Academic achievement can be defined as learned proficiency in basic skills and content knowledge. Documentation of achievement is an issue that has seen increasing concern among educators, policy makers, and the general public in recent decades and has been the driving force behind legislative and policy development in education since the turn of the 20th century. Three aspects of academic achievement are addressed in this entry:

• 1.
  The format for collecting the observations, typically using academic achievement tests and measures
• 2.
  The types of referents or comparisons for making interpretations
• 3.
  The purposes of academic achievement testing and the process for making decisions

Each topic is described in detail and related to the larger concern of academic achievement in general using the recently adopted standards for educational and psychological ...