Assessments--Federal Style

By Ralph Levine

I went downstairs to the budget office last week to ask Jaya something. "She will be back this afternoon,'' I was told. "She had to go to San Francisco to take her test to become a naturalized citizen.''

That afternoon when I saw her, Jaya asked me if I wanted to know the questions that she had been asked. Since the federal government is considering urging states and others to develop performance-based assessments, I thought it would be interesting to see what the federal government itself uses to gauge achievement of national standards.

The government has never been known for examinations that test thinking processes. The selective-service exam comes to mind--but then, maybe we don't want our soldiers to think. Civil-service exams are another example, but there again, maybe...