Frequent and systematic monitoring of students' progress helps students, parents, teachers, administrators, and policymakers identify strengths and weaknesses in learning and instruction. They use various means, including essays, quizzes and tests, homework, classroom ques- tions, standardized tests, and parents' comments. Teachers can use student errors on tests and in class as early warning signals to point out and correct learning problems before they worsen. Student motivation and achievement improve when teachers provide prompt feedback on assignments.
Standardized tests apply similar gauges to everyone in a specific grade level.
By giving standardized tests, school districts can see how achievement progresses over time. Such tests also help schools find out how much of the curriculum is actually being learned. Standardized tests can also reveal problems in the curriculum itself. For example, a recent inter national mathematics test showed that U.S. students had encountered only 70 percent of what the test cov- ered. Freeman, D. J., et al.