte chasm between
education assessment progrants. educa-
tors, decision makers and the pulrlic.
Says NAEP Director Roy H. Forbes.
"Edttcation assessment technology has
the tools to collect data liar education
needs and the public ssants. Unless sac
sonsehow effectively contnsun icale these
findings, education assessment trogrants
will continue to fattser information that
ix underotilicect.
"Through this new research by Nation-
al Assessment, we hope to systematically
find solutions to reverse that situation,"
Ite concluded.
National Assessment
238
April 1977
Bridging the Gap
Grant to Aid Data Flow Study
Pate 3
Details Listed
For Reports
Three new NAEP report tare avad.
able Prom the Sstprrirtendent of Docu-
ments, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C. 20402:
* Right to Read - Fsancrional
Literacy: Basic Reading Perforenance,
Brief Summary and Higltlig/tls, S/N
0t7.S80.St665.6, $1.25.
o Explanatory and Perssaasia'e Let'
rer Writing (selected results from the
second national assessment of writing),
NAEP Report No. OGW-03, S/N
017-080-01666-4,90 cents.
* An A atestrrtent of Career Deed'
opment: Bane tt'ork Skills (selected
results from the first national ~assess-
nsert of career and occupational devel-
opntent(, NAEP Report No. 05-COD.
02, S/N 0t7-080-0t687-7, OttO.
All orders must include report
titles, numbers and serial numbers
(S/N) and check or money order.
Atlaw up to right weeks foe delivery.
An updated NAEP publications list
may be obtained from National Assess-
ment offices, Suite 700, 1860 Lincoln
St., Denver, Coto. 80295.
THIRD WRITING SURVEY gete otter tine of Edaaard White, tighl,
professat at Englith at California State Caltoge, San Ottratdino, and, at
left, Martin Nystrand, ditentot at the Largaago Attn Assesssrrert Ptajent,
Ontario (Caradal Irstitnee toe Stadios in Edacatior. The lana ate amnng
key ligates aiding in dnaelopmerl at 1979 assessment. Findings antI
irdirate hoar Ame6rat yoaths' eatitirg skills hone laced sirre pteaiaae
assessmetts in 1970 and 1974.
MATHEMATICS litetary asettertiae soy to enpard oppoctanitmes tot
miros'itiat ard onoarrer is a top mmcm at Lacy W. Salle, ennrnt,ae
epesiahist far the American Smintogical Association, Washitgton, D.C. Stan
shared idnas on recent nisit with Datald T. Seaths, NAEP associate ddtfirtnr
tar Statistical Methods.
~27
PAGENO="0243"
239
Page 4 April 1977 National Atsessment
Downbeat on Second Music Survey
The tempo is picking up as National Assessment readies for its
second survey of music. To be gicen during the 1978-79 school
year, the assessment will include items measuring both music
altitudes and achievements of U.S. students at ages 9, 13 and 17.
Pictured henc ore four espeels from among many of the
nation's top music educators who have been involved in determin-
ing precisely what the new NAEP music study should assess.
- - - Paul L~heiae, profmsor of eu~ir, UeieCrsify of Miehigae.
Eoeire Boai-dseae, profeseor of snake, Uniuersify of Wisnoesin.
PAGENO="0244"
Declines in science knowledge, as en-
parted by Natinnal Assessmenl, were
detailed at the 143rd annual meeting of
the American Association foe the Ad-
sance meet of Science. Nearly 5,000
AAAS members were in Denvee to ex-
plore "Science and Change: Hopes and
Dilemmas" during the week-long Febrc-
aey conference.
At the symposium "Public Knowledge
of Science - NAEP," Robed C. Larson,
director of the NAEP Department of
Analysis and Research, outlined achieve-
ment trends detected in NAEP assest-
ments of science, as well as in reading and
writing. He linked the three discipliner,
he said, "because despite the declines of a
gonerstion of 13- and 17-year-aIds ,n
science, the improvement in 9-year-olds
in reading and in writing could signal an
increase in achievement level sin set~ence."
(See Larson's "Percentages - - . and Other
Points" column, page 7, foe additional
symposium remarks.)
Words of warning
A strong warning caine from a second
speaker, Marie D. Eldnidge, administrator
of the National Center foe Education
Statistics, which funds National Assess-
"Declines in science achievement are
Fourth- and eighth-graders continue to be
tested as before in language, mathematics,
reading and work-study skills.
The 17-year-aIds, hosvevee, are being
assessed in three cognitive "life skills" -
comprehension, analysis and evaluation -
again by means of criterion-referenced
tests. State department of education
plans call for phasing eighth-grade pupils
into the life skills assessment during the
next two years.
Results from the current statencide
study ace expected to be eeleased in
October.
Findings from last year's state assess-
ment havespurre d Rhode Island educa-
tors to seek means to correct faults
pinpointed by survey data, as svell as
ways to maintain strersgths. Says Janice
M. Baker, acting coordinator of Support
(continued on page 6)
real and pervasive," she declared. "It is
hoped that lb e cureent NAEP data and
those that will be available in lbe near
future will alert policy makers at all levels
of government to problem areas, as well
as to. areas or approaches worthy of
furttsee study.
"NAEP cannot peovide all the an-
swers," she noted, "but it should be one
of the leading indicators as to what kind
of progress we are making in education iv
the United States."
Science courses: boring?
Another symposium participant,
Arthstr Livermore, who heads the AAAS
office of science educa lion, said in a
premeeting interview that schools aren't
doing what they could to keep science
from boring students who do not issiend
to make science ttseir careers. A consult-
ant to NAEP for development of science
assess meat items, Liseemore feels that
there is a lack of unified courses that
weave alt the sciences together arcund
interesting topics, such as energy.
"It's rant enough to give nonsc ience
students basic understandings of science,"
he said. "tf it's just a textbook course, it
can be dull. A discovery approach, where
students are encour aged to snlse prob-
lems fur themselves, is better."
The Natiunal A.ssessmeal symposium
was sponsored by AAAS groups con-
cerned with education, psychology, statis-
tics, social and economic sciences and the
history and philosophy of science.
I
240
National Assessment April 1977 Page 5
Review Science Findings
Decline Data Outlined at National Meeting
CONCERN nuer dertiningsninnnn arhinnoennnt
usgs reined by Marie D. Eldeidge, administrator
of thn Nntinnat Center for Edunatinn Stasistirs,
nhirh fords NAEP. Ohs nun a key spnnknt as
symposium on scinrrn kroe,ledgn held during
143rd annual cnrfnrnrrn of thn American
Assmintinn for den Adcunrnmnns of Sninnon.
Rhode Island Adds New Bonus
To Education Assessment Effoēt
(continued from page 2)
prehensice background questionnaire, was
pilot-tested in the 1975-76 school year.
Fourtla- and eighth-grade students acre
tested primarily in reading, language,
mathematics and svork-study skills.
The survey of 17-year-old s covered
eiglst learning areas: reading, mathemat-
ics, science, svniling, citizenship, career
and occupational development, health
and consumer economics ("shopping with
preparedness and rconomy"). Approxi-
mately 30 peecer.t of the items given the
1 7-year-olds were from National Assess-
ment, waking it possible for state educa-
tors to compare the Rhode Island teen-
agers' achievements with their national
counterparts.
New assassment under way
Similar methods are being used in
Rhode Island assessment this year.
NAEP SYMPOSIUM teared rational achiest-
mnnt tmnds far dnlngatnntn Dnnnnrrnnfnrnnm
of Amnriran Annmiatinn for the Aduanonment
of Srienre. Here, Robert C. Larson, dirnrtnr of
National Ansessmenf Anal ysis and Rnsear,h
Department, disnomes data rntlnrtnd in
reading and writing surveys.
PAGENO="0245"
April 1977 National Assessment
Experts in Major Role for Adult Study
`Something Extra'
Rhode Island Assessment Moves Ahead
(continued from page 5)
Services, Rhode stand Department of
Education:
"The prima~' focus for the data is
poticy making. Findings are re ported to
the state Booed of Regents for review and
action. Poticy atternatives being naked at
inctude three dealing mith basic shuts: in-
creasing instractionat time, establishing
minimal competency tevets and continu-
ing the basic skills programs that hose
ceo recently initiated."
Other alterna tines, she said, deal o'ith
espanding she Title I (compensatory edu-
cation) approach to alt students, increas-
ing parental interest in and support of
siudenl achievement and facilitating more
judicious use of tetesision foe children.
"For the alternative or alternatives
selected," Baker continued, "plans wilt be
developed for implementation."
Using the data
"Additional use of the data wilt be
encouraged through key state groups,
such as school superintendents and the
reading, mathematics and English teacher
associalians, asssell as the stale Parens-
Teacher Association," she esplained.
Baker pointed out that the department
of educalion prosides technical assistance
to any Rhode Island group wanting so use
lbe assessment data.
National comparisons
In comparing resutts of the 1975-76
stale assessment wish NAEP's findings in
the same learning areas, it was found sisal
Rhode Island 17-year-old s are aboce na-
tional levels in several reading tasks and
betosv in others. In mathemolics, she
teenagers are more knowledgeable than
their contemporaries naiionwide aboui
the metric system and compare favorably
in generat compulalion. They are belon-
nationul performance in citieenship -
especially in understanding she organiza-
lion of federal and stale government -
Standardieed tensing ressalls show shot
Rhode Island fourlh-grade studenls gen-
erally are as or abose lbrespected grade
level in lb e areas assessed, while she
eighth-graders are somewhat below.
Pane 6
241
Noted consultants give fall allention
50 ossessmenl items dealing wish aware-
ness of energy crisis and conservation
prior to kickoff of NAEP's nsid-t977
survey of young adults. Nearly 1,500
young Americans, ages 26-35, will he
involved in she study.
YOUNG ADULT asses~mess coil enuar d,aarsn top:ns of enemy, healrts, of Woman Voters; Donald D. Duggan, nester photo, nhirf, Edanatinnal
gnserra and mead,ng, ahr greatest no mbnr of tnpsns cue, ass mueyed by NAEP Programs Brannh, Offint of Pabtin Affairs, Energy Rasearnh and Danetop-
a n,nulr year. Cnssuitantg ssnrk,ng as,th energy pon,on of attestmenr ment Acanniatirn; nod John M, lousier, dimetnr, Natinnal Science Teanhen
hase minded tsabnlle Wrtanr, ttaff sprrialisn, Energy Oepamnnrest, League Astmintinn, all of Washingnon, DC,
PAGENO="0246"
National Assessment
Australian Study
Concern for youths' skills in the
"theee R's" knosvs no geographic boun-
daries - . . nor does Notional Assessment
ashen it comes to helping measure those
skitls. Latest esample: Austratia.
That country recentty compteted a
nationwide survey of the reading, writing
and arithmetic abilities of 10- and t 4'
yrar-olds in more than 600 schoots.
About 7,000 students at each age teset
were insotved.
The report on findings from the
Australian study "acknowledges . . . con-
siderable debt to National Assessment"
both in desetoping program objectives
and use of several NAEP test items.
Aimed at gauging competency in "lit-
eracy and numeracy," the Australian
assessment found that in reading skills
there is no marked difference in perform-
ance tevels in comparison with the stu-
dents' contemporaries either in the
United Staten or in Britain.
However, deficiencies were noted in
writing abilities. According to the report,
a majority of both the 10- and 4-year-
aIds are competent in simple writing
sitsiationt. But, the report nays, some
important and quite specific writing
tasks, such as the writing of format letters
to apply for jobs, "have not been mas-
tered by large numbers of students."
In numeration, 90 percent of the
Austeatian tO-year-aIds are able to do
simple catcutations with whole numbers
on tasks that are particularly relevant and
utefut in everyday tife. Performance of
the t4-year-otds is "disturbing," the re-
port notes, with targe numbers of the
teenagers unabte to do simple catcula'
tions. An even tower tevet of achievement
was recorded for the otdre students in
more complex math probtems. "The fact
that Austratian 14-year-aIds perform no
better than 13-year-otd students is the
United States is . . - a matter of some
concern," the report writers dectare.
Public Knowledge
of Achievement Trends
By Robert Larson
Daparsmors Dirrntnr
The fotto,cisg a eotrartcd from a papw
A&:oriotios for t5e Adcoece,seot of
The basic National Assessment
measure of progress is the change over
time in the percent abte to respond
correclty to an item. This measure is
particutacty suited to providing infor-
mation about the achievement of such
nationat goats as: (1) increasing the
number of disadvantaged children who
can at least read for basic literal
comprehension; (2) increasing the sci-
ence titeracy of mote adults who uill
vote on eve egy and conservation
issues; (3) or increasing the number of
t7-year-otds who know what they
need to about constitutional eights,
government and the political system is
order to function as participating citi-
ems in the future.
Changes in percentages can make us
aware of our progress toward goals like
these and how far we have to go to
reach them. Public knowledge of what
the public known is an important step
in creating a climate for legislators and
other education policy makers to
make wise decisions about ptansan
In a national climate of concern
about declining achievement test
scotesc onfirmed by the declining sci-
ence trends at ages 9, 13 and 17, we
see some hope that we are making
progress toward some national goats.
Though equality of education oppor-
tunity svas the main reason for the
court-ordered desegregation in the
Southeast, improvement in education
outcomes is an important measure of
progress toward the goals of the deseg-
regation effort. The increase is average
percen age correct on science and
reading items far 9-year-old Southeast
em blacks in the midst of generally
declining trends is encouraging.
A step forward
Other rational goats arc re Sected in
federal programs aimed at helping dis-
advantaged children at the elementary
school level. At age 9, the decline in
the percen rage of poor essays and the
decrease in gaps between advantaged
and disadvantaged group s in science
and reading indicate progress in meas-
urable steps tossard these goals in the
first half of the I 970s.
Al the same time we have declines
in outcomes for a generation of chit- -
darn: a general decrease in science
knowledge at all three ages, an increase
in the percentage of poor essays at age
17, a decline in the higher.level infer-
ential reading skills among children of
well-educated parents at age 13 and
17, an increase in the reading gap
between whites and blacks in regions
other than the Southeast and the
apparent large decrease in reading per-
centages of races other than black or
white outside the Southeast regiun.
In a nation where citieens partici-
pate in decisions regarding atomic
energy plants, energy conservation, ba-
sic research in genetics, etc., it is even
more important that we become a
science-literate public. For those disad-
vantaged groups that historically base
achieved lowest, it is important that
more, not fewer, learn the reading and
writing skills necessary to go to col-
lege, learn a new job and be able to
compete in chosen fields of work.
An optimistic sign?
We also see improvements in writ-
ing and reading skills of most 9-year-
aids that could signal an in crease in
achievement levels in science and other
areas that depend on these skills. We
see Ihat the historically lowest-achiev-
ing groups are catching up. On the
other hand, svecann at ignore the
possibility that these gaiss at age 9
may not be sustained at ages 13 and
17 and that the declines will continur.
While the percentages ne re port tell
us how facme have come an d how far
we have to go in achieving there
education goals, insightful analyses in-
quiring about the mechanisms inflss-
encing outcomes on a national scale
are seeded to predict which of these
possibilities is the most likely. Given
Ike remarkable consistency of patterns
of performance from year to year,
assessment area to assessment area,
among groups and between ages makes
me optimistic about our future pros-
pects in obtains goose ful description
of education outcomes and national
trends.
242
April 1977
Page 7
FE~EF~1TflE~ES
and other Point:
In Reference to...
National Assessment data are drawn
upon in a two-page article, "Func-
tional Illiteracy is the United Stales,"
appearing in the 1977 Britannica Book
of the Year, special supplement of the
Encyclopedia Britannica,
The feature, which scans findings
from various nationwide studies that
point to deficiencies in the education
of U.S. youths, also includes Iwo
sample eserc ises from a NAEP reading
The article was written by George
Weher, associate director of the Coun-
cil for Basic Education.
PAGENO="0247"
Mosteller Resigns
Frederick Mostetler, chairman of Na-
tional Assessment's Analysis Advisory
Committee (ANAC) foe more than three
years, has resigned to devote more time
to dali es as or a' head of the Department
of Biostatistics, Schoot of Pablic Hratth,
Harvard University.
John Gilbert, staff statistician at Har-
vard, ~000cr ds Mostetter as ANAC chair-
man, and, as such, automatically becomes
a mrmher of the National Assessment
Policy Committee.
Mosteltee and Gitbert both joinrd
ANAC in 1970. Committee membership
at that time consisted of Robert Abelson,
Yale University; William Coffman, Uni-
versity of Ioma; Lyle Jones, Unicersiry of
North Carolina; and John SV. Tukey of
Princeton Uniceesity, then chairman of
ANAC. Together the sin men supervised
anatysss of findings from NAEP's first
science assessment and coauthored the
first three major science reports.
tn 1973, ANAC split into two parts.
Mosteller became chairman of, the nem
ANAC, and, under his leadership, the
group evotved from concentrating on
statistical analysis of NAEP data to being
increasingly concerned with methods by
which assess went findings can aid those
who determine education policy.
Meanwhile, the second group - the
Specialized Analysis Advisory Committee
(SPANAC) - pioneered analysis of repeat
assessments in science, which led to
change-over-lime data. Headed by Tukey,
SPANAC includes Jones and all ANAC
Besides Gilbert, the active 1977 ANAC
membership includes Vice Chairman
Janet Elashoff, research statistician, Uni-
versity of California, Los Angeles; David
Brillingee, Department of Statistics, Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley; Gene
Glass, chairman, Division of Foundations
and Research Methodology, School of
Education, University of Colorado; and
Lincoln Moses, dean, Graduate School
Stanford University.
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
700 Lincoln Tower, 1860 Lincoln St.
Denver, Cob, 80295
NONPROF~]
ORGANIZATION
I US, POSTAGE
PAID
I DENVER, COW.
[~RMtT NO, 1717
Page 8
243
April 1977
National Assessment
John Gilbert to Head ANAC
READING vomprnhnesistt and ietnrnsts of cog-
nitive psychologists were among topics dis-
cussed wish NAEP stuff by Wilbern J.
Mckeavhie, professor of psychology, Urtiverniny
of Michigan. McKewhis mm is Denver is
voeissnvtioe wish atttaal meeting of Amneico,
Assaeietioo for den Advtocnwent vf Science.
NEWSLETTER
April 1977, Vol. X, Nv. 2
Published bienunthly by thr Natinnal Assess-
meet at Edunational Prngrevs INAEPI,
the Naeinnal Center fur Educative Statistics,
Office uf thr Assistant Secretary fur Educa-
tive, U.S. Department ef Health, Edunatiun
and Welfare. Nvtirnal Assessment, a penject
nf the Edunaeinn Creemivsinn af the States,
is mated in Suite 700, 1060 Linonln St.,
Denovr, CoIn. 00290.
Dienctvn: Ruy H. Fnebes
Public Information Dirwsve: Helen K.
Masteesnn
Editor: Jeanne Bays
Dissnminasioe Associate: Minnie Mitchell
Address Correction Requested
PAGENO="0248"
244
FXP]CTITIVE STJ?!'*'APY OF
197 C-??
IMSSACH(ISITTS STATZWIDZ~ EDUCATIONAL ASFESE"EWT
SCIENCE AND ECOLOCY
CONSIN4TfT? S~ILTS A ND VALUES
SChOOL CLI~ATE
Bureau of Research and Assessment
~1assachusetts Derartment of Education
31 St. Janes Avenue
Boston, ~!assachusetts 02116
PAGENO="0249"
245
SCIEhCE/ECOLO((
The Assessment
Anoroximately eiahteen hundred ~ 9 year olds and an
identical number of 17 year olds were assessed on their knotiledqe, under-
standing and anoreciation in biology, chemistry, earth science, ecology
and phisics. ~
- ~ (~AEP), the `Science
Educetion in ~1ineteen Countries study, and those contributed by the
study's Science Advisory Committee.
The Schools
Of the elementary end secondary schools narticioating in the study,
74% have a science suoervisor or coordinator. Although the average
fourth grade teacher spends a little over 2 hours a week in science
instruction, 65% of the elementary school third and fourth grades, in
the study samole, do not have a soecific time allotted for ecology.
Most elementary nrincinais (67%) believe the time allotted to science
is satisfactory. Although half of the high schools do not offer a
separate ecology course, 80% do have specifically developed ecology
lessons in their science courses.
Overall Science Results
Massachusetts 9 year olds.score much better than their national and
international peers and about enual to their regional (~rtheast) counter-
parts. In no area (biology, chemistry, earth science, physics) did the
9 year olds score less than the ~AEP national and regional samoles.
__
~ On test items that were comoarable, the median percent
correct for the International samole was 55, while the median merfor~~~ of
rold was 3
Nine year olds had their best oercentage of correct items in earth
science, ecology and chemistry and were moorestin biology. Seventeen year
PAGENO="0250"
246
olds performed best in biology, earth science and ecology and poorest
chemistry and ohysics. Nine year olds had a higher percentage of correct
items in all areas comnared to 17 year olds.
Background Characteristics and Science Results
time and seventeen year olds from big cities and industrial suburbs
do less well than their seers in residential and other communities with the
exception of 17 year olds on the earth science items. These industrial
suburban and other community students performed better than their resi-
dential and big city counterparts.
Stati~ticallv there are significant differences between male students
and female in most areas, although in a few content areas (i.e. 9 year old
ohysics), there are no sex differences. The greatest sex difference for
9 year olds is in earth science; for 17 year olds, chemistry.
tb relationship exists between family occupational status and median
test performance for 9 year olds on biology or ecology exercises or for
17 year olds on earth science. Nine year aids from families of high occupa-
tional status, however, outperform those from low occupational backgrounds
in earth science, physics and chemistry and for 17 year olds in biology,
chemistry and physics.
Previous Exoerience, Attitudes and Science Results
Seeing a science demonstration outside of school is strongly related
to 17 year old performance in all science content areas, but actually
nerforming a science exoeriment outside of school (i.e. collecting and
identifying rocks) is only strongly related to biology. For 9 year olds,
the relationships with seeing a science demonstration isstrongest in
earth science, chemistry and physics. Only a weak relationship exists
between doing a science experiment and 9 year old performance in all
science content areas.
Discussions with Parents and friends on scientific and environmental
topics is related to science performance, esoecially for 17 year olds.
Similarly, with a few exceptions, having some science laboratory exoerience
is oositively related to successful performance for both 9 and 17 year olds.
The most clear cut relationship is for 17 year olds in chemistry.
Liking school is oositively associated with successful science performance
in all content areas for 17 year olds. It is strongest in ecology and weakest
in earth science. The relationship is less clear for 9 year olds.
Appreciation in Science
The test items in this area of the assessment measured the degree to
which students value the objects, ideas and processes of science. Nine year
olds have appreciation scores at about the same level as both the IIAEP and
Uortheast samoles. Seventeen year olds have scores somewhat lower than these
two sample groups. Although a somewhat greater percentage of Nassachusetts 17
PAGENO="0251"
247
year olds want to become scientists than do their national and regional
counterparts, they also see some~ihat lesser usefulness for, and have less
enjoyment of, science than do their national and regional oeers.
~ale students from residential suburbs and higher occunational back-
ground have the highest anoreciation scores. Similarly, those seeing
science demonstrations or nerforming outside science orojects and those
who discuss science with their parents or friends show higher aopreciation
of science.
Science Vocabulary
Test items were drawn from the most corononly used science terminology
on the major Saturday morning television orograms. Twenty six cercent of
9 year olds think vitamins `are things that can be used instead of eating
any food". Sixty eight percent believe comouters can think for themselves
like people. -
Ecology: Student Involvement and Attitudes
Thirty seven percent of 9 year olds and 52% of 17 year olds are in schools
with environmental nrojects. However, 26% of 9 year olds and 34% of 17 year olds
are not involved in any environmental projects and 20% of 17 year olds say they
don't have the time to get involved. Most 9 and 17 year olds attribute their
involvement in special environmental projects to either their own initiative,
schoolwork or friends. Few get their ideas from either family or the media.
One out of every four 9 and 17 year olds believe that the environmental
problems facing us are very dangerous. Most believe they are "somewhat
dangerous". Asked what sacrifices they would be willing to make to help
conserve the earth's supplies of food, energy and materials, the largest
percentage of nine and seventeen year olds indicated a willingness to help
in the recycling of bottles, cans and paper. This rias followed for 9 year
olds, by "drive less in cars" and "making fewer visits to friends who live
far away"; for 17 year olds "using less air-conditioning" and"living in a
smaller house". Eoth age grouos were least willing to "have fewer clothes
and "eat one meal less each day".
Seventeen year olds consistently renorted a greater willingness to alter
their lifestyles to halo conserve the earth's resources than did 9 year olds.
However, only one out of three 17 year olds, comoared to over half of the
9 year olds, is willing to come back to school on their own time to learn
and do more about environmental oroblems. Similarly, while only 32% of
17 year olds believe nuclear reactors can orovide safe electrical power,
57% would sanction it if threatened with long period without electricity.
Ecoloc', Achievement
Massachusetts 9 year olds comoleted 52% of the ecology test
exercises correctly; 17 year olds 48%. The most difficult item for
9 year olds was recognizing a food chain; for 17 year olds the identification
PAGENO="0252"
248
of a orimary consumer in a food chain. The easiest exercise for 9 year
aids was recognizing that plants orovide food for living organisms;
for 17 year olds recognizing that a major difference between man and
other living things is that he changes his environment.
There were no sex differences in median performance for either
9 or 17 year olds. No relationshio exists between median test performance
and family occupational status for 9 year aids; for 17 year olds high status
background students outperform low status background students.
The relationship between liking school and oerformance is strong for
17 year olds but non-existent for 9 year olds. While students in both
age groups who report conversations about the environment with parents
and/or friends have a higher median performance than those who do not
report such conversations, the strength of this relationshia is greatest
for 17 year olds. The fact that a school had a project to help the
environment or that a student oarticiaated in such a project is unrelated
to achievement on the ecology exercises by 9 year aids. It is moderately
related for 17 year aids.
For 17 year aids, the mare dangerous environmental prablems are
perceived to be the higher the median performance on the ecology
exercises. For 9 year aids, those who rate environmental problems as
only `somewhat dangerous" perform better then those who feel that these
problems are either very dangerous or nat dangerous at all.
PAGENO="0253"
249
CONSUMER SKILLS AND VALUES
The Assessment
Aooroximately 1,800 Uassachusetts 9 year olds and 1,600 17 year olds
were assessed on their consumer knowledge, understanding and values in
planning, borrowing, buying, inventing, sharing and orotecting. The
one hundred criterion referenced test items for each age group were derived
from both consumer education projects throughout the United States and
from the Department of Educations Demonstration Project in Consumer Education
in lewburynort.
In addition to the naoer-and-oencil tests develooed for 9 and 17 year
olds, questionnaires were designed and administered to both groups and
structured interviews conducted with parents on various facets of their
knowledge, interests and problems related to consumer issues.
About three out of four elementary schools oarticipating in the
study do not have specific time allotted at the third or fourth grade
level for studying the problems and concerns of consumers. Fifty seven
percent of high schools, however, offer a senarate course in consumer
education and 62% have snecific consumer education lessons as part of
other courses
Overall Results
The two content areas in which median 9 year olds performance was
highest were planning (71%) and protecting (67%). The area of ~
includes budgeting time and resources, decision-making, establishing
oriorities, family life cycle, government agencies, use of leisure time
and wills. Protectino includes conservation, environment, government
programs, protection agencies, health, insurance, safety measures, social
security and wills.
The lowest area of performance for 9 year olds was borrowing (10%).
This area includes banking systems, bankruntcy, credit, credit charges,
credit risks, interest, lendinq institutions and types of borrowing. The
median level of correct items for the remaining content areas for 9 year
olds was buying (48%), sharing (33%) and investing (33%). Buyipg~
includes advertising, consumer buying erections, influences on rising
costs, labeling, medium of exchange, needs or desires, products, buyer
and seller responsibilities and rights and types of business establishments.
Sharj~g includes oossessions, resnonsibilities, rights and taxes. Investi~9~
includes bonds, education, health, money, real estate, stocks, talent and
time.
Seventeen year olds nerforred best in planning (76%) and protecting (73%)
and least well in borrowing (58%). The median level of correct resoonses
for the remaining content areas for 17 year olds was buying (71%), sharing (70%)
and investing (68%).
PAGENO="0254"
250
Backaround Ch~racteristics and Results
In almost all instances, 9 and 17 year olds from residential suburbs
nerform at a higher level than those from industrial suburbs, big cities
or other kinds of communities. Big cities and industrial suburbs 9 and
17 year olds oerform very similarly.
~iine year old females score higher than males on orotecting, while
males score higher on borrowing and investing. Seventeen year old females
score higher in orotecti.ng while males score higher on borrowing, planning
and sharing. For both, borrowing is the lowest cerformance area while
orotecting (except for 9 year old males) is the highest area of performance.
Relationshics between occucational status and median test oerformance
favor high occuoatiomal status 9 year olds in sharing, investing and
buying with only small differences in the remaining areas. Similarly,
high occucational status 17 year olds outmerform low occupational status
17 year olds ~n buying, investing, orotectina and sharing. Differences
in other areas are not statistically significant.
Attitudes and Other Factors Related to Results
For both 9 and 17 yaar olds, those who dislike school very much"
score lower in all content areas than those who like school. For both
age groups the differences are esoecially. significant in borrowing and
protecting. For 9 year olds the differences are, in addition, signi-
ficant in buying and planning; for 17 year olds in sharing.
Most 9 year olds who often watch Saturday morning television do not
do as well in~ the various content areas as those who report not watching
Saturday morning television often. This is especially evident in
borrowing, buying and sharing. The one area, where those who frequently watch
television outcerform those who don't, is in planning.
There is little difference in performance in the various consumer
test areas between 9 year olds who report having classes on buying, saving
and planning and those who don't. In fact, in buying and sharing exercises
those who report not having classes perform slightly higher than those
reporting affirmatively. For 17 year olds there .are no significant differ-
ences in four of the six content areas; the exceptions favoring investing
and planning for those who reported taking high school classes in consumer
education.
For 9 year olds there are virtually no differences between those who
often talk about saving with their family and those who don't. Similarly,
there are no significant differences, with the exception of protection,
between those who often talk about sharing with their friends and those
who don't. The story is identical for 17 year olds. There are no differences
between those discussing consumer problems with their family and those not;
no differences between those answering yes and no when asked if they
discuss consumer problems with friends.
PAGENO="0255"
251
There are no differences in the nerformance of 9 year olds who
report hearing their teachers talk about sharing and those who do not.
Some exposure to media amnears better for 17 year olds. Generally,
those who watch little or no television news do not perforn os wel1
as 17 year olds who watch if more freouently. Similarly, those who read
most of the newsoaoer almost every day do somewhat better than those
who reoort never reading the newsoaper. Those who read a national magazine
at least once a week score higher than those who never read a magazine.
Seventeen year olds were asked which section of the newsoaper they found the
the most interesting. While those who find the news oart of a newsoaper most
interesting, tend, overall, to do better, the most significant finding showed
that those who üerfer reading advertisements as against the comics, sports
or news scored significantly lower in all six content areas.
Consumer Values
Values items were built into five of the six content areas of the
test. In ~gg, 9 year olds indicated they both enjoy more and want
more of what they see on television than 17 year olds. In the investin~
area, 17 year olds are more conscious of the value of saving money and
the future worth of collected articles than 9.year olds. In p~ppinq,
9 year olds are more willing than 17 year olds to save over an extended
period of time for a bike. In orotectina, 17 year olds were more sensitive to
the different ways parents protect their children than 9 year olds. In
sharino, 17 year olds have a greater tendency to may others in proportion
to the work put in than 9 year olds.
Consumer Situations: 9 year olds
Nine year olds were orally presented with oroblematic consumer situations
in planning and borrowing. Students indicated their opinions, knowledge
and values on a structured questionnaire. Generally, nine year olds per-
formed better on planning than on borrowing and females had a higher percentage
of correct responses than males.
Consumer Negotiation: 17 year olds
Seventeen year olds listened to a consumer negotiation script dramatizing
a dialogue between an automobile salesman and customer. Each student completed
a questionnaire on details of the purchase; questions that were and could have
been asked; how a purchase like this would influence family, individual and
society; how they would conduct themselves in the situation; and general
questions about cormaunity consumer problems.
Ninety three percent of 17 year olds recognized both manipulation in the
dialogue between the salesperson and buyer and that insufficient details had
been supnlied in order to cake a purchase. Few, however, could evaluate the impact
of the purchase on the individual, family or society or cite additional questions
that could he raised in the interaction. Few 17 year olds had information about
agencies that could protect them in consumer necotiatione. Analysis of resoonses
indicate different perceptions of the negotiations and different attitudes,
interests,and knowledge about consumer issues are held by males and females and
by students from different occupational backgrounds.
PAGENO="0256"
252
Parents Consumer View
Parents from four different kinds of communities were interviewed
on their consumer oroblems, concerns and interests. In buying, their
major concern was with the undue influence of advertising on their
children. Their second major concern was with the impact of rising costs
on their life style. In borrowinc, the greatest parental concernswas with credit,
credit charges, credit risks and interest.
Major marental concerns in orotecting centered on health and protection
agencies while in the area of investinc major concerns were expressed on
the edi~cation of children, inflation, maintenance of real estate values and
home repairs, and keeoing up with health costs. Concerns with ~
focused on taxation while in p]~ggIng, the concern was primarily around
time and resources.
PAGENO="0257"
253
SCHOOL CLP~ATE
The Assessment
Amoroximately eighteen hundred high school students in twenty four
ran~only selected high schools were administered school climate question-
naires. Teachers, administrators end sumnort staff in eight of the
twenty four schools were also administered climate questionnaires which,
in part, paralleled the student questionnaire. School climate was defined
as feelings and opinions about various asmects of the school and its
omeration as nerceived by students, teachers, administrators and suoport
staff. The basic domains of school climate considered by the study were
relationshios, nersonal develooment and organization. Under relation-
shins are five, specific climate areas of community, accessibi~TTfTi~Ta
recemtivity, involvement, equal treatment and grouoing. Under oersonal
develooment are learning orientation, expressiveness, goal direction and
~`}~illenge. Under organization are dealing with problems, order, options
and influence distribution.
School Climate Instrument Validation
The climate questionnaires are based on organizational climate
research in schools, classrooms, businesses, hospitals, the military
and other types of organizations. The reDort describes other approaches
taken to school climate, the approach taken by the study and the
procedures followed in developing and testing the instrument. Results
show the school climate instrument developed in the study to have high
construct, discriminant and concurrent validity. In addition, the
instrument demonstrated high reliability.
~1ajor Findings
Hajor findings show:
Uo one type of community---be it residential suburb, industrial
suburb, large city or other type of community has high schools
with the best rated school climate. Thus, some city schools
are rated higher in school climate than some suburban and
rural schools and vice versa.
Administrators, teachers and support staff almost consistently
rate school climate higher than students with administrators
porceiving the climate highest, followed by suoport staff and
then teachers. The differences are large, significant and
systematic.
95-e38 0 - 77 - 17
PAGENO="0258"
254
* Students from higher socioeconomic background, who are college-
bound, who get higher grades and who are involved in extra
curricular activities rate their high schools hiqher (than
other groups) on nine of the thirteen climate areas assessed.
Many areas of school climate are rated more favorably in high
schools with smaller student enrollments, higher percentages
of graduates going on to higher education, higher per-student
district expenditures and with certain types of organizational
and scheduling patterns.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Based on the school climate instruments validity and reliability and
the findings of the field testing,the renort recommends that the instrument
be made available for use by high schools. Related to this, the report
suggests that technical assistance be provided those using the instrument.
Further research with improved samoling and some revised questionnaire
items is recommended along with further exploration of the relationships
between school climate aid certain school and student characteristics.
Adaptation and field testing of the instrument for use by elementary
and junior high schools is also recommended.
Postscript
A companion volume to this study will be issued in September, 1977.
This publication will explain how local school districts can use the
school climate instruments. Included will be such topics as forming
local climate study teams, questionnaire administration and scoring,
and interpreting results. Based on an intensive follow-up in three
different high schools, the publication will focus on factors which
can contribute or hinder the local use of school climate results.
PAGENO="0259"
255
ASSESSMENT FACT SHEET
WASHINGTON STATE FOURTH, EIGHTH AND ELEVENTH GRADE ASSESSMENT PROGRAMS
Chapter 98, Laws of 1975-76, 2nd ex. sess. directs the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to conduct reading, mathematics and language arts achievement surveys
of state gg~p~es of eighth and eleventh grade students in the public schools of
Washington. Chapter 98 further directs the Superintendent to conduct a stand-
ardized test of the reading, language arts and mathematics achievement of all
fourth grade students. The sample testing procedures for the eighth and eleventh
grades will be quite different from the every pupil testing at grade four.
I. What About the Eighth and Eleventh Grade Testing Programs?
What are the purposes of the assessments? The primary purpose of these
assessments is to provide state level information about the performance of
Washington eighth and eleventh grade students compared to similar students'
performar:e nationally in selected basic skills areas. Other purposes include
developing prototype assessment models and materials for local districts to
use in their own evaluation programs.
What will be assessed? Specifically, performance will be assessed on selected
items in reading, mathematics and writing.
What tests will be used? .J1
- The ~
eighth grade asse~ nt~re selected by a representative group of Washington
teachers and curriculum specialists. The tests do include a number of basic
skill areas, but the number was limited to keep a reasonable testing time for
each student. The development of the eleventh grade test will follow the same
pattern as the eighth grade using teachers and curriculum specialists to iden-
tify the areas and items to be assessed.
How many schools and students will be involved? The eighth grade assessment
will involve 67 schools randomly selected from all public schools enrolling
eighth grade students. Approximately 25 randomly selected students within
each of the 67 schools will be tested. The eleventh grade assessment will
Involve a similar number of schools and students.
When will the assessments occur? The eighth grade assessment will be adminis-
tered during the week of November 15-19, 1976. The eleventh grade assessment
will be administered in the spring of 1977.
910w and when will the results be r!ported? The final reports of the eighth and
eleventh grade assessments will not describe individual, school or-district
results.
______ t van- -
ables such as size of district or type of coemunity may be included. The
eighth grade results will be available in February, 1977 and the eleventh grade
results will be released in the summer or fall of 1977.
PAGENO="0260"
256
Further questions? Questions regarding the eighth and eleventh grade
assessments may be directed to Dr. Gordon Ensign, Program Evaluation Section,
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Olympia, Washington 98504.
Telephone: (206) 753-3449.
II. What About the Fourth Grade Testing Program?
What are the purposes of the 4th grade test? The primary purpose of the 6th
grade testing program is to provide the Legislature, school districts and
parents with information about the achievement of 4th grade students compared
with other students in the same district, the state, and the natio~. Other
purposes include the provision of data for federal or state categorical pro-
grams requiring annual evaluation reports.
What will he assessed? Basic skills achievement in reading, language arts
and mathematics will be tested. In addition, districts or schools will have
the option of testing reference skills.
What tests_will be used? The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS), a
nationally standardized, norm-referenced achievement battery was selected on
the basis of competitive bids and recommendations by an outside review panel.
How many schools and students will be involved? All public schools in
Washington which enroll fourth grade students will be involved. Every fourth
grade student will be tested in each school except for those students identi-
fied as educationally handicapped and served by special or self-contained
educational programs.
When will the tests be administered? The CTBS will be administered during the
period October 18-29. Included in the test materials to each district are
suggested daily schedules for the administration of the sub-tests which make
up the complete CTBS battery.
How and when will the results be reported? Each building and district will
receive individual student, building, and district level reports of the test
results. These reports should be sent to the districts during the first week
of December. The reports will compare student achievement with national, state
and local results. The state level reports will include both district by
district profiles and total state level results. A final state level report
will be presented to the Legislature in February, 1977.
Further Questions? Questions regarding the fourth grade testing program may
be directed to Dr. Gordon Ensign, Program Evaluation Section, Superintendent
of Public Instruction, Olympia, Washington 98504. Telephone: (206) 753-3449.
PAGENO="0261"
257
SIX-YEAR IMPROV~ENT PLAN
FOR THE DEPART~E~ OF TESTING
JUNE 30, 1977
Based on the Norfolk Public Schools
Six-Year Improve~erLt Plan
TESTING DEPARThENT STAFF:
Donna Doyle Stiiith, Director of Testing
Keith W. Yackee, Supervisor of Testing
3. Darrell Kennedy, Measurerent Specialist
Joyce Ballou, Testing Aide
* Mary Bohenek, Secretary to the Director
* Pamela Boone, Word Processor Operator
Ma~ie Bro'~n, Clerk-Typist
Patti Kerr, Te~tin; Aide
Elouise Lawton, Pricit Shop Operator
Rita McKinney, Testing Aide
Sue Stickland, Secretary to the Supervisor
PAGENO="0262"
c~s: 2: Students will participate in learning experiences that proeote eptinal educational development of the individual. -
-.
PaOflCO
obJ~i~,,
.
~
Pnx.a
Ob~scbvo
1977-78
P~xssa
O~jocevo
- 1978-79
Obtcth'e
1979-80
Ptoccto
O~c~vo
1930-33 -
P.~ēcn~Ly - -
2.1
Student uchieverncnt
will equal or excee
the individual's
ability level as
maccured by
standardized tests
(Wit lre~queWL.
2.1 be chae3ed
read,"Student ~
azhta.veccenton a~
locally deve.lope~
teat using Nations
seeScsent item%~
* wilLequalgr,.
excaee,~ ~hee~pn~~
pdTCen$age of
correct responss~
*oa Z~°'t~es~
2.1.1.1 2-2
2.1,1.1 2-2
2.1.1.1 T-2
Teats and
services will.
be provided.
Technique may
be changed
2.1.1.3 2
2.1.1.1 T-1
Provide rents, scoring
services and inter'
pretive infornation
including reports to
the staff, Board, and
general public in
grades 4, 6, 3, and 11
2.1.1.1 T-2
Frovide achievc~sant
tests and scoring
services for sac-pies
of students on a
pre-post basis in
grade 3 end posttest
in grades 2 and 4 for
the purpose of evalua-
ting Title I progr~S.
Modified Multiple
Matrix Seepling
Technique to be used
2.1.1.3 T
Provide technical
assistance in c~spie-
ting self-study
2.1.1.12 T-l
Provide consultant
services in the
development of objec-
tive-referenced tests
in Business Education
Typing
Provtde technical
inforrstion to
isdividual schools
who are c~pleting
self-study
Director of Toe ting
Director of Testtng;
1easure~ecit Specialist;
Secretary to the
Director; Tasting Aides
Director of Testing;
iecrctsry to the
Director
Meseuresnent Specislist~
Secretary to Specialie~;
Word Processor Operator;
Offset Operator; Testing
Aides
2.1.1.3 2
2.1,1.3 2
2.1.1.12 2-1
2.1. 1, 12 2-1
Expand services
2,1.1. 12 T-i
Provide testing
cervices for
objective-
referenced test
in typing and
continue to
provide consul-
tant cervices
for develop-
ment in other
areas
PAGENO="0263"
259
I r~J 2 ~ - _[~
~ ~:1~ [~ ~ ij ~
jJ
7,
N
N.
N
7,
N
PAGENO="0264"
260
- CHAPTER 1
DATA GATHERING INSTRUMENTS
Test DevelopmentS
Introduction. The first major activity of the criterion-referenced
assessment of 17-year-olds was the development of an appropriate instrument
with which to measure student achievement of basic skills. This goal was
achieved, first, by the selection of subject area domains of interest to
Rhode Island educators; second, by the identification of high-priority
learning objectives within each domain; and third, by the selection of
test exercises appropriately matched to each objective.
The selection process initially focused an the testing materials
developed by National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). These
materials were then supplemented by others, including those developed by
the Adult Performance Level Study (APL) of the University of Texas at
Austin and by National Evaluation Systems (NES).
A general guideline steered the selection process. Within each sub-
ject area domain, objectives and test exercises were selected which repre-
sented basic skills at a minimal competency level. Each exercise reflected
a skill which state educators believed (1) was required for success in adult
life and (2) should be characteristic of the ability level of most Rhode
Island students.
Subject area domains. A committee of RIDE staff members identified
PAGENO="0265"
261
eight domains to be assessed, thereby establishing a framework for the
selection process. Certain domains were traditional subject areas charac.
teristic of school curricula~ while others represented more general learnir
outcomes desirable for students about to exit from high school. The eight
selected domains are listed below:
1) Reading
2) Mathematics
3) Writing
4) Science
5) Citizenship
6) Career a~d Occupational Development
7) Health
8) Consumer Economics -
Preliminary objective selection. In order to facilitate objective
selection, NES staff members assembled a customized package representing
all objectives developed by NAEP and APL. All major objectives and sub-
objectives for each domain were included, as well as specifications for
appropriate types of exercises. These materials were prepared for review
by a selection committee chosen by RIDE.
The selection committee was .comprised of approximately 25 Rhode Island
representatives of such groups as school administrators, teachers, parents,
school committees, personnel officers, admissions officers, and other inter-
ested professional and lay groups. The members performed pre-conference
objective selection ratings prior to attendance at two conferences, one
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* for final objective selection and one for test exercise selection.
The complete set of objectives was mailed on October 22, 1975, to all
participants, along with customized rating sheets. Each member judged each
objective and sub-objective in terms of whether or not it was acceptable
based on established criteria for objective review. A three-point scale
was utilized with 1 = definitely not, 2 = not sure, and 3 = definitely
yes.
These materials were returned one week later and NES staff tabulated
the data to produce group averages of the ratings. The total objective
pool was then reduced by selecting only those objectives with a mean rating
of 1.5 or higher. A new set of objective materials was prepared for presen-
tation at the Objective Selection Conference.
~j!citive Selection Conference. The selection committee assembled for
the first time on November 5, 1975, at an Objective Selection Conference.
Following a description of the aims and philosophy of assessment programs
and a detailed. discussion of the parameters of the test development phase,
the group divided into sub-committees, each assigned one or more goal areas.
The members of each committee discussed the objectives which were presented.
Individual members then judged each objective in terms of its relative pri-
ority for statewide assessment. A five-point scale was employed with 1 =
highest priority and 5 = lowest priority.
Following the Objective SeleCtion Conference, NES staff members ana-
lyzed the results of the ratings.~ All objectives with an average rating
of 2 or higher were adopted for furtherattention of the committee.
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* Item Selection Conference. The refined pool of objectives was asse~..
bled by NES staff in a second set of conference materials. All available
NAEP and APL test exercises were reproduced and matched to their respectiy0
objectives. Where few NAEP or APL exercises were available, these were
supplemented by exercises from the NES item bank. Item rating sheets were
prepared to accompany the conference materials.
The selection committee reassembled two weeks later at an Item Selec-
tion Conference. Again dividing into sub-committees, the members discussed
each of the exercises individually and reached group consensus on its appro-
priateness for the assessment. Appropriateness was determined on the basis
of an item's difficulty level in terms of the target population and the
assessment philosophy and the degree to which the item represented a valid
measure of the objective to which it was referenced. The committee rated
each item as acceptable or not acceptable for statewide assessment. These
ratings were valuable input to the decisions required of RIDE in arriving
at a final exercise pool.
Final selection. Based on concerns regarding the breadth of content
of tests and the availability of testing time in the schools, RIDE staff
made the final selection of test exercises. Only exercises which had been
judged acceptable by the committee were adopted by RIDE. These exercises
were subjected to a final review by an ad hoc committee of specialist
teachers, one committee for each subject area domain, prior to. final
approval. .
When the selection process was completed, 113 exercises measuring
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45 objectives were selected for the assessment. Approximately 30% of these
were exercises developed by NAEP; 85% of all exercises were multiple-choice
format and 15% were open-ended, requiring either a numerical response or
a short verbal answer. One exercise required a full writing sample. The
text of all exercises (in test booklet form) appears in Appendix A.
Test Booklets
In order to reduce the testing time required of each student, the
selected exercises were assembled into two test booklets. Only one of the
booklets was administered to each student in the assessment. Each booklet
required approximately one hour of testing time.
- The booklets are defined by the subject area domains they contain;
that is, all exercises for a given domain are contained in one booklet.
Table 1.1 displays the assignment of domains to test booklets.
TABLE 1.1
Assignment of Subject Area Domains
to the Two Test Booklets
Booklet 1
Booklet 2
Career and Occupational
Development
Mathematics
Consumer Economics
Health
Citizenship
Reading
Writing
Science
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The test exercises were printed, preceded by the student question-
naire, on 11 x 17 white stock, folded and saddle-stitched. Responses
were entered directly in the test booklet, either in multiple-choice
bubbles or on designated answer lines. Scoring boxes for open-ended items
were printed at the bottom of appropriate pages. The format used in the
production of the test booklets provided for ease of student response and
data processing.
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CHAPTER 8
NATIONAL COMPARISONS
Introduction
One of the purposes of the assessment was to permit comparisons
of the performance of Rhode Island students with performance nationwide.
Therefore some of the test items selected for inclusion in the criterion-
referenced tests were those developed by National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP). For those items which NAEP administered to 17-year-olds,
comparisons may be made between Rhode Island students and students from
across the nation. This chapter presents the data from both the national
and the Rhode Island assessments on selected test items, and examines the
similarities and differences between them.
Only four goal areas contained items for which comparative data are
available. These areas were Reading (18 items), Mathematics (eight items),
Citizenship (seven items), and Consumer Economics (one item). The analysis
groups items according to objective within each goal area, and presents the
percentage of 17-year-olds in Rhode Island and nationally who scored cor-
rectly on each test item.
Summarized in Table 8.1 are~the percentages of 17-year-olds, nationally
*and in Rhode Island, who scored correctly~ on the individual Reading items,
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TABLE 8.1
Percentage of 17-Year-Olds Scoring Correctly on Individual
Reading Items, Both Nationally and in Rhode Island
.
Objective
.
.
Item #
NAEP/National
Rhode Island
% S.E.
% S.E.
(3) Read paragraphs,
passages and longer
.
~
*
~
.
~
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
50
54
55
92.7 .6
94.1 .6
84.9 1.0
68.3 1.4
77.7 1.3
82.5 1.0
94.7 .6
92.0 .7
85.5 1.0
90.8 `.7
96.5 .4
94.1 .5
92.7 .6
85.3 .7
78.0 .8
89.6 .6
96.5 .4
92.0 .6
82.7 .8
90.1 .7
(4) Remember significant
parts of what is read
57
58
93.2 .6
89.3 .7
92.8 .5
87.5 .7
(6) Obtain information
efficiently *
,49
42
43
98.4 .3
80.4 1.1
94.5 .6
97.3 .4
81.9 1.2
96.0 .4
(7) Draw appropriate
inferences
56
91.4 .8
~
86.7 .8
(9) Make judgments about
a work on the basis
of what is found in
the work
48
53
.
92.1 .9
83 3 1 0
*
84.3 .7
* 84 4 8
*
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grouped by objective, as well as the standard errors (S.E.) of the per-
centage scores. Overall, Rhode Island students performed slightly better
on Reading items than students nationally. More specifically, on almost
two-thirds of the items concerned with reading paragraphs, passages, and
longer works (Objective 3), a higher proportion of Rhode Island students
(up to 12% more) responded correctly than 17-year-olds nationally. On
the other items assessing this objective, the porcentage of students
scoring correctly was about the same for the nation as it was for Rhode
Island.
Two items assessed the recall of significant parts of what is read
(Objective 4). On these items, a slightly lower percentage of the Rhode
Island students answered correctly than students nationally.
Obtaining information efficiently (Objective 6) represented another
area in which Rhode Island students performed slightly above students from
across the nation. On two of the three items assessing this objective, a
higher proportion of Rhode Island students answered correctly.
On the item measuring the drawing of appropriate inferences (Objective
7), 4.7% more students nationally answered it correctly than students in
Rhode Island.
Finally, of the two items assessing making judgments about a work on
the basis of what is found in the work (Objective 9), national percentages
were higher on one and Rhode Island percentages were higher on the other.
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Mathematics
Table 8.2 displays the percentage of all 17-year-olds, in the nation
and in Rhode Island, who scored correctly on each of the eight Mathematics
items. Also presented are the standard errors of the percentage scores.
A slightly higher percentage of Rhode Island students correctly
answered items testing knowledge of the metric system (Objective 2) than
students nationwide. Rhode Island students performed comparably with stu-
dents nationally on arithmetic computation (Obj6~tive 3). On four of the
six items for this objective, there were no appreciable differences. On
the remaining two items, there are moderate differences; on one, 9% more
Rhode Island students answered the item correctly, and on the other, 6%
more s1~udents nationally correctly answered the item.
Citizenship
Presented in Table 8.3 are the national and Rhode Island results on
items assessing three objectives in the goal area of Citizenship. Perfor-
mance of Rhode Island 17-year-olds was substantially below that of 17-year-
olds nationally on the item assessing understanding of the organization of
federal and state government (Objective 3). Fifty-nine percent of Rhode
Island students, as opposed to 73% of students nationally, answered this
item correctly.
There ware small differences (less than 5%) between Rhode Island
students and students nationally on the item assessing recognition of the
importance of political opposition and interest groups (Objective 5), and
95.038 0 - 77 - 18
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TABLE 8.2
Percentage of 17-Year-Olds Scoring Correctly on Individual
Mathematics Items, Both Nationally and in Rhode Island
Objective
Item #
NAEP/NatiOnal
-~
Rhode Island
(2) Knowledge of metric
system
10
11
65.3 1.5
67.8 1.8
71.1 .9
71.1 1.0
(3)
Performance
of
1
42.6
1.6
44.4
1.1
arithmetic
computation
.7
93.5
.6
5
93.8
.
4
68.6
1.6
66.8
1.0
8
79.1
---
70.3
1.1
.
.9
9
77.4
1.5
14
36.9
1.8
31.1
.9
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TABLE 8.3
Percentage of 17-Year-Olds Scoring Correctly on Individual
Citizenship Items, Both Nationally and in Rhode Island
.
Objective
~
Item #
NAEP/National
Rhode Island
% S.E.
% S.E.
(3) Understand organization
of federal and state
government
57
72.7 1.4
.
59.2 1.2
(5) Recognize importance of
political opposition and
interest groups
56
93.8 .6
~
90.3 .6
(7) Know how to register to
vote and know voting
procedures
.
.
61
62
63
64
65
75.0 1.4
84.3 .9
75.9 1.3
64.1 1.6
91.1 .8
77.2 .9
78.1 .9
76.1 1.0
64.3 1.0
86.8 .7
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on four of the five items assessing knowing how to register to vote and
knowing voting procedures (Objective 7). Students nationally outperformed
Rhode Island students on Objective 5; however, the results were mixed for
Objective 7, with Rhode Island students performing slightly higher on
three of the five items.
Consumer Economics
On the one Consumer Economics item measuring the objective "shop with
preparedness and economy," students nationally performed slightly better
than Rhode Island students. Table 8.4 shows that the difference between
the groups was small (4.3%).
TABLE 8.4
Percentage of 17-Year-Olds Scoring Correctly on the
Consumer Economics Item, Both Nationally and in Rhode Island
Objective
.
Item #
NAEP/National
Rhode Island
~-~-
% S.E.
% S.E.
(1) Shop with preparedness
and economy
19
35.2 1.3
30.9 1.0
~!~ghlights of Results
To provide an overview of the performance of Rhode Island students and
students nationally, the average percentage of students scoring correctly
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was computed for the items within each objective for both student groups.
These data are presented in Tables 8.5 and 8.6 for Reading, Mathematics,
and Citizenship. Since Consumer Economics contained only one item for one
objective, data are not presented graphically for this goal area.
It is clear, from the graph in Table 8.5, that Rhode Island students
performed above the national level on Reading Objectives 3 and 6 (reading
paragraphs, passages and longer works; and obtaining information efficient-
ly). They scored lower than students nationally on the remaining three
objectives.
In Mathematics, shown in Table 8.6, Rhode Island students performed
above the national level on Objective 2 (knowledge of the metric system)
and quite close to the national level on Objective 3 (performing arithmetic
computation).
In Citizenship, also shown in Table 8.6, Rhode Island scored below the
nation on all three objectives. The largest difference was observed for
Objective 3 (understanding the organization of federal and state government).
On the other two objectives, only small differences occurred between the two
student groups.
In general, Rhode Island students as compared with students nationally
performed well in the traditional Reading areas, in all Mathematics areas,
and in Consumer Economics. Their performance was somewhat lower in the
area of Citizenship.
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TABLE 8.5
Graph Comparing Rhode Island Students and Students
Nationally on Reading Items by Objective
92
91
In
.4-,
~ 90
89
(4-. S-
08 88
a)
4~)
a)0
-~ 86
a)
85
84
-I
3
Rhode Island
National
4
6
Objecti ye
7
9
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TABLE 8.6
Graph Comparing Rhode Island Students and Students
Nationally on Mathematics and Citizenship Items by Objective
A
I'
/ `
~/ \\
/
/
/
/1
/
/
I
>)
C-,
C)
S.-
5-
0
C-)
5-
0
C-)
U)
4-)
ci~
4-)
V)
-.
0
C)
0)
4-)
C)
C)
5-
C)
0~
94
93
92
91
90
72
71
70
69
68
67
66
65
64
flath Objectives Citizenship Objectives
Rhode Island
National
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WASHINGTON
STATEWIDE EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT
READING, MATHEMATICS, WRITING
8th Grade - FaIl 1976
STATE GENERAL REPORT
Frank B. Broulitet
~UH~1/ State Superintendent ot Public tnstructlon :~
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Frank B. Brouillet
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Donald Hair
Assistant Superintendent
Division of Curriculum and Instruction Services
Alfred Rasp, Jr.
Director, Program Evaluation and Research
Cordon B. Ensign, Jr.
Supervisor, Program Evaluation and Research
The Superintendent of Public Instruction was assisted
in this 1976 8th Crade Assessment
by
The Measurement Research Center
a division of Westinghouse Learning Corporation
in collaboration with
the American College Testing Program
This report is made in compliance with Chapter 98, Laws of
the 2nd ex. session 1975-76 Washington State Legislature.
April, 1977
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WASHINGTON STATEWIDE EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT
State General Report
EIGHTH GRADE
INTRODUCTION
In 1976 the Washington Legislature directed the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to administer a reading, mathematics, and language arts
achievement level survey to a sample of 8th grade students. The sample
was to be carefully selected so that the survey results could be general-
ized to the more than 65,000 8th grade students in Washington's public
schools. The Legislature's stated purpose for this survey was to allow
the public and the Legislature to judge how Washington 8th graders'
achievement in selected areas compares with 8th grade achievement
nationally or regionally. The remainder of this report describes both
the Superintendent's procedures for and the general results of the first
8th grade assessment.
OVERVIEW OF ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES
In September, 1976, the Superintendent called together groups of teachers,
curriculum specialists, administrators, and higher education personnel
in each of the three areas of reading, mathematics, and language arts.
Each of these groups was charged with the responsibility of reviewing
the available National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) items
in each of these three basic skill areas and recommending those items to
be included in the 8th grade assessment.
Several criteria were used in this review and selection process.
First, the selected items were to be related as much as possible to
current curricular trends and emphases in Washington. Second, the items
were to measure significant or worthwhile skills, knowledges, or under-
standings. Third, the items were to relate both to "out-of-school" and
"in-school" applications or requirements.
The NAEP item pool was used as a basis for the Committees' selections
because it contains items which generally meet the above criteria.
Further NAEP items have been validated in national surveys and offered
the opportunity to compare Washington's 8th grade performance with that
of a national and western region sample -- a requirement of the legislation.
After-each of the Committees had selected an appropriate set of items,
Westinghouse Learning Corporation (WLC) designed and printed appropriate
administrative materials and test booklets. Following NAEP procedures,
the Washington 8th grade assessment items were administered using "paced"
audio cassette tapes which included all instructions to the students and
moved the students through each booklet at a uniform pace. WLC was also
responsible for providing the "paced" tapes based on NAEP specifications.
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The reading, mathematics and writing (language) booklets were administered
to a sample of 8th grade students in November of 1976. The completed
booklets were returned to WLC for scoring and results analysis. WLC has
been a major contractor in the scoring and analysis of NAEP surveys
which was a particular advantage in the scoring and analysis of the
"open-ended", "free-response" and writing items which required extensive
hand scoring.
The 1976 Washington 8th grade assessment was based on a probability
sample of approximately 1,600 students. The performance of the students
in the sample was then generalized to represent the average performance
of all eighth grade students in Washington's public schools. Comparisons
were also made between Washington students and students nationwide and
in the western region.
The probability sample was selected in two stages. First, a stratified
sample of 67 schools was selected from a list of all Washington public
schools which enroll eighth grade students. Then from each of these 67
schools, a random subsample of students was selected to take the test.
Further details on the sampling design, including weighting and analysis
formulas, are available in a separate report.
Responses to multiple-choice items were scored by optical scanning
equipment. -Responses to open-ended questions ware hand-scored using the
scoring categories developed by NAEP. The results were then weighted to
produce estimates of the performance of all eighth graders. For each
item, an estimate was computed.of the proportion (percentage) of eighth
graders who would choose each of the possible responses, if all Washington
eighth graders had taken the test. In particular, estimates were computed
of the proportion of students who would answer the item correctly. In
this report, the proportion of students answering an item correctly is
called the "p-value". -~
Besides estimates for all students, separate statewide estimates were
also computed by type of community, sex, and age. In addition, an
estimate of the precision of each estimated proportion was computed.
Further details of the analysis procedures are included in the separate
sampling and analysis design report.
READING RESULTS -
The 45 items in the reading booklet tested a number of important reading
skills and concepts. Many of the items relate directly to practical or
"every day" situations. Such items include following a set of written
directions or signs, reading report cards and insurance forms, interpreting
road maps, understanding labels on grocery products and following recipes.
Other kinds of items are designed to indicate the numbers of students
who can correctly identify the major point of a paragraph, detect flaws
in the logic of a set of statements, or appropriately sequence a series
of pictorial events.
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Generally, Washington 8th graders performed well on nearly all of the
reading items. Item 27B concerning the interpretation of an automobile
insurance form was the most troublesome followed by item 25 which required
the students to answer questions about a recipe. All students (100%)
correctly answered items 2lA, 21B and 2lD involving the interpretation
of a map. On well over half of the items (28 of 45) 85% or more of
Washington's eighth graders gave the correct responses, while only eight
of the 45 items were answered correctly by less than 70%. The proportions
of students answering each reading item correctly (p-values) are given
in Table 1.
Table I
Washington Eighth Grade Asscsssent
ITEM P-VALUES
READING
Proportion of All Proportion of All
Students Answering Students Answering
Item Items Correc~y Ites Items Corrg~~y_
1 .98 17 .68
2 .95 iSA .98
3 .35 18B .96
4 .87 18C .88
5 .72 19 .96
6 .92 20 .66
7 .88 21A 1.00
8 .95 210 1.00
9 .67 21C .96
10 .88 2lD 1.00
11 .71 22 .72
l2A .72 23 .63
12B .79 24 .86
l2C .70 25 .29
13A .94 26 .85
l3B .98 27A .91
13C .98 27B .10
130 .94 28 .82
l3E .82 29 .92
14A .83 30 .88
140 .68 31 .95
15 .89 32 .98
16 .87
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MATHEMATICS RESULTS
Similar to the reading items, many of the 57 math items relate directly
to practical applications of math skills or knowledge. The math booklet
included items such as determining the savings between two discounted
prices, selecting the "best buy" among various sizes of a product,
calculating gasoline mileage or measuring windows for curtains. Other
items required the student to work with fractions and decimals, perform
basic computations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division),
determine areas or dimensions of shapes, calculate rates of speed, and
to convert from one mathematical form to another (115 = what percent?).
As was true nationally, this particular set of mathematics items proved
more difficult than the set of reading items. However, the Washington
students generally performed well on the mathematics items with 70% or
Shore of the students answering nearly one-half of the items correctly.
Item 31, computing the area of a square given the perimeter proved most
difficult followed by 49B, interpreting a graph and item 17, calculating
a percentage of a number. Items 1, 2, l4A, 4C, 6A, 6B, and 6C proved
least difficult with over 90% of the students answering each one correctly.
These items concerned magnitude, place value, simple computation and
properties of zero. Table 2 gives a complete listing of the proportion
of students correctly answering each of the 57 math items.
WRITING RESULTS
The sample of students was given two quite different writing assignments
in the language portion of the 8th grade assessment. One item required
the students to listen to a piece of music (a Scott Joplin rag) and
write whatever they wished -- how the music made them feel, or what it
reminded them of, etc. The second item was much more structured in that
the students were asked to write a letter to their school principal
describing something they would like to see changed in the operation of
the school. They were further instructed to offer and justify a solution
or alternative and provide examples of how their proposed solution would
improve the existing situation.
In each of these writing areas, Washington's 8th graders performed
similarly to both the national and western region NAEP samples.
On the music essay, 60% of the Washington students simply wrote a list
of two or more single statements. Only 22% of the essays consisted of
two or more topics and had four or more details related to at least one
topic. Another 7% of the essays consisted of a single topic with four
or more related details.
The orientation of about 50% of the Washington music essays was "associ-
ational"; that is, the writer named situations or scenes the music
brought to mind. About 20% of the essays were "egocentric", in that the
writers concentrated on their own internal states. Another 20% of the
essays were "analytical", in that they identified either the music or
its performer, or discussed its technical characteristics (soft, jumpy,
crescendos, etc.). About 7% of the students created a metaphor for the
music by inventing a scene or telling a story.
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Table 2
Washington Eighth Grade Assessment
ITEM P-VALUES
MATHEMAT [Cs
Proportion of All Proportion of All
Students Answering Students Answering
Item Items Correctli item Items Co~~y_
1 .99 26 .40
2 .92 27 .71
3 .87 28 .80
4A .96 29 .51
4±3 .88 30 .80
4C .93 31 .08
5 .88 32 .59
6A .98 33 .46
6B .98 34 .67
6C .97 35
7 *73 36 .19
8 .70 37 .34
9 .20 38 .81
10 .28 39 .69
11 .26 40 .89
12 .21 41A .73
13 .70 4113 .38
14 .75 42 .35
15 .38 43 .47
16 .42 44 .51
17 .11 45 .53
18 .63 46 .87
19 .30 47 .41
20 .88 48 .77
21 .63 49A .61
22 .69 49B .09
23 .86 50 .55
24 .53 51 .81
25 .46
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About 25% of the principal's letters suggested a change, but neither
justified it nor stated how it could be accomplished. About 45% of the
letters suggested a change and either justified it or stated how it
could be accomplished, but not both. Another 25% of the letters had all
three elements, but developed them unevenly. About 5% of the letters
contained all three elements and were evenly developed.
Inadditioli to the two writing items, Washington students were given
three different examples of a letter written for the same purpose and
asked to identify the best letter. Eighty-eight percent were able to do
so correctly. On another item, 52% of the students reported they sometimes
write "things like poems, lyrics, or stories" for enjoyment, while 39%
reported they never do and 8% often do. ~This compares with 51% who
reported they often write "things like notes and letters, messages and
directions", 44% reported they sometimes do, and 5% never do.
RESULTS BY TYPE OF CONMLJNITY
In addition to the estimates for the entire state, separate estimates
were computed for students in the following types of communities:
1. Urban Metropolitan -- the area including the school districts
of Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma;
2. Urban Nonmetropolitan -- school districts in cities of 15,000
or greater population and not included above;
3. Suburban -- districts contiguous to either urban metropolitan
or urban nonmetropolitan districts;
4. Rural/Small Town - districts in cities less than 15,000
population and/or school districts enrolling fewer than 2,000
students and not in any other type of community category.
The major trend which emerged from the data was that students in Urban
Metropolitan schools correctly answered items somewhat less often than
students in the other types of communities. This was not a strong
trend, however, and not consistent for all items. For some items the
differences in p-values between types of communities were too small to
be statistically significant; that is, they were small enough to have
occurred by chance. In other cases the differences in p-values were
statistically significant, but were still not large in magnitude. A
difference of .10 (10%) was defined as the minimum for which statistically
significant differences were large enough to be deemed practically
(educationally) significant. Table 3 lists those items for which the
Urban Metropolitan p-values were both statistically significantly different
(at the .05 level) and at least .10 less in magnitude, than the p-values
for at least one of the other types of communities.
A detailed discussion of how statistical significance was calculated is
included in the separate sampling and analysis design report.
It should also be pointed out that Urban Metropolitan students scored
higher on a few items than students in other types of communities. For
example, 17% more Urban Metropolitan students correctly answered Mathe-
matics Item 8 and 12% more correctly amswtred Mathematics Item 45, than
did Rural/Small Town students.
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Except as noted above and in Table 3, there were no overall major differ-
ences in p-values among Urban Nortmetropolitan, Suburban, or Rural/Small
Town students.
No significant differences occurred in either of the writing samples for
any of the groups from the four types of communities.
Table 3
Items for which Urban Metropolitan p-values are both
statistically significantly different (.05 level) from, and
.10 (or sore) in magnitude less than, p-values for another
type of community.
Ranges of difference in p-values between
Urban Metropolitan students and students
Item in other types of communities.
Reading 9 .10 - .15
11 .11 - .15
l2C .06 - .14
l4A .10 - .15
l4B .13 - .18
17 .06 - .14
25 .07-.10
26* .07 - .15
Mathematics 14 .08 - .13
15 .08-.l3
17 .08-.lO
29 .05 - .12
37** .08 - .14
47 .05 - .16
49A .06 - .12
51 .10-15
* Rural/Small Town results similar to Urban Metropolitan.
** Suburban results similar to Urban Metropolitan.
There is reason to believe that considerable variation exists among
schools' p-values for some items. This variation in performance from
school to school showed up as larger than usual confidence intervals
(discussed in sampling and analysis report) and could have been caused
by differing curriculum content or emphasis among the schools. Table 4
lists these items. This hypothesis needs additional data and further
investigation before it can be verified.
PAGENO="0289"
285
Table 4
Items which may reflect important differences in curriculum
content emphasis among schools in a given type of community.
Item
Type of Community
Reading
11
Urban Metropolitan, Urban
Nonmetropolitan
14B
Urban Metropolitan
23
Urban Metropolitan
24
Urban Metropolitan
28
Urban Metropolitan
Mathematics
8
Urban Nonsetropolitan
17
Urban Nonmetropolitan
24
Urban Metropolitan
35
Urban Metropolitan, Urban
Nonmetropolitan, Suburban
.
415
Urban Metropolitan, Rural/Small
Town
RESULTS BY SEX
In addition to the general state estimates, separate estimates were
computed for males and females. Females tended to do better on the
Reading items than the males, while on the Mathematics items, males
tended to do better than females. For the most part, however, the
differences were too small to be statistically significant, or to be of
much prc~ctical Importance when they were statistically significant.
Table 5 lists those items in which statistically significant differences
of .10 (or more) occur.
Males and females differed significantly on the structure of their music
essays. About 65% of the males' essays consisted of two or more single
statements compared with 56% of the females' essays. Conversely, 14% of
the males' essays consisted of more than one topic and had four or more
details on at least one topic compared with 31% of the females' essays
with that same degree of complexity.
Males and females did not differ significantly in the "orientation" of
their music essays.
On the letters to the principal, 31% of the females included all three
requested elements compared with 20% of the males' letters. Two percent
of the males and 4% of the females wrote fully developed letters.
95-038 0 . 77 - 19
PAGENO="0290"
286
Females indicated they write for amusement more often (69%) than do
males (52%). About 70% of the females reported they often write notes
and letters, messages or directions, while only 32% of the males reported
doing so.
Table 5
Items for which male and female p-values are statistically
significantly different and the differences are also of
magnitude .10 or more.
Higher Scoring Differences
Item Sex in p-values
Reading 3 Males .20
l2C Females .14
25 Females .14
26 Females .10
Mathematics 11 Males .15
21 Males .10
29 Males .10
33 Males .14
35 Males .11
44 Males .16
RESULTS BY AGE GROUP
Students were asked to record their birth dates on the cover of their
test booklets. From this information each student was assigned to an
age group for purposes of analysis. The age groups were defined in a
manner consistent with NAEP: 13 year olds were defined as anyone born
in the calendar year 1963, and the other age groups were defined analo-
gously. The resulting sample sizes were large enough to permit making
comparisons between Washington 13 and 14 year old eighth graders.
The 13 year olds performed somewhat better than did the 14 year olds on
nearly every item in all three tests. On all but four items, however,
the differences were too small to be statistically significant, or to be
practically significant (.10 or more) when they were statistically
significant. The four items for which statistically significant differ-
ences of .10 or greater occured were Reading Item l4B (.10), Reading
Item 20 (.10), Mathematics Item 24 (.11), and Mathematics Item 49A
(.12).
PAGENO="0291"
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COSIPARISON OF WASHINGTON RESULTS WITH NAEP RESULTS
The performance of Washington students on the items was compared to that
of students tested nationally based on the data supplied by NAEP.
Because the Washington target population consisted of all eighth graders
and the NAEP population consisted of all 13 year olds, comparisons were
limited to the common subgroup of both populations -- 13 year old
eighth graders.
On most items, any differences between the two groups were small enough
to be attributed to chance variation. Those items for which the differ-
ences were statistically significant and were also of magnitude .10 or
greater are listed in Table 6. All differences except two favored the
Washington students, the exceptions being Reading Item 3 (highway sign)
and Nath Item 15 (1/2 + 1/3). The differences were fairly consistent
among males and females.
Table 6
Items on which Washington and NAEP p-value differences are statistically
significant and are greater than .10.
Washington Wales
NAEP Males
Washington Females
MACP Females
Washington Total
WASP Total
Washington Total
NAEP West
p-value
Item Difference5
p-value
Iten Differencea
p-value
Item Difference5
p-value
Item Difference5
Reading
3 -.14
5 +.l5
13E +10
148 4.12
[1.
Reading
3 -.17
5 +-.14
148 4.12
Reading
3 -.16
.5 4.15
148 4.12
20 4.10
Reading
.3 -.13
5 +.17
11 +.l~
14A 4.13
148 +15
Mathematics
14 +12
15 -.12
18 +13
24 ~.l9
38 ±13
42 +13
45 ~-.13
49A +10
50 +15
Mathematics
15 -.10
10 4.10
24 4.23
38 4.21
39 +11
45 +.lO
49A 4.19
50 +.l3
.
Mathematics
14 + .10
15 - .10
10 +12
24 +21
38 4.18
45 +.12
49A +16
50 4.14
~
Mathematics
7 + .12
8 .14
10 -.12
14 +12
24 +. 31
35 +~3
36 +.l3
45 +13
47 +15
49A +21
50 +16
~-
Writing
Music Orient
81 +12
Writing
Music Orient
81 +.ll
Writing
Music Orient
Rl 4.12
Writing
Music Orient
Ml +13
*A minus sign indicates that a smaller proportion of Washington students correctly answered
the item than did ;he WASP students; conversely, a plus sign indicates that more Washington
students than WASP students correctly answered the item.
-10-
PAGENO="0292"
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When Washington students were compared to NAEP results for students in
the 15 western states (see Figure 1.) a few more significant differences
appeared and they all favored Washington students. Tables 7, 8, and 9
list the comparison p-values for Washington 13 year old eighth graders,
national 13 year old eighth graders and western region 13 year old
eighth graders on all items.
FIGURE 1.
PAGENO="0293"
Table 7
Item p-values for 13 year old eighth graders )NAEP and Washington) -- Reading
Item
Washington
OS (NAEP)
West )NAEP)
Reading 16
.90
17
.70
180
.98
lOB
.97
18C
.89
19
.97
20
.71
210
1.00
218
1.00
21C
.98
210
1.00
22
.76
23
.65
24
.89
25
.32
26
.87
27A
.93
27B
.09
28
.84
29
.93
30
.89
:~
)4*5
.66
.97
.97
.90
.98
*97*5
.99
.97
.77
59*5
.88
.25
.88
* 875*
.07
.84
.91
.87
.90
Reading 1 9555 945*
2 955* .91
47*5
4 .89 .90
5 59*5 575*
6 .92 .09
7 375* 545*
8 .95 .93
9 .61~
10 ~ .86
11 .69 .64n*
120 .81** . 8o~
128 .85 .80
12C .72 .68
130 .895*
138 .97 .96
l3C .98 .96
130 .88*5 355*
13E *745* *745n
140 795* 745*
148 .60** 5755
15 .88 .87
~5ALP data marked by double ante risks are stats* sticall y signi ficantly different from the correspond-
ing Washington estimates at the level .05.
West lOOP)
.04
.68
.97
.98
.09
.97
.62
.90*5
1.00
.98
97*5
.73
.61
.87
.235*
.86
.87*n
.07
.04
.09
.85
9l~~
.90
.90
.97
.34
.80
.74
.93
.91
.96
.69
.90
.74
.74
.83
.74
.95
.98
.98
.94
.83
.87
.72
.90
PAGENO="0294"
PAGENO="0295"
291
Table 9
Item p-values for 13 year old eighth graders
(NAEP and Washington) -- Writing
Item
Washington
US (NAEP)
West
(NAEP)
Writing
.
(Music
Struct)
Ri
.02
.02
.01
R2
.60
.60
.59
R3
.06
.08
.07
R4
.24
.20
.22
*
R5
.06
.09
.10
R6
.00
.00
.00
(Music
Orient)
Ri
R2
.51
.02
*39**
.04**
.38**
Ų5**
R3
.19
.25**
*
.22
R4
.20
.17
.17
*
R5
.07
.07
.11
R6
.00
*
.07
Principal ` s
Letters
Ri
.23
.24
.19
R2
.44
.40
.42
R3
.27
.30
33**
R4
.05
.05
.04
**i~JAEp data marked by double asterisks are statisti-
cally significantly different from the corresponding
Washington estimates at the level .05.
PAGENO="0296"
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SUNMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
In suary it can be said that Washington 8th grade students performed
well on the limited areas tested in the Washington Reading, Mathematics,
and Writing achievement survey. Although the items tested are not and
were not intended to be comprehensive in coverage, they were none the
less identified by Washington educators as being representative of some
of the important basic objectives in Washington's schools.
The fact that many of the reading items were apparently easy for Washington
students (i.e. many high p-values) compared to the math items (i.e. many
p-values in the .40 to .60 range) raises a very important consideration.
It is almost always necessary to have some point or points of comparison
for a measure. A measure of the absolute amount of any quantity usually
has limited meaning until or unless it can be interpreted relative to
some other known amount. Hence the importance and the purpose of the
inclusion of the national and western region results for comparison ~ith
the Washington results. These comparisons provide a point of reference
for interpreting the Washington results and the comparisons suggest that
Washington's 8th graders were generally at or above national and western
region results in reading, mathematics, and writing. Of course, classroom
teachers and curriculum specialists will have other points of comparison
as well, based on their own experiences and knowledge of the capabilities
of 8th grade students in particular programs. It is these kinds of
comparisons, tempered with professional judgement and experience, that
constitute the most appropriate use of these assessment results.
PAGENO="0297"
293
NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS / National Assessment Information
READING
National Assessment has found that, nationwide, an estimated 50, 000
more 9-year-oids were able to respond correctly to a typical reading item
in 1975 than in 1971.
Moreover, National Assessment found that the average percentage of
black 9-year-olde answering reading items correctly increased 4.8 percentage
points, while the average reading performance of white 9-year-olds increased
by 1.2 percentage points. However, even with the greater increase in reading.
skills, black children are still 13 percentage points below their white
counterparts in overall reading levels.
In the Southeast, the gap between black and white 9-year-olds'
performance narrowed, with blacks gaining 7.7 percentage points from
1971 to 1975. The difference in achievement between whites in the
Southeast and whites in the rest of the nation stayed much the same.
For the two teenage groups assessed, 13- and 17-year-olds performed
at about the same levels in both 1971 and 1975.. Some exceptions in
1975:
The gap between teenage Southeastern blacks and whites narrowed.
In the rest of the nation, reading skills of 13- and 17-
year-old blacks declined,
Whites in the Southeast improved slightly; achievements
of whites in the rest of the country remained about the
same.
More 17-year-olds in 1975 were able to read basic, everyday
items such as a telephone bill or instructions on a can of
pet food,
Other results:
While students in the Southeast are still performing below
the national level, the Southeast 9-year-olds show significant
gains in reading skills,
As a group, girls continue to read better than boys at all
age levels.
National Assessment studied the achievements of more than 63,000
students -- ages 9, 13 and 17 - in each of two reading assessments,
Nationwide, 17-year-old students have improved in the basic reading
skills needed to function in today `s world. However -- among these same
17-year-ol.ds - over 21% of the students from the disadvantaged urban
areas of our country, nearly 42% of the students who are black and 20%
of the students from the Southeast are still functionally illiterate.
(ea,,tiaeed)
1860 Lincoln St., Denver, Cob. 80295 . National Assesnment . (303) 893~5200
PAGENO="0298"
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READING (continued)
The National Assessment survey, made for the Right to Read program
of the U.S. Office of Education, compared the functional reading performance
of 17-year-old students in 1971, 1974 and 1975. From 1971 to 1975 there was:
* An average gain of more than 2 percentage points on such basic reading
items as street signs, store coupons and telephone directories.
* A gain of almost 5 percentage points by black students; white students
gained 2 percentage points over the same period.
A gain by students living in low-income urban areas of nearly 5 per-
centage points, while those from the affluent urban areas showed no
gain.
A gain by students in the Southeast of over 3 percentage points, while
students from the Northeast showed no gain. Students in the West gained
almost 3 percentage points; those from the Central part of the country
gained about 2 percentage points.
Being functionally literate is defined by Right to Read as "being able to
perform tasks necessary to function in American society, such as reading news-
papers, instructions and even ~ license tests." The National Assessment
study included only those types of reading material considered to be at the
functional literacy level. Over 4,200 students across the country were sur-
veyed in each assessment.
The Right to Read program determined that 17-year-old students should be
able to answer at least 75% of the questions in the assessment correctly (give
correct answers to 64 out of the 86 questions). Any student passing this
criterion could reasonably be considered functionally literate.
Using this as a guide, about 87% of the 17-year-old students are functionally
literate. Among the four geographic regions of the nation, the percentage of
literacy ranges from almost 91% in the Central region to 80% in the Southeast.
Among white 17-year-old students, almost 92% reached the Right to Read criterion,
contrasted with a little more than 58% of the blacks. Ninety-five percent of the
urban-fringe students achieved the functional literacy criterion, while only
slightly more than 78% of those from the disadvantaged urban areas did so.
Fi,,teondingc.cno.en~ont: 1971
Socond c-ending ussonn,nont: 1975
Thic-d c-coding o,ooos,nont: ochodnilod 1980
Fic-st functiunnl litoc-nuc- esocconnent: 1974
Socond functionul litoc-ucy uc,cun,nont: 1975
Thic-d fonctionul litoc-osy csnunn,nont: ponding
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295
WRITING
In a survey of writing skills taken first in 1970 and repeated in 1974,
National Assessment found that, in 1974, students aged 13 and 17 used a simpler
vocabulary, wrote in a shorter, "primer-like" style and had more incoherent
paragraphs than their counter-parts in school four years earlier. Only the
9-year-aide' papers showed an improvement, with the proportion of good writers
ri~sing in 1974.
The writing assessment, which involved 80,000 students, included essay-
type questions of three age levels -- 9- and 13-year-olds and 17-year-olds who
were still in school. The writing of l7-year-olds, nearing high school
graduation, declined in quality between the two assessments. The 1974 students
showed an increase in awkwardness and run-on sentences and a tendency to write
as they would speak.
Writing performance for l3-year-olds also declined. On the average, the
1974 essays were shorter, less sophisticated in expression and more awkwardly
written than the 1970 essays
Researchers were optimistic with the new data that showed 9'-year~-olds
improving slightly over the four-year span. And there was a feeling that the
mechanics of writing - punctuation, capitalization, verb agreement, spelling -
"seem to be well in hand."
What did concern educators and the public was the decline in coherency
in teenagers' writing. Speculation as to reasons for the decline frequently
singled out society itself: the influence of TV and advertising language
and its abbreviated, fragmented sentences, together with continuity sensed
visually rather than through writing. Textbooks anh teachers, some writing
experts said, are not keeping up with the language of their students.
Another speculation was the fact that there just isn't the need to
communicate through the written word: the telephone is quicker and easier
than writing a letter.
The best way to reverse the decline, language experts generally agreed,
lies in "teaching writing by making kids write" and "by having more skilled
teachers of writing" to juggle the incongruities of what is in textbooks and
what youths read in everyday life.
In 1974, females were still writing better essays than males at all
three ages. In the 9-year-old group, the writing performance of both males
and females improved. At the 13-year-old level, both males and females
declined in writing abilities, with males declining further than females in
performance. At age 17 the female decline was greater than that of the
males, but "sh~" was still writing better than "he" in 1974.
Ffrstw~iti,,g,,,,s,s,,,,,t: 1970
~ 1974
Thi,d ~ ~ ~ 1979
1880 Lincoln St., Denver, Cola. 80295 . National Aseesament . (303) 893-5200
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MATH EMATI Cs
National Assessment's mathematics survey,conducted during the 1972-73
school year, involved more than 90,000 students ages 9, 13 and 17 and young
adults 26-35. The math items required skills ranging from basic computational
ability to knowledge of trigonometry and practical "consumer' problems.
Results show that the majority of 17-year-olds and young adults have mastered
the fundamentals of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division when
presented as conrputational exercises. But when it comes to applying these
basic skills in everyday situations, these same young Americans flounder:
Less than one-half of the 17-year-olds and adults could successfully
determine the most economical size of a product.
Only 10 percent of the 17-year-olds and 20 percent of,the adults could
correctly calculate a taxi fare.
Only 1 percent of the l7-year-olds and 16 percent of the adults could
balance a checkbook.
45 percent of the young adults could not read a federal income tax
table correctly.
There is a difference between the sexes in consumer-mathematics skills.
It is usually assumed that women do a major part of the buying, but males
consistently outperform females on exercises involving buying and household
situations. . .and females also show a drop in consumer math skills as they
grow older.
The NAEP survey indicates that the nation's youthful consumer has difficulty
with any form of mental arithmetic. All age levels score low on the ability
to estimate or approximate whether an answer is reasonable -- a skill that is
considered vital for consumer survival.
Adults have greater trouble with multiplication problems than do 13-
and 17-year-olds, and they also fall below l7-year-olds' performance
in working with decimals.
Whites perform 3 to 4 percentage points above the national level,
while blacks are 14 to 21 points below.
Young people from the lower-socioeconomic areas perform 10-16 percentage
points below the national level; those from affluent areas are from 6-8
percentage points above,
The Northeast is above the national level at all ages; the Southeast is
about 6 percentage points below; the Central and West areas are split:
at the school-age levels, individuals in Central regions are a point
* or two above the nation, while those in the West are slightly below.
Adults in both regions perform above the national level.
Fj~t ~eethe,e,etk~ esse,sneet: 1973
Se~oed nethenetirs eoeeoeent: eehedoled 1978
1860 Lincoln St., Denver, Cole. 80295 . National Assessment . (303) 893-5200
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SCIENCE
Science knowledge in America's schools is declining.
National Assessment officials questioned 90,000 students, ages 9, 13 and 17,
about biology, chendstry, physics and other science-related topics. Study results
were collected during the 1969-70 and 1972-73 school years, then compared.
Based on the estimated 3½ million school-age students represented by the groups
tested, the results show that:
Approximately 65,000 fewer 9-year-olds nationally could answer a
typical science question correctly in 1973 than they could in 1970.
* Approximately 70,000 fewer l3-year-olds could respond acceptably to
a typical science question in 1973 than in 1970.
Approximately 80,000 fewer l7-year-olds could answer the survey
questions correctly in 1973 than in 1970.
Other findings of the NItEP science assessment:
At age 17, big-city students show the greatest decline, dropping
from just above the national average to 2 percent below.
Inner-city areas are well below the nation and are not improving.
Suburban students at all three age levels perform above the national
level, although their rate of performance is declining at the same
rate as the nation's.
* Males and females decline at all three age levels in answering
typical science questions. The performance of 9-year'-old boys is
2-3 percent above that of girls, 13-year-old boys perform 4 per-
cent above girls, and at age 17 the average male outperforms the
average female by 6 percent,
The percentage of rural students who could answer a typical science
question increased at all three age levels, a trend that, if it
continues, could bring rural students up to the national average
by 1983.
In a study of regional trends in science achievement for students
aged 9, 13, and 17, National Assessment found that between 1970 and 1973
declines in science achievement were smaller in the Southeast -- an area
which was undergoing major desegregation -- than in the rest of the country.
During that period, science achievement in the South did not decline
as much as it did in the rest of the nation. In fact, the science knowledge
of black students in elementary school (age 9) actually improved.
(eeotieeed)
1860 Lincoln St., Denver, Cob. 80295 . National Asaesament . (303) 893~52O0
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298
SCIENCE (continued)
The data also revealed that although Southeastern 13- and 17-year-old
blacks' science skills had declined during those four years, the declines
were less than were declines of black teenagers elsewhere in the nati~on.
Student performance in the northeastern, central and western areas
of the country all declined between 1970 and 1973. Except at age 9, the
western level of performance declined the most, about 3. 5 percent.
How well are today's public schools -- and society, in general --
equipping ~ voters to deal with the many environmental issues
that are appearing on the ballot?
National Assessment has found that, on the average, one-third of
the nation's 17-year-olds and young adults aged 26 to 35 could not answer
simple cause-and-effect questions about the environment. Thirteen-year-
olds did even more poorly: only half could answer a typical ecology
question.
A major shift in science education has taken place over the past
20 years. New science curricula emphasize an "inquiry approach,"
utilizing scientific apparatus and laboratory techniques and procedures
as learning devices.
National Assessment assessed the abilities of 9-, 13- and 17-year-old
students to use the inquiry skills stressed in the "new" science. Some
findings:
There is a wide gap between the ability of students to demonstrate
procedures and their ability to successfully explain these procedures.
At all three age levels, the percentage of students able to do things
is much greater than the percentage of students able to explain how,
why or what they are doing.
Blacks and females almost always demonstrate scientific abilities
below the national median.
Fust science ussessotcut: 1970
Second science sosessotont: 1973
Thied science cnsessnscnt: 1977
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CAREER DEVELOPMENT
According to results of National Assessment's 1974 survey of career and
occupational development (COD), 44% of American 17-year-aids desire a profes-
sional career while census figures indicate that only 20-25% of currently
etisting jobs are professional or managerial.
The COD study involved some 100,000 individuals at age 9, 13, 17 and
young adults, 26-35. The survey sought to determine the extent to which
young Americans have the abilities to make wise and informed choices for entry
into the labor force.
For the assessment, career development was defined as accurate self-
evaluation, thoughtful career planning, realistic attitudes toward work,
employment-seeking skills, effective work habits and those skills, such as
computation and writing, that were judged to be basic for a wide variety of
jobs.
National Assessment found that:
One-third of the adults and more than half the 17-year-olds had
difficulty writing a job application and figuring a finance charge.
More than 80% of the 13- and 17-year-olds had had some paid experience.
Less than half the 17-year-olds had taken an aptitude test and only
16% had discussed the results with a counselor.
Those with the least education and lowest income were also the ones
most lacking the skills necessary to improve their condition.
Only 54% of the 17-year-olds could correctly answer five questions
about the amount of training needed for a specific, commonplace job.
Nearly three-fourths'of the 17-year-olds and more than half the 13-
year-olds could name two places to find information about jobs,
More than half of the adults said they had taken some kind of continuing
education and those who had taken such courses generally performed better than
those who did not. Ironically, those who had not graduated from high school
and who theoretically had the most to gain from adult education or on-the-job
training, were the least likely to have had either.
At all ages, males did better than females on computation-measurement
questions and females showed greater ability on written communication skills,
The male-female difference on computation-measurement was distinctly larger
for adults than for the other three ages assessed.
N~ti~~~l ~ ~,iIl shill, s~d sUit~d,s sgsi~ is 1980. Bn~saae ss~ssr edocatios oss jest b~gissstisg to oppeo is
sohool, is the tony 1970o, the 1974 oososs,stst soul tests bestehesoth ogoisot ohith tht psogneas of tosoyn edoyotios too be
oaenetL
1860 Lincoln St., Denver, Cob. 80295 . National Assessment . (303) 893-5200
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300
BY AGE GROUPS
What do today `s students know. . . and what can they do?
9-year-olds have learned many things in their first few years of schooling such as
the basic reading and writing skills.
13-year-olds can read, write, add, subtract, divide and multiply -- if told to do
so. But they don't, by themselves, use these skills in order to solve everyday
problems.
17-year-olds have mastered the basic skills and know many specific facts in all
school subjects, but they have difficulty organizing and applying their skills and
knowledge.
Some of the highlights from a study by National Assessment that summarizes results
from all previous assessments to develop a profile of each age group:
NAEP found that 9-year-olds can read simple stories and write letters to their friends,
and they know a variety of subject-matter facts. They are tolerant of people `s cultural
differences and believe in an orderly society. Over the last seven years, the reading and
writing skills of 9-year-olds have improved.
Many 9-year-olds (more than two-thirds) can: Some (approximately 33% to 67%):
Can add a series of three- and four-digit
numbers.
Can subtract two-digit numbers.
Can do single-digit multiplication word
problems.
Believe that every person's vote should
count equally in an election.
Understand that the federal, state and
local governments have different functions.
Understand taxation and credit buying.
Know that there are 50 states in the nation.
But few (less than one-third):
Can subtract three- and four digit . Understand detailed written instructions.
numbers. . Can organize and elaborate ideas in
Can do multiplication and division writing.
or understand fractions.
Know the head of a state is called
a governor. (~ti~d)
Tell time.
Add two-digit numbers.
Tell the difference between even
and odd numbers.
Name the President and generally
know how he is chosen.
Read and comprehend literal facts
in simple, brief stories.
Write without making punctuation
or word choice errors.
1860 Liscsls St., Desver, Cats. 80285 Natiosal Asseamest (303) 893-5200
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* Can add, subtract, multiply and
divide whole numbers.
* Can make change.
* Underatand basic facts about the
solar system and universe.
* Know the functions of the major
parts of the body.
* Have had paying jobs.
Understand the basic functions of
the court system.
Can use basic reference materials.
But few l3-year-olds:
Can organize and elaborate on
ideas in writing.
* Understand the structure and
function of the legislative
branch of government.
Understand and compute with fractions
and work word problems.
Can manipulate algebraic expressions.
Understand basic nutrition.
Understand specific facts about the
earth.
Can read and understand detailed
instructions.
* . Understand the basic principles of
economics.
Know very much about the atom.
Can add, subtract, multiply and
divide whole numbers and decimals.
Can multiply fractions.
Can solve simple word problems
requiring multiplication.
Understand some facts about
nutrition, illness and disease.
Understand materials such as
newspaper ads and telephone bills.
But few l7-year-olds:
Can calculate the area of a
square given its perimeter.
Can simplify algebraic expressions.
Can convert Fahrenheit to
Centigrade given the conversion
formula.
Some 17-year-olds:
Know about human reproduction.
Can convert decimals to common
fractions.
Can organize and elaborate ideas In
writing.
Can make inferences after reading a
long paragraph.
Can add fractions.
Know the functions of the legisla-
tive branch of government.
Have discussed aptitude test results
with counselors.
Can write excellent unified and
focused essays.
301
BY AGE GROUPS (~fi~d)
Thirteen-year-olds have the skills and knowledge necessary to accomplish routine
tasks at home and at school. They have developed come study skills and know a variety
of useful facts; however, the idea that they could use these skills and knowledge to
make their daily lives more interesting and productive is not always obvious to them.
Many l3-year-olds: Some 13-yesr-olds:
Seventeen-year-olds have some knowledge of the world of work, have thought about their
futures and know what attitudes and behaviors are empected of them in our society. They
know a number of facts about our government and legal system and know a number of specific
scientific facts. They hare difficulty reading long passages and hare limited vocabularies
in writing. They can read, write and compute in well-structured situations, but they hare
difficulty applying their knowledge to new situations. Indications are that 17-year-olds'
knowledge levels have slipped slightly over the past seven years.
Many l7-year-olds;
95-038 0 - 77 - 20
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302
CITIZENSHIP BICENTENNIAL
SURVEY
According to a special Bicentennial survey given to 13- and l7-year-olds,
National Assessment found that just over half of the nation's 17-year-old students
know that each state has two U.S. senators and that the number of U. S. representatives
from each state is determined by the state's population. Only about 50% of both
the 13- and 17-year-dde know that the President cannot cippoint people to Congress.
Even in light of recent political history 14% of the 17-year-dde and
12% of the 13-year-olds think the President of the United States does
not always have to obey the lows of the land. In fact, the students
place Army generals and the President on about the same level: 12%
of the 17-year-olds and 13% of the 13-year-olds think that Army generals
don't always have to obey the law.
When asked whether Congress or the President has the right to stop radio,
television or newspapers from criticizing government operations, over
80% of the l7-year-olds and over 70% of the l3.-year~-olds recognize that
such an act is against the rights of a free press.
32% of the 17-year-old students do not think it is important to vote in
all elections nor is it necessary to vote if it appears that the candidate
of their choice isn't going to win.
Half the 13'-year-olds think it is against the law to start a new political
party, and few of the students at either age know what steps Congress is
empowered to take to stop a president from fighting a war without congressional
approval.
When asked whether getting a job should depend on one `s sex, race) political
opinion, religion or abilities and skills, nearly all students agree that the
determining factor should be one's abilities and skills. However, when asked:
"If you saw several students fighting in the hallway, what would you do?" only
37% of the l7-year-olds say they would either look for someone in authority or
try to stop the fight themselves.
The National Assessment findings are from a select portion of a major
assessment in citizenship and social studies to be released in late-l977. The
Bicentennial survey was given to 5,000 students during the 1976 spring school
semester.
The lowest scores for each age group are in response to the question:
"Suppose the President sends troops to another country to fight. What action
can the Congress take to stop U.S. participation in the fighting?" The fact
that Congress can exercise its power of the purse by refusing to provide money
for further military action is known by only 16% of the l3-year-olds and 22%
of the 17-year-olds.
~ 1970
~ ~ 1972
S,c,~d ~ sCdi~s ~ (~o~b9~~d): 1976 (R~s~ilt. t~ b~ ~ l~t~ 1977.)
1860 Lincoln St., Denver, Cob. 80295 . National Assessment . (303) 893-5200
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303
3t~JOdu;R~, e~v,ces
2) 535-3968
July 16, 1977
Senator Claireborne Pell
Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20001
Dear Senator Pell:
According to a recent article appearing in the July 16 edition of the Minneapolis Star
concerning a Federal test for highschool students, featuring Ms. Mary F. Berry, you are
quite in favor of Federal competency exams. I could not agree with you more, because
I am a former educator who became quite disgusted with education and teaching and quit
to enter industry where I am now a machine design engineer. One of the main reasons for
quitting was the mistaken notion on the part of schools and their administrators and counselors
who erroneious believed that people going on to vocational schools to learn a skilled trade,
do not have to perform well in such academic skills as high reading ability, algebra, physics
and other academic topics. The truth of the matter is that industry is crying for people who
are competent in those skills.
In fact, I am currently working with several industries in the Twin Cities, who want me
to develop some instructional programs for them to use in training their own competent
people. The reason is that the highschools are turning out a product whith very little on
which to base a good vocational program and become valuable to industry, with 5ilable
skills. They are disencharted wven with the vocational schools themselves because they
are not insisting on the right levels of skills that are of value to industry. However, unless
the secondary schools turn out people with adequate basic academic skills, the vocational
schools can hardly turn out qualified people.
I do know from experience that a machinist, draftsmen, welders, mechanics---virtually
all skilled t5radesmen need adequate functional reading skills, and it is suggested that
such tests reflect the functional level as it applies to an individual brcoming a productive
member of society.
I have already had some communication with Senator Humphrey on the matter, and I have
already appeared before the Minnesota Sentae education sub-committee, as indicated by
the attached article from the Minneapolis Star. I will be looking forward to your reply.
Sjiibe ly,
Richard Becker CC: 1 file
IMPS 1 Sen. Hubert Humphrey
6425 Marlin Drive 1 Hyman Rickover
Brooklyn Center, MN 55429 1 Mary F. Berry
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304
f the end of
- ~ ti ~ s~rond Mc~le stated t1 t
-~ the article, Mi `b ~± manic'1 S in
~ h d Sb n the sc'1 ~ teqt ed n tt~c1
r s-tree princi-
5t cdi of ~ I l~n ~ue~~n
pies `lie rhead 1roJCrtiO trans
pares CiLs taken frofl~Lfii0~t0os
`t~ ~ I P J wi oh s a corn On
~ndu5triai standards -h aSu'l the ttbibiC"
In the preface of ~t0states~h1at it IS
of the nachine trades t~t Mcli anic 1 engin
"A reference book for d btachinist5"
~ ByMIttEMcCM~,.. eer, Draft5m~ ~oo1mak- all of the basic
~ Star _taf biter The book contaiflS knot" 00 virtual'l-Y
a Readiag. writir.g and arithmetic informati on they d t whether toOls,
~`~th evcr~tS i'~g used in ~ i cipies s~ ecif i-
C ii materiai5 ech,nn ~ W~~1 ers shafts
cations on threads, `over 2 000 pages.
I and mud more dOh ~. ~ idu is ork-
I F C ~ is ~ familiar ~ this
p list ts~seit-5r at Arabs Suvior High ing in the trades b~co tion because they
hOO5~ out 01 30 students valuable source of inform refercflce when
~ from Uob Genes W My Vat- ~jll be expecte~ o And, unless the mi-
Ssy," a public broadcasting series ever the need an dog ability and a good
appearing on RICA-TV. vidual bias a good rea~h ~~ckgroufld, that
MRS. CAKEd said (bet in Sop- a; ~ nre is going to b
mbe 95 ~ ~ ft MA ~Y CHILDS \ ~ re 1° \ ~
- , ~ c- ~i~t -.
- th p t t w is going to be of lit e
upelliep is 0 lost art," ohs said. entertained. Too snuck TV is a value to an employ er.
`Punctuation is a eIOsicry. t real problem" t has been said
takes weeks of grvvvalwork e' RisbardBcclner, afcnswrindss- , ~ 1~5 that
- -- -.-- ~ tel-I enr--atioe ` by some e uc
3 1 t ~ v only Soreflen and super
yeas t-i2btt" teachers end adintanratorn as- ` ors need the basic
* Nine valuators coat parents seroeocaaosr!susaetsf~lot V , to use that
- were subtialt-ci to tietits' blots P~trtdt' he able to eadTtTi. skills a - not-
th It I v - Id refere e-e Sue' i
I I - the case- gesides moe'
* aclties'n,uet it tile sct,oots. ~ h-sc a,eastecI~fleIlinjIlo3e e -, attain their
m II gh I )ht ~ o~wion by promo ion
p p 1 0 7TTJJ T ~rom ithit And this
I y ~- T~_ romotion is ~ en only
p ~ of when as indit3-'~ 1 de on
Joel S~cttas the 4th-prude curly childhood edecatisa at the strates excepti~n~
teocher solo seas fired Onli theta University of Minnesota, suggest- led e and capabilitY S i
rehired by the Aeoka'tteenepiu ed that elvoeniur,- siedenis are come front the
School Board after hr s-sos ac~ being educated "itisaid- down." can on y usi his `j,~~o1
cusad c-f abaistt his otetdvil-. said Instead 51 se much eusplasia at an ref ei'Cnde m ` t on
* teachars do rut have 500511 time early age en readeip, he said, Tine only cOnn -
- to specst with individual sin- store time should he spent or' ,~` - t the handbook has
dents. probtee.su lying and inquiry. lie - , t - onal edttcatDn
He atsu vuict liar curricnlaes said the cun-leulnos in curly years , with ~`0C' , - `tors
* Iron large for teachers to du en should he hroustsned In include is that the ins d
adequate oh. and hat cleans sines sciences and social studies. c cotne from industrY at~s -
ore geuernlly too large. -- - - they know fronl cXI)eIienc
as to what skills.are re-
A - result the handbo0~ S -
quired for suede55 in the g d11 be expectcd to turn to it ot
requir~ purchas°~ 3td
the informaton he needs.
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305
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