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Why Money Matters for Improving Education

This article explore the relationship between per pupil spending and learning, particularly in developing countries that spend much lower levels in education than do OECD countries. Their findings suggest that, when education systems spend above $8,000, the association between student learning and per student spending is no longer statistically significant. Therefore, they find a threshold effect after this level of resources is met, indicating a declining relationship between resources and achievement at high levels of expenditure (consistent with other recent literature). There is a positive relationship between student learning and per pupil expenditure among the low-spending countries (below $8,000 per student), but a flat relationship among high-spending countries. 

 Vegas, E. (2016).Why Money Matters for Improving Education. Brooking Institutions. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2016/07/21/why-money-matters-for-improving-education/

A Project of the Saguaro Seminar: Closing the Opportunity Gap

As rich and poor families have increasingly moved into separate communities, the character of neighborhood life in the United States has changed. This paper attempt to outlined several concrete steps to reduce economic segregation, rebuild communities, and narrow the opportunity gap. 

Closing the Opportunity Gap. (2016). A Project of the Saguaro Seminar. Retrieved from https://theopportunitygap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/april25.pdf

State board's graduation fix falls woefully short

This article discuss about The State Board of Education advise to make changes to Ohio's new and more rigorous graduation requirements. This article show the conditions that the board ignore, and the problem lies in the other options recommended by the board. This article also give suggestion to create a tiered diploma system based on current graduation requirements. 

Aldis, C. L., Churchill, A. (2017). State board's graduation fix falls woefully short. Fordham Institute. Retrieved from https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/state-boards-graduation-fix-falls-woefully-short

Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2010

Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups examines the educational progress and challenges of students in the United States by race / ethnicity. This report shows that over time, the number of students of each race / ethnicity who have completed high school and continue their education in college have increased. Despite these gains, the rate of progress has varied, and differences persist among Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, American Indians / Alaska Natives and students of two or more races in their performance on key indicators of educational performance.

Aud, S. (2011). Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups (2010). DIANE Publishing.

Mapping State Proficiency Standards Onto the NAEP Scales: Results From the 2015 NAEP Reading and Mathematics Assessments

Standardized tests play a critical role in tracking and comparing K-12 student progress across time, student demographics, and governing bodies (states, cities, districts). One methodology is to benchmark the each state’s proficiency standards against those of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test.  This study does just that.  Using NAEP as a common yardstick allows a comparison of different state assessments. The results confirm the wide variation in proficiency standards across states.  It also documents that the significant majority of states have standards are much lower than those established by the NAEP.

Bandeira de Mello, V., Rahman, T., and Park, B.J. (2018). Mapping State Proficiency Standards Onto NAEP Scales: Results From the 2015 NAEP Reading and Mathematics Assessments (NCES 2018-159). U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC: Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.

Seeing Students Learn Science: Integrating Assessment and Instruction in the Classroom (2017)

Seeing Students Learn Science is a guidebook meant to help educators improve the way in which students learn science. The introduction of new science standards across the nation has led to the adoption of new curricula, instruction, and professional development to align with the new standards. This publication is designed as a resource for educators to adapt assessment to these changes. It includes examples of innovative assessment formats, ways to embed assessments in engaging classroom activities, and ideas for interpreting and using novel kinds of assessment information.

Beatty, A., Schweingruber, H., & National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2017). Seeing Students Learn Science: Integrating Assessment and Instruction in the Classroom. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Comparing Closed For-Profit Colleges to Public College Sector

This research compare for-profit college networks with the public sector. The author emphasize economic criteria for evaluating colleges and the need to consider many such criteria to make a valid comparison. In conclusion, public colleges are much cheaper than for-profit colleges. From a student perspective, this difference would have to be offset by a much superior performance of for-profit colleges to be advantageous. However, the evidence tends to point in the opposite direction. While ITT’s post-enrollment student earnings are comparable to those of many public colleges, on the whole the outcomes of public colleges appear to be better than those of the two closed for-profit networks of colleges.

Belfield, C. (2016). Comparing Closed For-Profit Colleges to Public College Sector. CAPSEE. Retrieved from https://capseecenter.org/comparing-closed-for-profit-colleges-to-public-college-sector/

What Does the Research Say About Testing?

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002 and its 2015 update, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), every third through eighth grader in U.S. public schools now takes tests calibrated to state standards, with the aggregate results made public. In a study of the nation’s largest urban school districts, students took an average of 112 standardized tests between pre-K and grade 12.

Berwick, C. (2019). What Does the Research Say About Testing? Marin County, CA: Edutopia.

Lessons from State Performance on NAEP: Why Some High-Poverty Students Score Better than Others

This research took a more historical look, examining NAEP data over the past decade to find connection between standard-based reform and student outcomes. The findings suggest that there is clear evidence that standards-based reform works, particularly when it comes to the needs of low-income students. The Common Core is the most recent major policy initiative to advance the broader standards-based reform approach. States should continue their commitment to the Common Core’s full implementation and aligned assessments.

Boser, U., & Brown, C. (2016). Lessons from State Performance on NAEP: Why Some High-Poverty Students Score Better than Others. Center for American Progress.

Educational Measurement

This fourth edition provides in-depth treatments of critical measurement topics, and the chapter authors are acknowledged experts in their respective fields. 

Brennan, R. L. (Ed.) (2006). Educational measurement (4th ed.)Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL)

C-SAIL was established in July 2015 as a resource on the implementation and effects of college and career readiness standards. The Center is funded through a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.

 

Edgerton, A. Polikoff, M., Desimone, L. (2017). How is policy affecting classroom instruction?. Evidence Speaks Reports. Volume 2, #14. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL).

Mathematics and science achievement of US fourth-and eighth-grade students in an international context (NCES 2013-009)

This paper is an appendix to the "Highlights From TIMSS 2011: Mathematics and Science Achievement of U.S. Fourth- and Eighth-Grade Students in an International Context" report. It contains the report's standard error tables (Contains 42 tables. TIMSS is used to compare over time the mathematics and science knowledge and skills of fourth- and eighth-graders. The results, therefore, suggest the degree to which students have learned mathematics and science concepts and skills likely to have been taught in school. 

from TIMSS, H. (2011). Mathematics and science achievement of US fourth-and eighth-grade students in an international context (NCES 2013-009). National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved fromhttp://files. eric. ed. gov/fulltext/ED537756. pdfReid, R., & Lienemann, TO (2006). Strategy Instruction for Students with LearningDisabilities. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED537757.pdf

Education secretary’s first task: Curb standardized tests.

Although recent data indicate that the learning losses this fall, compared with the same period last year, have not been as dire as predicted, those results likely mask high numbers of missing kids — children who lack technology for online learning or whose parents are unable to supervise their remote schooling.

Gabor, A. (2020, December 27). Education secretary’s first task: Curb standardized tests. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Radical recentering: Equity in educational leadership standards.

In this article, the authors put forth a new set of standards with equity at the core. They seek to advance the conversation about why standards centered on equity are needed—particularly in light of a proposed standards refresh—and what implications would follow from equity-focused standards.

 

Galloway, M. K., & Ishimaru, A. M. (2015). Radical recentering: Equity in educational leadership standards. Educational Administration Quarterly51(3), 372–408.

Teacher prep review: A review of the nation’s teacher preparation programs

We strived to apply the standards uniformly to all the nation’s teacher preparation programs as part of our effort to bring as much transparency as possible to the way America’s teachers are prepared. In collecting information for this initial report, however, we encountered enormous resistance from leaders of many of the programs we sought to assess.

Greenberg, J., McKee, A., & Walsh, K. (2013). Teacher prep review: A review of the nation's teacher preparation programs. Available at SSRN 2353894.

Implementing teacher evaluation systems: How principals make sense of complex artifacts to shape local instructional practice.

This study examines how local school leaders make sense of complex programs designed to evaluate teachers and teaching. New standards-based teacher evaluation policies promise to provide school leaders and teachers with a common framework that can serve as a basis for improving teaching and learning in schools.

Halverson, R., Kelley, C., & Kimball, S. (2004). Implementing teacher evaluation systems: How principals make sense of complex artifacts to shape local instructional practice. Educational administration, policy, and reform: Research and measurement, 153-188.

An evaluation of the North Carolina educator evaluation system for school administrators: 2010–11 through 2013–14

In 2011, as a part of the State Board of Education's implementation of North Carolina's Race to the Top initiative, a sixth standard—a measure of student growth, the Educational Value-Added Assessment System—was added to the existing five standards for evaluating teachers. The purpose of this report is to describe the outcomes of teacher evaluations that have occurred since the sixth standard was added and trends in those outcomes through 2013-14.

Henry, G. T., & Guthrie, J. E. (2015). An evaluation of the North Carolina educator evaluation system and the student achievement growth standard.

Standards and Accountability in Washington State

Like proponents of standards-based reform in other states, Washington State policy and business leaders assumed that the establishment of a performance-based system would change the behavior of teachers, parents, school administrators, and students.

Hill, P. T., Lake, R. J., Petrilli, M. J., & Cohen, M. (2002). Standards and accountability in Washington state. Brookings papers on education policy, (5), 199-234.

International surveys TIMSS, PISA, PIRLS

In the last 20 years, international surveys assessing learning in reading, mathematics and science have been headline news because they put countries in rank order according to performance. The three most well known surveys are TIMSS, PISA and PIRLS. The survey offer information about international performances for the use of others in order to drive up education standards everywhere. They also emphasise that their aim is to facilitate dissemination of ideas on which features of education systems lead to the best performances.

International surveys TIMSS, PISA, PIRLS. (2017). Cambridge Assessment international Education. 

Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance and Quality Matters.

The purpose of the National Standards for Quality (NSQ) revision initiative is to provide the K-12 online and blended learning community with an updated set of openly licensed standards to help evaluate and improve online courses, online teaching and online programs.

irtual Learning Leadership Alliance and Quality Matters. (2019). National standards for quality online teaching (3rd ed.). https://www.nsqol.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/National-Standards-for-Quality-Online-Teaching.pdf

 
3 Big ways No Child Left Behind failed

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has been languishing for years, and Congress may now end up rewriting the law to fix its many flaws. However, it's now been discredited to the point that almost all states now receive waivers that allow them to miss key elements of the law without any punishments.

Jackson, A. (3). big ways No Child Left Behind failed. Business Insider25.

ACT Scores Drop as More Take Test

This article show evidence of ACT scores drop on 2016. ACT officials attribute the drop to the increasing percentage of high school seniors who have taken the test. Generally, when a larger share of students take a test - in some cases encouraged by state requirements more than the students necessarily being college ready - scores go down.

Jaschnik, S. (2016, August). ACT Scores Drop as More Take Test. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/08/24/average-act-scores-drop-more-people-take-test

Improving School Accountability Measures

The authors highlight an under-appreciated weakness of that approach-he imprecision of school-level test score means -- and propose a method for a better discerning signal from noise in annual school report cards. 

Kane, T. J., & Staiger, D. O. (2001). Improving school accountability measures (No. w8156). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Empirically supported interventions: Announcing a new standing section of School Psychology Quarterly.

The inauguration of the ESI section of School Psychology Quarterly represents a new era in research for our profession that we hope will usher in advancements for both the science and practice of school psychology.

Kratochwill, T. R., & Stoiber, K. C. (2000). Empirically supported interventions: Announcing a new standing section of School Psychology Quarterly. School Psychology Quarterly15(1), 69.

Are performance-based accountability systems effective? Evidence from five sectors.

During the past two decades, performance-based accountability systems (PBASs), which link financial or other incentives to measured performance as a means of improving services, have gained popularity among policymakers

Leuschner, K. J. (2010). Are Performance-Based Accountability Systems Effective? Evidence from Five Sectors. Research Brief. RAND Corporation.

Dear Colleagues Letter: Resource Comparability

Dear Colleagues Letter: Resource Comparability is a letter written by United States Department of Education. This letter was meant to call people attention to disparities that persist in access to educational resources, and to help address those disparities and comply with the legal obligation to provide students with equal access to these resources without regard to race, color, or national origin (This letter addresses legal obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI). This letter builds on the prior work shared by the U.S. Department of Education on this critical topic.

Lhamon, C. E. (2014). Dear colleague letter: Resource comparability. Washington, DC: US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. Retrieved from http://www2. ed. gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-resourcecomp-201410. pdf.

No, The Sky is Not Falling: Interpreting the Latest SAT Scores

The College board was recently released SAT scores for the high school graduating class of 2015. Both math and reading scores declined from 2014, continuing a steady downward trend that has been in place for the past decade. Pundits of contrasting political stripes seized on the scores to bolster their political agendas. Petrilli argued that falling SAT scores show that high schools needs more reform. For Burris, the declining scores were evidence of the failure of policies her organization opposes. This articles pointing out that SAT was never meant to measure national achievement and provide detail explanation. 

Loveless, T. (2015). No, the sky is not falling: Interpreting the latest SAT scores. Brown Center Chalkboard. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2015/10/01/no-the-sky-is-not-falling-interpreting-the-latest-sat-scores/

Productivity measurement in the education sector

This note provides a brief review of work to address the challenges of measuring output and productivity in the education sector, with attention also to issues related to the increasing use of technology in the provision of education services.

McGivney, E., & Foda, K. (n.d.). Productivity measurement in the education sector. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/productivity-measurement-in-education.pdf

 
Rules of Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Missouri Code of State Regulations. (2021). Rules of Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Missouri Code of State Regulations. (2021). Rules of Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

SAT Scores Take a Dip

This article describe about the drop down of SAT score in 2016. 

Mulhere, K. (2016, September). SAT Scores Take a Dip. Money. Retrieved from http://money.com/money/4508286/average-sat-scores-class-2016/

20 Years of TIMMS International trends in Mathematics and Science Achievement, Curriculum, and Instruction

This report attempts to summarize the most important and interesting trends emerging from TIMSS across the past two decades. The report is organized from macro to micro perspectives. The first chapter provides an overview of student achievement worldwide. The second and third chapters explore curriculum and instruction. The fourth and fifth chapters narrow the focus to two topics of interest among policymakers. 

Mullis, I. V., Martin, M. O., & Loveless, T. (20). years of TIMSS: International trends in mathematics and science achievement, curriculum, and instruction. TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, Lynch School of Education, Boston College and International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).

A call to action to improve the quality of full-time virtual charter public schools

This report provides basic information about full-time virtual charter public schools, presents data about their results, and outlines a set of policy recommendations that states should adopt to improve the performance of full-time virtual charter schools across the country.

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (2016). A call to action to improve the quality of full-time virtual charter public schools. http://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/migrated/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Virtuals-FINAL-06202016-1.pdf

 
National School Climate Standards Benchmarks to promote effective teaching, learning and comprehensive school improvement

The National School Climate Council has developed a school climate framework that is built around five core standards that address the school’s “vision,” policies, practices, environment, and commitment.

Ntional School Climate Standard. (2010). National School Climate Standards Benchmarks to promote effective teaching, learning and comprehensive school improvement. Retrieved from https://www.schoolclimate.org/themes/schoolclimate/assets/pdf/policy/school-climate-standards.pdf

Education at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators

Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators 2011 ofers a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators that relect a consensus among professionals on how to measure the current state of education internationally.

OECD (2011), Education at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2011-en

 
Lessons from PISA for the United States–Strong performers and successful reformers in education

US President Obama has launched one of the world’s most ambitious education reform agendas. Under the heading “Race to the Top”, this agenda encourages US states to adopt internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace: recruit, develop, reward, and retain effective teachers and principals. 

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2011). Lessons from PISA for the United States–Strong performers and successful reformers in education. OECD Publishing. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264096660-en

Investigating the validity and reliability of the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education

The Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) is a multirater assessment of principals' learning-centered leadership. The instrument was developed based on the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. In this article, we report on the validity and reliability evidence for the VAL-ED accumulated in a national field trial.

Porter, A. C., Polikoff, M. S., Goldring, E. B., Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., & May, H. (2010). Investigating the validity and reliability of the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education. The Elementary School Journal111(2), 282-313.

Trust but verify: The real lessons of Campbell’s Law

Donald Campbell was an American social psychologist and noted experimental social science researcher who did pioneering work on methodology and program evaluation. He has also become—posthumously—an unlikely hero of the anti-testing and accountability movement in the United States.

Porter-Magee, K. (2013, February 26). Trust but verify: The real lessons of Campbell’s Law. Thomas B. Fordham Institute. 

Local education Inequities Across U.S. Revealed in New Stanford Data Set

With an unprecedented data set, Stanford researchers review more than 200 million test scores to spotlight communities with the nation’s worst academic achievement gaps. The research also revealed that nearly all U.S. school districts with substantial minority populations have large achievement gaps between their white and black and white and Hispanic students.

Rabinovitz, J. (2016). Local education inequities across US revealed in new Stanford data set. Retrieved from Stanford News website http://news. stanford. edu/2016/04/29/local-education-inequities-across-us-revealed-newstanford-data-set.

Standardized testing undermines teaching

Former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch was once an early advocate of No Child Left Behind, school vouchers and charter schools. No Child Left Behind required schools to administer yearly state standardized tests. Student progress on those tests was measured to see if the schools met their Adequate Yearly Progress goals. or AYP. Schools missing those goals for several years in a row could be restructured, replaced or shut down.

Ravitch, D. (2011). Standardized testing undermines teaching. National Public Radio.

The Geography of Racial/Ethnic Test Score Gaps

The authors estimate racial/ethnic achievement gaps in several hundred metropolitan areas and several thousand school districts in the United States using the results of roughly 200 million standardized math and English language arts (ELA) tests administered to public school students from 2009 to 2013. They show that the strongest correlates of achievement gaps are local racial/ethnic differences in parental income and educational attainment, local average parental education levels, and patterns of racial/ethnic segregation, consistent with a theoretical model in which family socioeconomic factors affect educational opportunity partly through residential and school segregation patterns.

Reardon, S. F., Kalogrides, D., & Shores, K. (2019). The geography of racial/ethnic test score gaps. American Journal of Sociology124(4), 1164-1221.

Race Gap in SAT scores highlight inequality and Hinder Upward Mobility

In this paper, we analyze racial differences in the math section of the general SAT test, using publicly available College Board population data for all of the nearly 1.7 million college-bound seniors in 2015 who took the SAT. The evidence for a stubborn race gap on this test does meanwhile provide a snapshot into the extraordinary magnitude of racial inequality in contemporary American society. Standardized tests are often seen as mechanisms for meritocracy, ensuring fairness in terms of access. But test scores reflect accumulated advantages and disadvantages in each day of life up the one on which the test is taken. Race gaps on the SAT hold up a mirror to racial inequities in society as a whole. Equalizing educational opportunities and human capital acquisition earlier is the only way to ensure fairer outcomes.

Reeves, R. V., Halikias, D. (2017). Race Gap in SAT scores highlight inequality and Hinder Upward Mobility. Brookings. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/race-gaps-in-sat-scores-highlight-inequality-and-hinder-upward-mobility/

Race Gap in SAT Math Score are as big as Ever

This article show the evidence for a race gap on the SAT math score and some big issues at stake including: the value of the SAT itself; the case for broader policies to take into account socioeconomic background in college admissions; the obsession with four-year college degrees; and the danger of college as a “bottleneck” in the American opportunity structure. 

Reeves, Richard. (2017, February). Race Gap in SAT Math Score are as big as Ever. Brown Center Chalkboard. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2017/02/01/race-gaps-in-sat-math-scores-are-as-big-as-ever/

Defining reflection: Another look at John Dewey and reflective thinking

Thinking, particularly reflective thinking or inquiry, is essential to both teachers’ and students’ learning. In the past 10 to 15 years numerous commissions, boards, and foundations as well as states and local school districts have identified reflection/inquiry as a standard toward which all teachers and students must strive.

Rodgers, C. (2002). Defining reflection: Another look at John Dewey and reflective thinking. Teachers college record104(4), 842-866.

SAT® Percentile Ranks for 2012 College-Bound Seniors: Critical Reading, Mathematics and Writing Percentile Ranks by Gender and Ethnic Groups

This table allows you to compare a student’s SAT® scores with the performance of other 2012 college-bound seniors who took the test some time in high school. Please keep in mind that relationships between test scores and other factors are complex and interdependent. Other factors do not directly affect test performance; rather, they are associated with educational experiences both on tests and in schoolwork.

SAT® Percentile Ranks for 2012 College-Bound Seniors: Critical Reading, Mathematics and Writing Percentile Ranks by Gender and Ethnic Groups. (2012). The College Board. Retrieved from http://secure-media.collegeboard.org/digitalServices/pdf/research/SAT-Percentile-Ranks-by-Gender-Ethnicity-2012.pdf

Is it time to kill annual testing

Is it time to kill annual testing? An Education Week article.

Sawchuk, S. (2019). Is it time to kill annual testing. Education Week8.

The Shame of American Education

Recent analyses of American schools and proposals for school reform have missed an essential point: Most current problems could be solved if students learned twice as much in the same time and with the same effort.

Skinner, B. F. (1984). The shame of American education. American Psychologist, 39(9), 947.

Summative Assessment Overview

Summative assessment is an appraisal of learning at the end of an instructional unit or at a specific point in time. It compares student knowledge or skills against standards or benchmarks. Summative assessment includes midterm exams, final project, papers, teacher-designed tests, standardized tests, and high-stakes tests. 

States, J., Detrich, R. & Keyworth, R. (2018). Overview of Summative Assessment. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. https://www.winginstitute.org/assessment-summative

Comparing PIRLS and PISA with NAEP in Reading, Mathematics, and Science

This document provide background information that will be useful in interpreting the results from two key international assessments that are being released in November and December 2007 and in comparing these results with recent findings from the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress in similar subjects. In sum, there appears to be an advantage in capitalizing on the complementary information presented in national and international assessments. NAEP measures in detail the reading, mathematics and science knowledge of U.S. students as a whole, and can also provide trend information for individual states, different geographic regions, and demographic population groups. International assessments like PIRLS and PISA add value by providing a method for comparing our performance in the United States to the performance of students in other nations. However, their differences need to be recognized when interpreting results. 

Stephens, M., Coleman, M. (2007). Comparing PIRLS and PISA with NAEP in Reading, Mathematics, and Science (Working Paper). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/PISA/pdf/comppaper12082004.pdf

Classroom assessment for student learning: Doing it right—using it well

This book is the core of a larger, comprehensive professional development program in
student involved classroom assessment that teaches standards of assessment quality, and
how to match achievement targets to assessment methods.

Stiggins, R. J., Arter, J. A., Chappuis, J., & Chappuis, S. (2004). Classroom assessment for student learning: Doing it right, using it well. Assessment Training Institute.

It looks like the beginning of the end of America’s obsession with student standardized testing

America has been obsessed with student standardized tests for nearly 20 years. Now it looks like the country is at the beginning of the end of our high-stakes testing mania — both for K-12 “accountability” purposes and in college admissions.

Strauss, V. (2020). It looks like the beginning of the end of America’s obsession with student standardized tests. The Washington Post.

Calls are growing for Biden to do what DeVos did: Let states skip annual standardized tests this spring.

There are growing calls from across the political spectrum for the federal government to allow states to skip giving students federally mandated standardized tests in spring 2021 — but the man that President-elect Joe Biden tapped to be education secretary has indicated support for giving them.

Strauss, V. (2020b, December 30). Calls are growing for Biden to do what DeVos did: Let states skip annual standardized tests this spring. The Washington Post.

What you need to know about standardized testing

What you need to know about standardized testing.

Strauss, V. (2021, February 1). What you need to know about standardized testing. The Washington Post.

Is high-stakes testing working?

Test-based accountability systems — the use of tests to hold individuals or institutions responsible for performance and to reward achievement — have become the cornerstone of U.S. federal education policy, and the past decade has witnessed a widespread adoption of test-based accountability systems in the U.S. Consider just one material manifestation of this burgeoning trend: test sales have grown from from approximately $260 million annually in 1997 to approximately $700 million today — nearly a threefold increase.

Supowitz, J. (2021) Is high-stakes testing working? University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education.

Highlights From PIRLS 2011: Reading Achievement of U.S. Fourth-Grade Students in an International complex

This report compares the performance of U.S. students with their peers around the world and also examines how the reading literacy of U.S. 4th-grade students has changed since the first administration of PIRLS in 2001- 2006. Results are presented by two student characteristics (sex and race/ethnicity) and by one measure of school poverty (percent of students in the school eligible for free or reduced price lunch). All differences described in this report are statistically significant at the .05 level. No statistical adjustments to account for multiple comparisons were used.

Thompson, S., Provasnik, S., Kastberg, D., Ferraro, D., Lemanski, N., Roey, S., & Jenkins, F. (2012). Highlights from PIRLS 2011: Reading Achievement of US Fourth-Grade Students in an International Context. NCES 2013-010. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED537758.pdf

A uniform, comparable graduation rate: How the final regulations for Title I hold schools, districts, and states accountable for improving graduation rates

The final regulations establish a uniform and more accurate measure of calculating high school graduation rate that is comparable across states; strengthen public school choice and supplemental educational services requirements; and increase accountability and transparency.

U.S. Department of Education. (2008). A uniform, comparable graduation rate: How the final regulations for Title I hold schools, districts, and states accountable for improving graduation rates. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/reg/proposal/uniform-grad-rate.pdf

Race, Class, and Americans’ Perspectives of Achievement Gaps

The authors surveyed the U.S. public about test score gaps between students of different races and classes. They found much greater concern about wealth-based gaps than race-based gaps. A large portion of the American public remains generally unconcerned about test score gaps between white and minority children, and many Americans attribute the gaps that exist exclusively to minority parents and children rather than to broader social or historical causes.  In reality, we may need much broader changes in public attitudes toward educational inequities before we should expect policymakers to feel much pressure from the public to close today’s test score gaps.

 

Valant, J., Newark, Daniel. Race, Class, and Americans’ Perspectives of Achievement Gaps. Brookings Institutions. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2017/01/16/race-class-and-americans-perspectives-of-achievement-gaps/

How does the rich-poor learning gap vary across countries?

This article show different approach that researcher took to answer questions on social gradient in education between the countries. Comparing some of these results highlights weak service delivery in many developing countries. Even where resources may be similar, social gradients are steep in some, indicating much worse educational outcomes for the poor. And public resources are often extremely poorly converted into learning. The differential ability of schools and school systems to convert resources into learning outcomes remains a major impediment to improving educational outcomes, and indeed life chances, for the poor.

Van Der Berg, S. (2015). How does the rich-poor learning gap vary across countries?. Brookings Institution. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2015/03/09/how-does-the-rich-poor-learning-gap-vary-across-countries/

Academic performance of New Jersey’s public school children: Fourth and eighth grade mathematics in 1992

Data from the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress are used to compare the performance of New Jersey public school children with those from other participating states. The comparisons are made with the raw means scores and after standardizing all state scores to a common (National U.S.) demographic mixture. It is argued that for most plausible questions about the performance of public schools the standardized scores are more useful.

Wainer, H. (1994). Academic Performance of New Jersey's Public Schools. education policy analysis archives2, 10.

Reading Achievement of U.S.Fourth Grade Students in an International Context.

This report summarizes performance on PIRLS and ePIRLS 2016 from a U.S. perspective. PIRLS results are based on nationally representative samples of fourth-graders. The international data reported for PIRLS 2016 in this report cover 58 countries or other education systems, including the United States.

Warner-Griffin, C., Liu, H., Tadler, C., Herget, D., & Dalton, B. (2017). Reading Achievement of US Fourth-Grade Students in an International Context: First Look at the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 and ePIRLS 2016. NCES 2018-017. National Center for Education Statistics.

Educating the Disadvantaged

This article discuss how policymakers continued to search way through several approach to improve academic outcomes and life chances for low-income students.

Wax, A. L. (2019). Educating the Disadvantaged. National Affairs, no.40. Retrieved from https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/educating-the-disadvantaged

Assessing student performance: Exploring the purpose and limits of testing.

In this book, Grant P. Wiggins clarifies the limits of testing in an assessment system. Beginning with the premise that student assessment should improve performance, not just audit it, Wiggins analyzes some time-honored but morally and intellectually problematic practices in test design, such as the use of secrecy, distracters, scoring on a curve, and formats that allow for no explanation by students of their answers.

Wiggins, G. P. (1993). Assessing student performance: Exploring the purpose and limits of testing. Jossey-Bass.

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