ABSTRACT
This article reports on the consistency of the achievement-level classifications (below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced) established in 1999 for the South Carolina Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT; Huynh, Meyer, & Barton, 2000) of English language arts and mathematics. It also utilizes the PACT longitudinal data files of student records from 2000 to 2002 to assess the predictive nature of these classifications. It was found that the proportion of students who obtained a basic or higher level classification, which is considered passing, on the same subject at the next grade level was about 80% for students at the basic category and at 99% for 116the combined proficient and advanced category. For school accountability purposes, the original below basic category was split into a low category, below basic-1, and a high category, below basic-2. The passing proportion was 17% for below basic-1 students and about 43% for below basic-2 students. It was concluded that the PACT 1999 achievement categories fulfilled the function of identifying and characterizing students prepared for work at the next grade level as formulated in the policy definitions for these categories.
