Testing

Many states use "out of level" testing—the administration of a test at a lower grade level than the one in which a student is enrolled—as a way of including all students in statewide testing programs. A study by researchers Martha L. Thurlow and Jane E. Minnema suggests, however, that political pressures may drive such practices, rather than research findings.

Federal law requires states to involve all students, including those with disabilities, in their testing programs. As of September 2000, 12 states permitted out-of-level testing as one way to comply with the law: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia.

But the researchers, with the National Center on Educational Outcomes at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, found little...