According to the Texas Education Code §29.121 and the Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board Policy, Gifted and Talented (G/T) students are "those identified by professionally qualified persons, who perform at, or show the potential for performing at a remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared to others of the same age,…

This brief is the 10th entry in the "School Survey Series." This brief synthesizes information about New Hampshire's private schools from a survey conducted by EdChoice. These survey data--which include New Hampshire's private schools' open seats, tuition and fees, regulatory concerns, and interest in educational choice programs--paint a…

"Above-level testing" (also called "above-grade testing," "out-of-level testing," and "off-level testing") is the practice of administering to a child a test that is designed for an examinee population that is older or in a more advanced grade. Above-level testing is frequently used to help educators design…

"Exploring Texas's Private Education Sector" is the eighth entry in the "School Survey Series." This brief synthesizes information about Texas's accredited private schools from a first-of-its-kind survey about these types of choice programs and more to Texas's private K-12 schools in collaboration with the Texas Catholic…

Above-level testing is the practice of administering aptitude or academic achievement tests that are designed for typical students in higher grades or older age-groups to gifted or high-achieving students. Although widely accepted in gifted education, above-level testing has not been subject to careful psychometric scrutiny. In this study, I…

"Exploring Arizona's Private Education Sector" is the seventh installment in our "School Survey Series." EdChoice Director of State Research and Policy Analysis Andrew Catt surveyed Arizona private school leaders about the state's educational choice programs, especially its Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, as well as their…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the four assessments for entrance into an academic middle school gifted English program were accurately predicting success, as measured by students' grades each nine-week grading period. Some students were dismissed from the program each year because they could not maintain the required minimum average…

Previous studies, while not suggesting that all preschool programs will bring lasting benefits, demonstrate that early education can change the course of children's lives, especially children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This study dealt with early childhood education and school success, evaluating the effect of preschool attendance on reading…

This two-year study explored the academic lives of three boys in a combined fifth-sixth grade classroom. As these case studies illustrate, viewing students' academic worlds from multiple perspectives can lead to more accurate, comprehensive evaluations and efficacious adaptations of students' learning environments. Richard Snow's aptitude theory…

Five new test batteries are reviewed: California Achievement Tests, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Metropolitan Achievement Tests, SRA Achievement Series, and Sequential Tests of Educational Progress. The review covers six basic areas: test administration, norming, test scores, reporting and interpretation, aptitude test considerations, and general…

The Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) provides separate ability estimates organized into three components; verbal, quantitative and non-verbal. There is no composite score. An analysis of scores obtained on the CAT and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) by a sample student population indicated that discrepancies of twenty points or more among the…

President Bush says that the No Child Left Behind Act is working, pointing to student-achievement results from a single subsection of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and tentative Reading First data. But the evidence available to support his claim is questionable. The data Mr. Bush cited are from just the "long-term…

The usefulness of the Iowa Algebra Aptitude Test (IAAT) as a predictor of student achievement in secondary mathematics courses was studied. Subjects were 977 students from 7 Iowa schools in grades 6 through 9. Data collected included their IAAT scores and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) mathematics skills test scores, as well as data about…

The purpose of the fifth annual Dearborn Achievement Test Score report is to summarize and to help interpret the test results so that Dearborn citizens and educators will have a better understanding of the educational achievements of Dearborn students. The District-wide Testing Program assesses reading readiness, scholastic aptitude, academic…

This study attempts to determine the extent to which performance on educational tests is dependent upon language proficiency. Three questions are involved: (1) Will the dictation and the cloze tests prove to be as successful in distinguishing degrees of proficiency among native speakers as among second language learners? (2) How well will scores…