State testing programs have a long history. New York State administered its first Regents' Examinations as early as 1865. Several other state programs had their beginnings in the 1920s, when new forms of achievement examinations–objective tests–were developed for and introduced in the schools. In 1937 representatives from fifteen state programs and nonprofit testing agencies met, under the leadership of the American Council on Education's Committee on Measurement and Guidance, to discuss common problems. The group continued to meet annually, except during World War II, for decades.
In 1957 President Dwight D. Eisenhower called attention to state testing programs when he indicated the need for nationwide testing of high school students and a system of incentives for qualified students to pursue scientific or professional careers. The subsequent passage of the National Defense Education Act of 1958 (NDEA) not only encouraged but gave financial support to testing, guidance, and scholarship programs.
The growth in number and importance of state testing programs accelerated rapidly in the 1970s and has continued to grow ever since. The growth in the 1970s reflected, at least in part, the enhanced role of states in education policy. In the academic year 1969–1970, the majority–53 percent–of the funding for schools came from local agencies; states contributed 39 percent and the federal government provided 8 percent. A decade later, however, the state share of education funding had increased to 47 percent, and state governments became the dominant source of funding for schools.
With that increased responsibility came demands for some form of accountability for results, and that meant state tests to determine if students were learning. At the same time, there was growing concern among public officials and the public about the quality of schools, fueled in part by the revelation that average scores on the SAT declined between 1963 and 1977. In response to these concerns, and the interest in accountability, a majority of states in the 1970s implemented some form of minimum competency test, which students were required to pass in order to graduate from high school. The number of states conducting such tests rose from a handful in 1975 to thirty-three in 1985.
The wave of state education reforms enacted following the publication in 1983 of A Nation at Risk, the report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, further accelerated the growth in state testing. That report, which warned of a "rising tide of mediocrity" in America's schools, recommended that states adopt achievement tests to measure student performance, and many states responded to the call. By the end of the 1980s, forty-seven states were operating at least one testing program, up from thirty-nine in 1984.
This growth continued throughout the 1990s as well. The dominant role of states in education policy was symbolized near the beginning of that decade, when President George H. W. Bush called the nation's governors to an extraordinary "education summit" in Charlottesville, Virginia. In the wake of that meeting, the President and the governors agreed to a set of national education goals, which included the pledge that all students would be "competent in challenging subject matter" by the year 2000. The goals were enshrined into federal law in 1994; that same year, President Bill Clinton signed the Improving America's Schools Act, which required states to set challenging standards for student performance and implement tests that measure student performance against the standards. In response to the law, nearly all states revamped their existing tests or developed new tests, and as of 2001, all states except Iowa (where local school districts administer tests) had a statewide testing program; by one estimate, the amount spent by states on testing doubled, to $410 million, between 1996 and 2001.
The No Child Left Behind Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2002, requires a significant increase in state testing. Under the law, states must administer annual reading and mathematics tests in grades three through eight, tests in science in at least three grade levels, and tests at the high school level. At the time of enactment, only nine states met the law's requirements for annual tests in reading and mathematics aligned to state standards.
Types of Tests
Although most state tests consist primarily of multiple-choice questions, there is considerable variation among the states. Thirty-four states include some short-answer questions in at least some of their tests, requiring students to write answers rather than select from among answers already provided, and eighteen states include questions requiring extended responses in subjects other than English language arts. (Nearly all states administer writing tests that ask for extended responses.) Two states, Kentucky and Vermont, assess student performance in writing through the use of portfolios, which collect students' classroom work during the course of a school year. The portfolios are scored by teachers, using common criteria.
The Maryland state test, the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP), is unusual in that it consists exclusively of open-ended questions. Students work in groups for part of the assessment, and many of the questions are interdisciplinary, requiring students to apply knowledge from English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. In addition, the test is designed so that individual students take only a third of the complete assessment; as a result, scores are reported for schools, school districts, and the state, but not for individual students
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlecoop.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites