No answer. Distribution of scores. Individual student report cards. Aid given in use of test results? Yes No.. No answer Methods used: Informational bulletins. Workshops.. Consultations.. Where level and test are appropriate, may all public schools participate? Where level and test are appropriate, must all public schools participate? Yes.. No.. Who selects test(s) used? State Department of Education.. 10 Statewide committee. Agency other than State department conducting program. Who purchases (or constructs) and distributes tests? State Department of Education_ 10 Agency other than State department conducting program. Socring services provided? Yes... No.. 336 12 98049-58-pt. 3 State testing programs sponsored, or sponsored and conducted, by State colleges and universities as reported in replies to questionnaires sent by ETS on Jan. 30, 1958 1 Cosponsored with a State department of education and listed in preceding table. Scholastic ability, achieve. ment. Interests. No answer Methods used: Informational bulletins. Workshops.. Consultations. Where level and test are appropriate, may all public schools participate? Yes.. Where level and test are appropriate, must all public schools participate? Yes.. No. SUMMARIZED HIGHLIGHTS AROUT STATEWIDE TESTING PROGRAMS (31 programs representing the work of 24 State agencies in 17 States and 2 Territories) Sponsorship and administration: Programs sponsored and conducted by State departments of education. Time of year program is given: Fall. Winter. Various times. Grade 8 or higher. Programs 11 1 19 9484 6 Grade 7 or higher. Grades 11 and 12.. Grade 6 or lower.. Two of these programs are cosponsored by State departments of education. 2 "it is known that a number of State testing programs were begun as programs for high-school seniors and were only gradually extended downward as the guidance values of testing at the lower grade level became more apparent." (Traxler, A. E., The Status of Statewide Testing Programs, p. 88.) Testing services reported by 32 State departments of education and 23 State colleges and universities Testing services reported by 32 State departments of education and 23 State colleges and universities—Continued C. LOAN, RENTAL, OR SALE OF TEST MATERIALS (Thirty agencies reported that they provided this service. However, 8 of these agencies provided test materials only for testing programs and 4 other agencies reported inadequately or indicated limited service of this nature. For these reasons only the 18 remaining reports are tallied below.) (An article from the April 1958 issue of the NEA Journal entitled "How Tests Help Us Identify the Academically Talented." The article is adapted from an address by Dr. Henry Chauncey, president of the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N. J., at the Conference on the Academically Talented sponsored in February of 1958 by the National Education Association :) There are many kinds of tests with many purposes and uses, but in this article, I am going to focus on the kinds of tests which have proved most practical and effective for widespread use in identification of academic talent. Such tests, whether labeled "intelligence," "aptitude," or "ability," consist usually of two chief components, generally called verbal or linguistic, on the one hand, and quantitative or mathematical, on the other. These two components do not measure all of the dimensions of academic talent, but what they do measure seems clearly and consistently related to academic achievement. The verbal element is likely to involve word meaning, reading comprehension, analogy, sentence completion, and the like. The quantitative element most frequently involves numerical computations. Now, what do such verbal and mathematical tests measure? Do they, dependent as they obviously are on learning and environmental influence, pretend to measure innate intelligence? The answer is “No.” To avoid any such implication, I prefer to speak of testing "developed ability." Whenever we test a student, we are dealing with him as he is a product of certain interactions between his heredity and his environment. So far, it has proved impossible to isolate and measure separately these hereditary and environmental influences. |