Learning from the test: Improving the teaching of English language arts using systematic diagnosis of MCAS item -level information

State policies that include high-stakes examinations are becoming more and more common in the United States educational system. However, as these policies emerge in more and more states, our understanding of the consequences and the uses of those systems has not kept pace, particularly with regard to how the data gained from the results of these tests can be used in classrooms to improve student instruction. This dissertation explores the question of how useful high-stakes testing data are for teachers who wish to use them to improve instruction, and how well aligned these tests are to the state learning standards. Using student test-item response data to the 2001 English Language Arts (ELA) Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Examination (MCAS), and covariance analysis I tested the connection between the state English language arts learning standards and the items on the ELA MCAS examination. In addition, I tested whether an alternative framework for the ELA MCAS that was designed to be more easily taught by teachers to their struggling students fit the student item responses more closely than the state standards.;The key findings from this dissertation are that the current Massachusetts ELA learning standards are not an effective guide to help teachers prepare their struggling students to perform well on the ELA MCAS. In addition, I found that an alternative framework, that was designed to provide teachers important information to help improve instruction, explained student performance on the MCAS better than the state framework. Finally, since the alternative framework could be taught within the state's learning standards, a combination of the two approaches might be even more effective in helping to prepare struggling students to succeed on the ELA MCAS examination.;This study has implications for both practice and policy. Teachers and administrators may use information from this study in their classrooms to prepare their students for the ELA MCAS examination. For policymakers this dissertation may provide information about how to design examinations and testing policies in ways that more explicitly incorporate the need for teachers to ultimately use these data in their classrooms to improve their students' performance on these examinations.