ABSTRACT
Large-scale assessments (LSA) "provide information about the [educational] attainment of individual students, as well as comparative information about how one individual performs relative to others" (National Research Council, 2001, pp. 38-39). Increasingly in the United States, LSA comprise state or district tests used to measure student and school performance against established standards and also to hold schools accountable for ensuring student learning (Almond, Lehr, Thurlow, & Quenemoen, 2002). The comparative nature of LSA demands "sameness" of administration and score reporting.
