| As public policymakers continue to consider policies of mandated testing to drive instructional improvement in schools, issues of the utilization of assessment results and strategies for implementation command attention from practitioners. This study examined the responses of local districts as they apply to the science assessment contained within the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) during the years 1989-1992.;A random sample of eighty public elementary schools was drawn from data files of MEAP results secured from The Integrated Database on Michigan Education. Data were collected from the superintendent, the principal and the teachers of each school about the existence of a local policy statement in support of the state policy, the actions undertaken to implement the policy, including the use of assessment results, and the policy outcomes as they relate to the stated intention of the state policy: improvement of student achievement in science.;Using path analysis, the data were analyzed to determine the relationship between five independent variables and the dependent variable of student achievement on the MEAP. It was found that local districts were indeed responding to the state policy by adopting local policies in support and taking actions to improve student achievement. It was also found that socio-economic status is positively related to the amount of time spent in science instruction and to the level of student achievement, but has no relationship to the improvement in student achievement on the MEAP science assessment. Perhaps most importantly, the data reported by teachers indicate a weak positive relationship between the improvement actions taken, specifically a change in teaching behavior in response to the assessment, and an improvement in student achievement. |
