Student Testing: Current Extent and Expenditures, With Cost Estimates for a National Examination
PEMD-93-8
Published: Jan 13, 1993. Publicly Released: Jan 13, 1993.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed standardized school testing, focusing on: (1) its current nature, extent, and cost; and (2) how a new national test would affect those factors.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| If Congress wishes to build support for a national examination system among teachers and state and local administrators, it should consider specific ways to encourage their involvement in the process of curriculum development, standard-setting, and test development, administration, and scoring. This would improve the likelihood of success of a national system as local teachers and administrators should be an integral part of any test administration. |
Closed – Not Implemented
|
Congress no longer envisions a national examination. Instead, P.L. 103-227 (Goals 2000: Educate America Act) and the pending Chapter 1 compensatory education program reauthorization bills encourage each state to develop assessments aligned to its own standards for content and student performance. The recommendation is thus moot. |
| If Congress wishes to encourage the development of a well-accepted and widely used national examination system, it should consider means for ensuring the technical quality of the tests. |
Closed – Not Implemented
|
Congress is no longer considering establishing a national examination system. The Goals 2000: Educate America Act (P.L. 103-227), which encourages the states to develop assessments, provides for review and certification of such assessments by a national panel at a state's request. |
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Education or training costsEducation program evaluationEducational standardsEducational testingPublic schoolslocal relationsStudentsTeachersSurveysMass media