TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jacob,Brian A.
TI  - Test-Based Accountability and Student Achievement: An Investigation of Differential Performance on NAEP and State Assessments
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12817
PY  - 2007
Y2  - January 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12817
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12817.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Brian Jacob
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
University of Michigan
735 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Tel: 734-615-6994
Fax: NA
E-Mail: bajacob@umich.edu
AB  - This paper explores the phenomenon referred to as test score inflation, which occurs when achievement gains on "high-stakes" exams outpace improvements on "low-stakes" tests.  The first part of the paper documents the extent to which student performance trends on state assessments differ from those on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).  I find evidence of considerable test score inflation in several different states, including those with quite different state testing systems.  The second part of the paper is a case study of Texas that uses detailed item-level data from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) and the NAEP to explore why performance trends differed across these exams during the 1990s.  I find that the differential improvement on the TAAS cannot be explained by several important differences across the exams (e.g., the NAEP includes open-response items, many NAEP multiple-choice items require/permit the use of calculators, rulers, protractors or other manipulative).  I find that skill and format differences across exams explain the disproportionate improvement in the TAAS for fourth graders, although these differences cannot explain the time trends for eighth graders.
ER  -