This case study reflects upon a mixed-methods exploratory study utilized by the Leadership in Times of Crisis Framework within the paradigm of pragmatism to survey 976 Minnesota teachers in April of 2020 to determine the demographic profile of teachers in Minnesota who were facing the COVID-19 pandemic and the greatest challenges in their…

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international comparative study designed to measure trends in mathematics and science achievement at the fourth and eighth grades, as well as to collect information about educational contexts (such as students' schools, teachers, and homes) that may be related to student…

Developments in school education in Australia over the past decade have witnessed the rise of national efforts to reform curriculum, assessment and reporting. Constitutionally the power to decide on curriculum matters still resides with the States. Higher stakes in assessment, brought about by national testing and international comparative…

This study examines trends in American students' growth trajectories in reading and math achievement over the past three decades. Drawing upon multiple sources of national assessment data, cohort analyses provide new evidence on the stability and change of national academic growth curves. The emerging trends imply a tripartite pattern where…

There has been little data collected on how much testing actually goes on in America's schools and how the results are used. So in the Spring of 2014, the Council staff developed and launched a survey of assessment practices. This report presents the findings from that survey and subsequent Council analysis and review of the data. It also offers…

Background: Physical fitness testing is commonplace within schools and the physical education (PE) curriculum, with advocates claiming one of the key purposes of testing to be the promotion of healthy lifestyles and physical activity. Despite this, much controversy has surrounded the fitness testing of young people. Purpose: This paper draws on…

A key component to the new wave of performance-based pay initiatives is the use of student achievement data to evaluate teacher performance. As greater amounts of student achievement data are being collected, researchers have been developing and applying innovative statistical and econometric models to longitudinal data to develop measures of an…

Achieve launched this study to help inform the decisions states are making about high school assessments by providing greater insights into the world of college admissions and placement testing. Achieve analyzed more than 2,000 questions from college admissions and placement exams to determine how these tests compare to one another and how well…

To address a public relations problem faced by a large urban public school district in Texas, we conducted action research that resulted in an audited self-monitoring system for high-stakes testing environments. The system monitors violations of testing protocols while identifying and disseminating best practices to improve the education of…

The present study was initiated to gather information about states' out-of-level testing practices. Specifically, we wanted to see whether states attempted to align out-of-level tests with grade of enrollment content standards, what processes are used to complete this task, and what psychometric information states offer as evidence of that…

This 100-page manual serves as a technical reference for the "Healthy Water, Healthy People Water Quality Educators Guide" and the "Healthy Water Healthy People Testing Kits". Yielding in-depth information about ten water quality parameters, it answers questions about water quality testing using technical overviews, data interpretation guidelines,…